By Dr. Lino Garcia, Jr.
Guest Columnist,
McAllen Monitor
Throughout my life I have noticed frequent misinterpretations and misunderstandings of what I term “South Texas Spanish” or the use of Spanish by Rio Grande Valley residents.Demeaning terms include: Tex-Mex, pocho, Border Spanish, and Spanglish, none of which truly explains this linguistic phenomena.
No language lacks intrusion by other languages, all suffer from the same mixture caused by invasions, and the mingling of cultures.
Remove the Greek, Latin, French, German words out of English and what we have left is an Anglo-Saxon trail. Since time has cemented the use of these words loaned to the English language, no one bothers to call it anything else but English.
Spanish was first developed in Spain from ordinary Latin as opposed to the Classical Latin, which was spoken by the learned. This emerging Spanish occurred during the 10th century A.D., but was invaded by the Greek, Visigothic, Celtic, Hebrew, Basque, and Arabic languages as these groups arrived in Spain. So now what we have is a mixture of various languages with Latin being the predominant root. This is the Spanish language that was brought to South Texas in the 16th century.
So let’s set the record straight:
Myth 1: Residents of South Texas speak a language that is not close to the real Spanish, especially one called Castilian Spanish. They are not truly bilingual because many do not know the grammar or how to write the Spanish language.
Fact: The definition of bilingual: is the ability to speak two languages. Nothing is said about writing the language, nor knowledge of grammar. There is no such activity known as Castilian Spanish. It is an invention by individuals who are prone to consider it more elegant than the Spanish spoken in the Americas. Obviously, and due to locations far from the mother language and influence by other languages, regions have developed regional words that are used only in certain areas or parts of the world. This phenomena is true of all languages, and can also be applied to the English spoken in England, in the South, in New York City and in South Texas. All have a regional usage, a sort of variety peculiar to the area.
Also noteworthy is that over time, many Spanish words have creeped into the present day usage of English. This includes: rodeo/rodeo; lasso/lasso; dale vuelta/dolly welter; pugnar/pugnacious; rancho/ranch; vigilante/vigilant; en pos de/posse; la riata/lariat; educación/education; teatro/theater; drama/drama; diligente/diligent and arribar/arrive.
Does that make English any different from other parts, and should we call it English-Mex? Absolutely not!
Myth 2: All Hispanics in the Southwest speak Tex-Mex or Spanglish.
Fact: In South Texas there are various levels of Spanish abilities, similar to any other language spoken in the world. The Spanish spoken in South Texas is mostly speaking/comprehension ability, since there are few occasions to write anything in Spanish; and the speaking/comprehension component is done at various levels of performance, reflecting the person’s level of education, awareness and immersion. To say that all Hispanics speak at a low-level or high-level reflects lack of knowledge of this topic.
To read the rest of the post, click on link below:
7 comments:
So very true. The problem is what to call the language spoken on the border. It is a misnomer to call it Spanish. I learned to speak in South American where the language was not called Spanish, but Castellano.
The language spoken here was all but unintelligible to me. The syntax is more English than Spanish and there are lots of very broad verbs used to replace multiple verbs in true Spanish. The language is also shot full of Mexican slang (Caliche) and Nahuatl nouns.
Mexican Spanish as spoken in the interior is pretty darn good Spanish, but with a much different cadence and accent.
Year of living here has enabled me to communicate but even then I do far better with true Mexican from deep into the country. Folks continue to tell me that I sound like Abuelo. I take that as a complement.
Recognizing that the RGV community is primarily Spanish (in some form)..., and its difficult to get a good job without speaking both English and Spanish.....why doesn't this community focus more on Spanish as a Second Language?????? Many Hispanics don't speak Spanish and many "non-Hispanics" don't speak Spanish (even those that have either grown up here or been here many years)...why not teach both languages, equally?? Is that discrimination in language form?????? Many Hispanics who don't speak Spanish seek to learn other languages (French, German, Japanese) because if they study Spanish they are in classes with primarily Spanish speaking students who seek an easy grade.
vallelingual
I think TEX-Mex is a good term for the form of language spoken here...a mixture of English and Spanish. Sort of like Cajun...a combination of French and Native American (Canadian French and Indian). In Appalachia there is an unusual form of English...sometimes unintelligible. On the Canadian border there is a combination of French and English. On the west coast the integration of Asian terms with English is common. Really this isn't unusual at all.
I recall taking Spanish during the late 50's at BHS, when Mrs. DeLa Garza was running the show. The "native speakers" in the classes had a rough time, as they had so much to unlearn before they could relearn proper Spanish. The gringo kids had it easier, as they just have to learn it. She was a good teacher, but merciless and without pity.
Sometimes I shop downtown with the "chinitos". One time I walked in at one of the stores on Elizabeth street and as I waited in line, I heard the Korean lady talking to a customer from Matamoros in a Spanish accent from Argentina. As I got to the counter, I talked to the lady in English and she answered in English (surprised, I saw it in her facial expression). I told her I was a Spanish teacher at the University (this was a while back)and that I heard her speak Spanish with an accent from Argentina. She told me she lived in Argentina for 12 years and that her knowledge and pronunciation of Spanish was so different from the border Spanish here.
It does happen everywhere. The border spanish between Tijuana and San Diego is also very different from the border spanish between Matamoros and Brownsville. Not only that, the Spanish in Matamoros is very different from the Spanish in Tijuana or even El Paso.
When some of the people that write in this blog call people "pochos" or just plain "mexicans" or "mexinacos" they do it as a derogatory form without really knowing how unique each region, the language and its people eally are.
The residents of Browntown are by and large uneducated and with very little higher culture and sophistication. It should be no surprise their language skills are as low as they education and culture.
Post a Comment