Steven Guerra

Professor Jesus Reyna

ENGL 1301

5 October 2023

Spanglish in Academia and the Hierarchy of Language

In my hometown of Mcallen, Texas, the language of “Spanglish” is used by almost all the people

who live here. Whether on local advertisements, signs and posters in the city, or in everyday

conversations, this hybrid language shapes the identity of our community. However, monolingual

English and Spanish speakers alike typically find this mixing of languages as something less that

“proper” English or Spanish. This could not be further from the truth, and I believe this use of

code-mixing is helping people understand language more effectively, and has its uses both in and

out of an academic setting.

Spanglish is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it has been used to aid in communication for as long

as Spanish speakers have lived in The United States. Domnita Dumitrescu documents this,

writing about nineteenth century Anglo immigrants living in Los Angeles, saying “They used

code-switching as a powerful communitive resource” (436). We can still see this today, as people

living in largely Hispanic communities continue to use and evolve this hybrid language. The

borrowing of words, such as “troca” for truck, and “yarda” for yard are examples of how people

in the community create and use new terms to aid in understanding (Cassielles-Suarez 151).

Some monolingual English speakers do not like the Hispanic influence on their language, and

some monolingual Spanish speakers prefer others to speak a “pure” Spanish. In a 1997 New

York Times article, Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria concurs with this idea, stating “Spanglish is an
invasion of Spanish by English. The sad reality is that Spanglish is primarily the language of

poor Hispanics, many barely literate in either language.” In today’s reality though, Spanglish is

used by literate and illiterate people alike, and is no longer the “language of the poor Hispanic”,

but the language of the adapting Hispanic, trying to keep up in an age of communication. In a

community that is criticized for speaking “broken English” and “fake Spanish”, we had to create

a new language and identify for ourselves. Gloria Anzueldua says this in “How to Tame a Wild

Tongue”: “Chicano Spanish is not incorrect, it is a living language. For a people who are neither

Spanish nor live in a country in which Spanish is the first language; for a people who live in a

country in which English is the reigning tongue but who are not Anglo…what recourse is left to

them but to create their own language?” (35). The validity of Spanglish has always been in

question, but as shown by this quote, code-mixing is a necessary practice for communities, to

create identity and comradery, and to communicate with one another.

How can we benefit from using code-mixing? Focusing on personal identity, code-mixing lets us

express ourselves for who we are, displaying our culture, community, and experiences proudly.

The way we as individuals communicate with others can reveal much about our character. Once

again quoting Anzueldua, “Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am my language”

(39). We as Hispanics living in the Rio Grande Valley create bonds with each other, intentionally

or not, by sharing our own regional language.

Additionally, code-mixing can be an effective tool in academic environments. In the past,

Spanish speaking students were discouraged from using Spanish, and were being actively trained

to suppress their accents. I even have a personal experience showing this: my grandfather’s

college experience. Spanish was his first language, and like many other students from The

University of Pan American who were Spanish speakers at the time, my grandfather was forced
to enroll in speech classes to attempt to eliminate his Mexican accent. Now talking about the

present day, I believe that rather than demonizing the use of Spanish, teachers should see this as

another outlet to aid in a student’s understanding of the material. In the web article “Millions of

Americans speak Spanglish. This expert says that’s a superpower” from CNN, Dr Jose Medina

“...reminds the teachers from San Elizario that the language bubble inside a student’s mind

contains a mixture of words they can draw from – from academic language often preferred in

school settings to social language used to talk with friends.” This statement shows how students

can try and draw understanding from all the languages in their “language bubble”, and I believe

the ability to do so is a strength, not a weakness. Dr. Eric Johnson also echos this idea, and in the

Youtube video “Honoring Spanglish As Resource | Eric Johnson | TEDxRichland” has this to

say: “...unfortunately, teachers often see that intergrating community language patterns like

Spanglish in a classroom setting, can be counterproductive to academic achievement, instead of

realizing that it can be a powerful resource to enhance academic progress.”

Wth all this being said, there still seems to be a “hierarchy of languages” present in our society.

You will often hear about ethic peoples attempting to “sound more white” when in professional

and academic scenarios. Society seems to hold some languages in higher regard than others.

“Proper English” is regarded higher than “casual English”, and “casual English” is regarded

higher than slang or hybrid languages. People’s characters can get unfairly judged by the way

they choose to communicate with each other. For example, if you overhear a conversation

between two individuals, and noticed they were using “professional, white-sounding English”,

you would probably regard them as two smart, educated individuals. On the contrary, if you

heard the same two people’s conversation, but this time they were speaking in slang or “casual

English” you might see them as maybe less educated, or less intelligent. But why is this? We
spent our whole academic careers learning about proper English, and how its use is the standard

for academia and professionalism. We can see the negative effects surrounding this way of

thinking as well. Congressman Joaquin Castro says on an article from KSAT, “It really is just a

generation of people who had a language literally beaten out of them in our school system... and

it’s so tragic and unfortunate because it was not only the loss of a language, but also partly the

loss of a culture.” From an early age, we’ve had this way of thinking engraved into our brains by

the school system, and I believe this makes us forget the benefits of code-switching and code-

mixing, and how the use of them can actually be more helpful in aiding understanding than

“proper english” in some scenarios.

What needs to be changed in society’s opinion on code-mixing and hybrid languages? I believe

that the stigma surrounding code-mixing needs to be eliminated. We should see it as a powerful

tool for community and understanding, instead as a “lesser, less traditional” form of an existing

language. I believe its time to be more accepting of different cultures and languages, especially

in the academic and professional worlds. Instead of holding this idea of a “ranking of languages”

We must treat them all as equal, and begin to understand that different people understand and

absorb information differenty, and that can never be a bad thing.

Annotations:

Dumitrescu, Domnita. “‘Spanglish’ and Identity within and Outside the Classroom.” Hispania,

vol. 96, no. 3, 2013, pp. 436–37. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23608283. Accessed

30 Sept. 2023.

Catherine, Shoichet. “Millions of Americans speak Spanglish. This expert says that’s a

superpower” CNN, 9 Jun. 2023,

https://2023/06/17/us/spanglish-tiktok-jose-medina-cec/index.html

“Honoring Spanglish As Resource | Eric Johnson | TEDxRichland “ Youtube, uploaded by

TEDxTalks, 22 Dec. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMDx6T3DmQ

Anzaldua, Gloria “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza.

San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987, pp. 33-45

Acosta, Sarah & Bermea, Azian. “Many third-generation Hispanics don’t speak Spanish, but

their parents do. Why?” KSAT 10 Oct. 2021.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/10/16/many-third-generation-hispanics-dont-

speak-spanish-but-their-parents-do-why/