Blog #1 on Chicano English

Takeaways from “Demystifying Language Mixing: Spanglish in School” by Peter Sayer

In "Demystifying Language Mixing: Spanglish in School", Peter Sayer provides data and insight gathered from a research project using bilingual third-graders doing an in-school reading activity. He offers some methods for enhancing pedagogy to accept and embrace Spanglish use in the classroom. Sayer argues that Spanglish is not only a language but a cultural phenomenon, illustrating the dual background of Latino/Latina students and the borderland communities from which they come. Sayer cautions educators to be careful of ingrained linguistic bias and to accept language mixing in the classroom. Sayer points out that Spanglish, an everyday linguistic practice among Mexican American bilinguals, is an amalgamation of Spanish and English, and its roots are similar to European languages and dialects spoken in the US when we were a fledgling nation.

Sayer argues that children pick up the language they hear the most, when they are young. If they are surrounded by caretakers and community members who speak one predominant language, although other languages may be spoken, children will adopt the primary one. If the primary language is itself a bilingual mix and if a child grows up in this bilingual environment, the child will have a spoken knowledge of both. In some families, a policy of one language will be adopted, while at school the other language is accepted, and perhaps this is different from the language of the marketplace. Children can sense which language is the “prestige” language and which is the subordinated one. They also learn how one language or bilingualism can be stigmatized.

Sociolinguists, Sayer points out, have a relativistic view of language. No one is worse than another — all languages rise to the needs of the speaker, and any living language will adapt and change with the advance of a culture. The problem is that students who do not speak “white American” English can be marginalized and forced into a curriculum that does not respect, or value their cultural heritage. While it is important for everyone to have a good grasp of the predominant language, it should not be at the expense of shedding a person’s culture.

Sayer describes a bilingual reading activity in a third grade classroom and provides some terminology for us to understand how bilingualism in general and Spanglish, in particular, works. He mentions that some times students will switch an English word for a Spanish word. These “loan words” help facilitate communication. A loaner word, like “guerrilla” can also be a word that has been adopted into the English language. Sometimes students may use the wrong word or phrase, but the pronunciation of the term is as it is in English. This can cause confusion for the listener or reader. The substitution is called a “calque” or “linguistic interference”. It can happen when the order of the words is Spanish, but the words themselves are English. Code switching can occur with a single word or part of a word. The difference with code switching is that the phonology of the word is different. Code switching adds voice or nuance. Sayer categorized such words as crutching or pragmatic, depending on the usage. An example would be saying the word “bolsa” for bag. “She gave me the bolsa.” It is a lexical slip and the word is replaced because it was easier to remember while speaking. Another use would be considered pragmatic — I would also argue this could be a stylistic choice. Sayer gives an example of a student saying something was “divertido” rather than “fun”. The use of “divertido” is a stylistic choice — it adds to the richness of the speech and provides enhances meaning.

Sayer says, “Whether or not to freely engage in the stigmatized practice of code-switching probably depends on how much confianza the child has with his or her interlocutor.” In other words, the relationship to the listener (or reader) matters. If a Spanglish student is comfortable with their listener, they may freely slip in and out of Spanish without even realizing it. In a classroom where anything other than “standard English” is seen as inappropriate, a student may have a hard time speaking, may stutter for the right word “en Englais” and may not even speak at all.

The problem with seeing code-switching in a negative light is that it traumatizes, stigmatizes and marginalizes students. Rather than teachers seeing the rich potential for expressionism, socio-cultural exchange and other teaching opportunities for the entire class, the teacher puts undue pressure on a Spanglish student, making them feel as if they do not belong.

Sayer discusses attempts to embrace Spanglish and bilingualism, such as the 50/50 program and Chavez Elementary. The classroom is evenly divided between Spanish and English. Students spend half the day working in one language and switch to the other. The problem with this method of instruction is that it creates an artificial barrier between the two languages and does not reflect the “sociolinguistic reality” that these students are living with.

Sayer points out research done by Canagarajah in Sri Lanka. Students are taught using the “indigenized” variety of English, which incorporates loan words, calques and code-switches from Tamil, but they are also taught Standard English forms, so that they will “have the tools to communicate outside of their speech community.”

Sayer finally shares insights from Gloria Anzalduá regarding linking ethnic identity and linguistic identity. As Anzalduá says, “I am my language.” She is speaking not only for herself but for every Spanglish student because it is more than just a dialect, it is a cultural heritage.

 

Takaways from “Language Socialization Practices and Cultural Identity: 
Case Studies of Mexican-Descent Families in California and Texas” Sandra R. Schecter and Robert Bayley

The article illustrates the issues between language and cultural identity for four families of Mexican-descent. Two live in northern California and the other two live in southern Texas. The four children from these families define themselves as Mexican or Mexican American. Two of the families were very strict with language usage, preferring only Spanish be spoken in the home, and went to great lengths to ensure English instruction was provided in school. For the other two families, both Spanish and English was spoken in the home. One family successfully transitioned into the middle class but had problems preserving the “intergenerational transmission” of Spanish even though cultural heritage was a focal point of family activities.

One family had to fight hard to ensure that all their children were receiving English instruction, and eventually, the mother of this family became a teacher’s aide, facilitating for Spanish speaking children in a bilingual classroom. For another family, the youngest daughter had lost touch with most of the language of her heritage, but she was very interested in learning it, as a way to translate for her grandparents, and studied Spanish in school. The issue for this young woman, however, was that the dialect of Spanish taught in the public school was not the same dialect as spoken in the household. For two other families, the children were fully bilingual and easily mixed Spanish and English without much thought. Both Spanish and English were spoken in the home.

The point of the article was to illustrate the difficulties and challenges with preserving cultural heritage while assimilating into the culture of the United States. It provides some much needed background information for educators on the socio-economic and socio-cultural challenges and psychic costs associated in being raised in a dual-culture society: what is lost, what is gained, and how to preserve one’s heritage.

 

Takeaways from “Language Use Among Mexican Americans” by Guadalupe Valdés in New Immigrants in the United States, McKay & Wong, 2000.

Mexican Americans come from every walk of life and every background imaginable. They are light skinned and dark skinned. They have many religious beliefs. They are rich and poor, educated and uneducated, working class, middle class and upper class. They work on farms in the Southwest, work as cooks, letter carriers and engineers; teach at Stanford and Harvard. In short, Mexican Americans are as varied as complex as everyone else in this country and live in all communities. Some communities are predominantly Mexican American, and others are more fully gentrified. The only real difference is that some Mexican Americans are bilingual.

The degree to which a Mexican American is bilingual depends on many circumstantial factors, and the degree to which one language is used more than another has a lot to do with where a Mexican American lives, where they go to school and where they work. For many Mexican Americans, the transition to English is rapid and required. Only in concentrated Latino communities can 1L retention be seen.

Mexican Americans who are fully bilingual can easily intermix Spanish and English when talking with each other. Spanish would be spoken with some members of the community, such as family or neighborhood vendors. English would also be spoken with vendors and certainly to people outside the community. English is still perceived as the language of prestige, however, and is used in formal areas like school, the office, the bank. Spanish is considered the low language. A language of intimacy, casual communication, unofficial transitions within the linguistic conclave. This relationship with both languages is termed “diglossic”. Much of this dual language use can be termed code-switching as in the other two articles.

The key point of this article is that it is important for teachers to be aware of the difference between Mexican American speakers of English as opposed to actual ELLs. It can be hard to tell, because Mexican Americans may have a very pronounced accent, yet they are not speaking “broken English” just a dialect of English — accents do not need to be fixed, nor does pronunciation. Mexican American speakers of English may have an excellent command of the language and very well be ear learners and have an excellent command of spoken English, but use spoken styles in writing (SLIPs — spoken language interference patterns). Classes that are mixed with both European American and Mexican American speakers of English can create a positive and linguistically rich learning environment.