In exploring the formation of Spanglish, award-winning essayist Ilan Stavans reflects on, andalso codifies, the most transforming linguisticphenomena in America in the last one hundredyears -- one that may predict our future as a nation and that of our entire hemisphere.
No tool is more useful in understanding the changes inculture than language. In today's America, communicationis built around inclusion and efficiency, and this is no more apparent than in the blending of the two most spoken languages in the United States: English and Spanish.
Spanish, the nation's unofficial second language, isimmediately obvious and audible on airwaves and mediascreens, streets and classrooms, from one coast to the other. But el español has not spread on this side of the Atlantic in its unadulterated Iberian form. Instead it is metastasizing into something altogether new: an astonishingly creative code of communication known as Spanglish, which in large part is the result of sweeping demographic changes, globalization, and the newly emergent "Latin Fever" that is sweeping the country. It is used predominantly by people of Hispanic descent but is also embraced by others in the United States, the Americas as a whole, and even Spain.
Naturally controversial, Spanglish outrages English-language-only proponents, who seek to ban all languages other than English north of the Rio Grande. Equal in their outrage are Spanish-language purists and the supporters of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language in Madrid, as they deem Spanglish a cancer to their precious and centuries-old tongue. With elegance and erudition, Ilan Stavans reflects on the verbal rift that has given birth to Spanglish. He fascinatingly shows the historical tensions between the British and Spanish Empires, and how in 1588, with the sinking of the grand Spanish Armada, the rivalry between the two empires was solidified, and to this day, the differences in religion and culture continue their fight linguistically.
He ponders major historical events, such as the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty of 1848 and the Spanish-American War fifty years later, as agents of radical linguistic change, although, as he rightly states, it is in the second half of the twentieth century that Spanglish sped into our daily reality.
Stavans also points out the similarities and differencesSpanglish has with Yiddish, so thoroughly blending intothe American vocabulary, and the much-debated Ebonics, which made headlines in the early 1990s as a uniquelyAfrican American blend of proper English and urban slang.Ultimately, Stavans deftly proves that the manner in whicha language stays alive is through mutation and that itssurvival doesn't depend on academies but on the averageperson's need for expression. This explains why it is increasingly used not only in kitchens and school but in music, TV, film, and literature, all expressions of the American collective soul.
Coupled with Stavans's insights is a substantial lexicon that shows the breadth and ingenuity of this growing vocabulary -- at times, semantically obvious, then also surprisingly inventive. An ingenious translation into Spanglish of the first chapter of Don Quixote de La Mancha comes as a bonus. The added impact proves that Spanglish is more than a language -- it is the perfect metaphor for an America that is a hybrid, a sum of parts.

Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language (Spanish Edition)

History

Stavans, Ilan

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Rayo

With the release of the census figures in 2000, Latino America wasanointed the future driving force of American culture. The emergence of Spanglish as a form of communication is one of the more influential markers of an America gone Latino. Spanish, present on this continent since the fifteenth century, when Iberian explorers sought to colonize territories in what are now Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and California, has become ubiquitous in the last few decades. The nation's unofficial second language, it is highly visible on several 24-hour TV networks and on more than 200 radio stations across the country. But Spanish north of the Rio Grande has not spread in its pure Iberian form. On the contrary, a signature of the brewing "Latin Fever" that has swept the United States since the mid-1980s is the astonishing creative linguistic amalgam of tongues used by people of Hispanic descent, not only in major cities but in rural areas as well - neither Spanish nor English, but a hybrid, known only as Spanglish.

Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language

Harper-perennial

Examines the five major Hispanic groups--including Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Central Americans, and South Americans--describes their cultural characteristics, and draws conclusions about their eventual role in mainstream America.

The Hispanic Condition: Reflections on Culture and Identity in America

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Harpercollins

Covering topics from the natural to the historical and beyond, the Smithsonian Q &amp; A books are essential for any family reference shelf. Questions and answers are authoritative and accessible. Full–color illustrations and the Q &amp; A format enable users to learn all about their favorite creatures and subjects. SMITHSONIAN Q &amp; A: LATINO HISTORY &amp; CULTURE will cover the history, culture, and society of Latinos in the United States from pre–colonial times to the present.

Collins Q & A: Latino History and Culture: The Ultimate Question & Answer Book

Reference

Collins Reference

A searching and pioneering psycho-cultural profile of the culture and identity of the 22 million Hispanics in America today.

Hispanic Condition, The

HarpPeren

In The Hispanic Condition, Ilan Stavans offers a subtle and insightful meditation on Hispanic society in the United States. A native of Mexico, Stavans has emerged as one of the most distinguished Latin American writers of our time, an award-winning novelist and critic praised by scholars and beloved by readers. In this pioneering psycho-historical profile, he delves into the cultural differences and similarities among the five major Hispanic groups: Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Central and South Americans, and Spaniards.
Masterfully interweaving historical, literary, and political references with his personal experience, Stavans discusses the divisions within a common heritage; customs of music, love, sex, marriage, and religious belief; the role of the intellectual in society; ideological struggle; and the hopeful visions of the future at the core of a civilization rooted in the trauma of the past.

The Hispanic Condition: The Power of a People

Producto de muchos años de lectura, apreciación y asimilación del arte hispánico, este excelente volumen reúne las disquisiciones del autor en torno a la idiosincracia latina dentro del ámbito anglosajón, particularmente el estadounidense, y sus tentáculos a lo largo y ancho de todas las Américas. La intensa interacción entre las culturas sajona y latina, cuyo principal escenario-pero no el único-es el río Grande, proporciona material abundante para analizar las conductas de los diversos grupos étnicos que conviven cotidianamente en los Estados Unidos. Las relaciones inequitativas de poder que por lo general producen los asiáticos y latinos son el tema de numerosas obras literarias y fílmicas a las que el autor recurre para tocar los distintos ángulos del tema central. Esta obra memorable es el resultado de una vida compartida en dos ámbitos culturales más que de un trabajo premeditado y regular de investigación, Stavans, a quien los medios de comunicación norteamericanos han descrito como "un Alexis de Tocqueville moderno" y "un ensayista de la más fina calidad intelectual en la línea de Edmund Wilson y Octavio Paz".
Ilán Stavans nació en México, en 1961. Cursó estudios de posgrado en la Universidad de Columbia, y ahora tiene la cátedra Lewis-Sebring de cultura latina y latinoamericana en Amherst College. Colabora con artículos y reseñas en diversas publiciones periódicas estadounidenses, como The Washington Post, The New York Times y The Nation, entre muchas otras. En 1992 obtuvo el Premio Latino de Literatura; en 1994 fue nominado para el National Book Critics Circle Award for Excellence in Book Reviewing; y en 1998 obtuvo la beca Guggenheim. Su vasta obra, que incluye las colecciones de ensayo Art and Anger y The Riddle of Cantinflas, así como la autobiografía On Borrowed Words, ha sido traducida a media docena de lenguas.

La Condicion Hispanica: Vistas al Futuro de un Pueblo (Spanish Edition)

This is a searching examination of the life, work, and mysterious disappearance of the charismatic civil rights activist Oscar Zeta Acosta—a leading figure in the Chicano movement of the 1960s.

Bandido: Oscar "Zeta" Acosta and the Chicano Experience

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Basic Books

Bandido: Oscar ""zeta"" Acosta And The Chicano Experience

Westview Press

Yiddish, Spanish, Hebrew, and English-at various points in Ilan Stavans's life, each of these has been his primary language. In this rich memoir, the linguistic chameleon outlines his remarkable cultural heritage from his birth in politically fragile Mexico, through his years as a student activist and young Zionist in Israel, to his present career as a noted and controversial academic and writer. Along the way, Stavans introduces readers to some of the remarkable members of his family-his brother, a musical wunderkind; his father, a Mexican soap opera star; his grandmother, who arrived in Mexico from Eastern Europe in 1929 and wrote her own autobiography. Masterfully weaving personal reminiscences with a provocative investigation into language acquisition and cultural code switching, On Borrowed Words is a compelling exploration of Stavans's search for his place in the world.

On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language

Humor & Entertainment

Penguin??Books

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