FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN

UNIVERSIDAD DE JAÉN
Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación

Trabajo Fin de Grado

Analysis of the use of

anglicisms in social
media

Alumna: Encarnación García Núñez

Tutor/a: Prof. D. Alejandro Alcaraz Sintes

Dpto.: Filología Inglesa

Julio, 2019
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………..1

1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….3
2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……………………………………………….5
2.1. Definition and concepts…………………………………………………………5
2.2. Chronology of influence………………………………………………………...6
2.3. Reasosns for their use…………………………………………………………...7
2.4. Advantages and disadvantages of their use……………………………………..9
2.5. Some fields of use……………………………………………………………..10
3. STUDY OF ANGLICISMS IN SELECTED MEDIA………………………….15
3.1. Classification (traditional and modern)………………………………………..15
3.2. Social media…………………………………………………………………...16
3.2.1. Twitter vs. Instagram…………………………………………………...16
3.2.2. Popular slang in social media…………………………………………...17
3.2.3. Analysis of anglicisms used according to Fundéu BBVA……………...20
3.2.4. Language of a generation……………………………………………….23
4. CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………………..25

References……………………………………………………………………………...27
ABSTRACT

The purpose of this essay is the study of how, when and why anglicisms have become a
widely used resource in the Spanish language. First, what is an anglicism is defined and
classified, among other terms. Next, a historical framework has been created to situate
the beginning of its use, afterwards, the reasons are treated as well as the advantages
and disadvantages of their use; finally, we talk about the different domains in which
anglicisms are used. Later, the term "social media" is developed and its influence on the
evolution of the language. Finally, it is discussed whether the continued use of
anglicisms spoils the Spanish language or is part of the inevitable evolution of language,
for which a comparison between the anglicisms most used in social media and its
equivalent in Spanish is used.

KEY WORDS

Anglicisms, social media, hashtag, Twitter, Instagram, language evolution, term.

RESUMEN

El objetivo de este trabajo es el estudio de cómo, cuándo y por qué los anglicismos se
han convertido en un recurso muy usado en la lengua española. Primero se define y
clasifica lo que es un anglicismo, entre otros terminus. Seguidamente, se ha creado un
marco histórico para situar el inicio de su uso, después, se tratan tanto los motivos como
las ventajas e inconvenientes de su uso; por último se habla sobre los diferentes campos
en los que los anglicismos son usados. Más adelante, se habla sobre el término “redes
sociales” y su influencia en la evolución de la lengua. Finalmente se discute si el
continuo uso de anglicismos estropea la lengua española o es parte de la inevitable
evolución del lenguaje; para lo cual se usa una comparativa entre los anglicismos más
usados en redes y su equivalente en español.

PALABRAS CLAVE

Anglicismos, redes sociales, hashtag, Twitter, Instagram, evolución de la lengua,

término.

1
2
1. INTRODUCTION

If I can be sure of anything, it is about the continuous evolution of language. As in the

evolution of living beings, languages undergo modifications due to the need to define
new realities or to replace elements that have become obsolete. Throughout history, all
languages have been adopting existing concepts in other languages to make their own
more complete. This process has been going on for centuries, and still is and will
continue to be because the languages are alive and constantly changing. There are many
factors that affect this process, but the most notable is the social one, since the main
purpose of language is communication between individuals. Our technology advances,
our way of communicating also, and with it, the invention of new audiovisual media that
inevitably affect the language used in our daily lives.

For this reason I have chosen anglicisms as the main topic of this work, with the
characteristic of analyzing their use in something as common today as social media. The
main objectives of this investigation are the following:

- Do anglicisms damage Spanish?

- Why do people use them?
- Do social media help or are prejudicial to language?

As a methodology for this research, I searched for bibliography of all kinds, from
physical books to news articles, as well as searching directly on social media. All the
references used to develop this essay have been cited in Chicago system and they are
alphabetically classified at the end of the essay. Furthermore, the two main social media
that I had in mind during the whole process were Twitter and Instagram, since they are
two great sources of expression for young people today. For a while, I have been
observing a peculiar form of communication in these places, and I think it is interesting
to study how and why this form of communication, which has been used exclusively on
the Internet, but now becomes part of the daily dialect of the most young people.

The research begins with a theoretical framework that includes the definition of
several terms in general and anglicisms in particular. Then, it follows a chronology since
they began to be used until today. Later, I will discuss both, the reasons and the
advantages and disadvantages of its use, as well as the different points of view when

3
talking about this topic, since not everyone supports the incorporation of many English
terms. This chapter ends once there is a general discussion of the domains where it is
more usual to find anglicisms.

In the next chapter it can be found the research itself, in which the media, both
traditional and modern, are classified first. Then I get to the heart of the matter with a
classification and subsequent analysis of anglicisms most used today in social media.
Here it is studied what has become the influence that these terms have had in the way of
communicating, becoming the language of a generation and thereby creating a
generation gap. Finally, the last chapter consists of the conclusions to which this research
has led me. Also included at the end of the document is the bibliography used for the
development of the work.

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2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. Definition & concepts

There are several terms to take into account when a word is classified from another
language; likewise I am going to explain the most important, although the main interest is
anglicisms.

First of all, a loanword is “a word adopted from a foreign language with little or
no modification” according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), for instance the
French word ‘café’ which literally means “coffee”; more concretely would be the term
xenismo from Spanish which include those words used literally respecting, as well as its
sound as its writing, for instance ‘airbag’. On the other hand, neologism is “a new word
or expression, or a new meaning for an existing word”; for example, the trademark
‘Kleenex’ which is used to refer a paper-based products.

On contrast, an anglicism is “a word or phrase borrowed from English into a

foreign language” (OED). “The Spanish word «anglicismo» itself is attested as early as
1848, and in an earlier form «anglismo», since 1784” (Rodríguez González, 1999: 104).
So, I could say that loanword is the general term applied to any language and an
anglicism is applied only to terms coming from English.

As far as anglicisms, there are several categorizations such as those suggested by

authors such as Alfaro in 1970, Lope Blanch in 1937, Pratt in 1980 or Lorenzo in 1987,
although the most recent belongs to Furiassi, Pulcini & Rodiguez-Gonzalez, created in
2012. Their typology distinguishes between:

- Adapted Anglicisms: are “words or multi-word units borrowed from English

with orthographic, phonological and/or morphological integration into the
structures of the RL. Both terms, the source language (SL) term and the recipient
language (RL) term, are close in meaning”. (Pulcini et al., 2012: 7)
- Non-adapted or Pure Anglicism: is “a word or a multiword unit borrowed from
the English language with or without minor formal or semantic integration, so
that it remains recognizably English in the recipient language (RL)”. (Pulcini et
al., 2012: 6).

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 - False/Pseudo-Anglicisms:
a word or idiom that is recognizably English in its form (spelling,
pronunciation, morphology, or at least one of the three), but is
accepted as an item in the vocabulary of the receptor language even
though it does not exist or is used with a conspicuously different
meaning in English (Furiassi, 2010: 34)

- Hybrid Anglicisms: this type is similar to the previous one but in the
combination of words from different languages, at least one of them must be
English.

- Calque, which ironically is a loanword from the French verb ‘calquer’, and
refers to “a word of phrase borrowed from another language by literal
translation” (OED).

2.2. Chronology of influence

Spanish is full of cultural exchanges from other countries and this is reflected in the
foreign terms borrowed throughout history.

For much of the Middle Ages, Arabic was –after Latin- the language
which provided Spanish with the most loanwords. [...] From the 15th
to the 17th century, and most particularly during the Renaissance,
Spain imported many “learned” words, especially form Italian; in the
18th, with the advent of the Bourbon dynasty, French gained the upper
hand, and its influence continued through the 19th century up until out
times; in the 19th, [...] English began to exert a significant influence on
Spanish as well as on the other European languages, and this influence
increased as time went on, replacing French as the main source of
foreign loans. (Rodríguez González, 1999:103)

There are various stages which can be established in order to create a logical
chronology of influence:

1. In the first half of 18th century, the influence of English literature and cultural
life is translated to an impact on Spanish intellectuals. In the second half of 18 th
century, English is taught in some schools and the first English grammar is

6
 published in Spain. Moreover, the Spanish word «anglicismo» is attested in
1848 but also an earlier form «anglismo» since 1784.

2. In 19th century, English influence intensified because of the Industrial

Revolution, so, this means the first important wave of anglicisms in many
domains. Furthermore, Spanish society remained relatively open to English
influences until the Civil War when the country experienced a political
isolationism which lasted until the early 50s.

3. After the Second World War there was a great impact of English in Spanish
coasts which became the favourite site for British tourists. In the 70s, drugs and
music were important sources of inspiration and new words. Then, the oral
media as TV and radio or journalism which expanded and reached almost
everyone. And finally, the 90s brought us the Internet.

Evidently, with the arrival of the Internet in our lives evolution does not end, but it
is true that from here we become part of a new stage: the emergence of social networks,
which will be analyzed later. The use of the Internet affects all areas since it has become
essential in our daily lives. There are many detractors of this, although it is in our nature
not to conform, so this evolution is something unstoppable.

2.3 Reasons of their use

There are several reasons that can be given about the continued use of anglicisms,
although the main one could be the globalization of English. As it has seen previously,
English has always had an influence on many languages, not only on Spanish, but once
we reached the digital age, English was even more present. The language of the mass
media is global and as the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan said in The
Gutenberg Galaxy: “Si una lengua es un modo de conceptualizar la realidad y de
conformar la visión del mundo, de modo lógico, el lenguaje de los media, al ser
universal, también acarrea una concepción del mundo global para la comunidad de
receptores.”

7
 It is true that this change in the way we communicate can be seen especially in
young people, the main public of social networks. If these ages are characterized by
something, it is because of the ability of the environment to influence them. This is
another of the characteristics that the extension of anglicisms has, since it is enough to
stop to analyze the television advertising that we consume every day, to realize the
strong influence of English.

The increase of English loanwords after 1945 was also connected with the
introduction and spread of English in Spanish education, both at the secondary school
and university levels (Rodríguez González, 1999:112). In the past, French was the first
foreign language learned and nowadays, that position is for English. To this we must
add the boom of bilingualism in schools and high schools, where more and more is
committed to a globalized education in students. This irrepressibly influences their way
of communicating by having English almost as present as Spanish, their mother tongue.

This is perhaps also caused by the existing cultural proximity to Anglo-Saxon

countries such as the United States, which despite being miles away, has a great cultural
weight transmitted especially through the music and film industry, and of course
through the Internet. In addition, people feel a great fascination by what is foreign
things and a great ignorance of their own ones, I do not say that it is the general rule, but
it is very common to start using a foreign word instead of the equivalent in Spanish,
either because of ignorance or because “it is more modern”.

The prestige and attraction of English leads speakers to follow what

they consider an acceptable trend not only in terms of what they have
received from English, but also through parallel coinages; the only
justification for which probably is their “Englishness” – that is, the
iconic power of English as a trendsetter. (Balteiro and Campos, 2012:
249)

However, there is a cause for which the incorporation of an anglicism is more

than justified: a new reality appears for which a new concept must be created. An
example of this could be «tuit», from English “tweet”, which is a term accepted by the
Real Academia Española (RAE) to describe the messages that are sent through the
social network Twitter. Not to mention the part in which a continuous renovation goes
hand in hand with prestige. The use of anglicisms creates an image of professionalism

8
in the sector so, it is a fact that currently brands when promoting through social
networks, use a greater number of anglicisms to reach more people.

Once the main causes for which anglicisms are used today, it would be
interesting to talking about the pros and cons of their use.

2.4 Advantages and disadvantages of their use

According to some studies, the speech of an educated person has around 300 anglicisms
so, one of the advantages of the use of anglicisms could be a higher level in terms of
languages in future generations, as long as they learn how and when to use each
language. This, in turn, facilitates the fact of communicating since both English and
Spanish are two of the most spoken languages in the world.

This is the position defended from a foundation called Fundéu BBVA, which is
advised by the RAE and whose objective is to help make good use of Spanish in the
media and the Internet. The head of the Spanish Ministry of Education in the United
Kingdom and Ireland, Gonzalo Capellán argues that:

El enfoque es erróneo. No hay que pensar que una lengua es enemiga,

que pierde una y gana otra. Hoy en día hay una complementariedad de
culturas, la riqueza de un país radica en que haya una población que se
maneje perfectamente en las dos lenguas, que entienda mensajes y los
produzca en las dos lenguas. (Capellán, 2019)

On the one hand, something to keep in mind about a language is that it

resembles a living being, that is, it evolves constantly. With the passage of time, as it
has been seen in other eras, the language tends to be simplified and in turn, enriched by
other languages. This is not a novelty, as it happened to the Spanish with the Arabic
from which it adopted many words.

The cultural enrichment obtained by the influence of other languages is

something that, in my opinion, is fine as long as the essence of each place's culture is
not forgotten. Sometimes the line that separates both cultures dissipates so much that it
derives in social phenomena caused by the confluence of Spanish and English. This

9
social phenomenon caused by migratory movements from inhabitants of countries of
South America to North America, which gave rise to the creation of “Spanglish”.

On the other hand, an abuse regarding the use of anglicisms brings a series of
disadvantages. Incorporating constantly anglicisms into our language means that in the
end, the equivalents in Spanish are no longer used. This, sooner or later will make our
own words disappear and be replaced by foreign ones. With this, not only words from
our language would be lost, but it would also mean a loss of linguistic wealth, and in
turn, of personality.

The language of a country is not only the way of communicating among the
inhabitants of a territory, but also as the linguistic Joshua Fishman said: “cuando le
quitamos el idioma a una cultura le quitamos sus saludos, sus groserías, sus alabanzas,
sus leyes, su literatura, sus canciones, sus rimas, sus proverbios, su sabiduría y sus
oraciones.”

In addition, the main purpose of a language is not taken into account:

communication between people. If people constantly use words that only a percentage
of the Spanish population knows, the rest of the inhabitants have serious comprehension
problems, since the sender and the receiver do not share the same code. Let us say the
president of the government made a press conference full of anglicisms, or a doctor
gave the diagnosis to his patient with technical anglicisms that only his union knows, it
would completely fail the purpose of the communication.

Another reason that has led to the excessive use of anglicisms in Spanish has
been the world of advertising, which led the RAE to create a campaign against the
invasion of English in advertising. The Real Academia along with the Academia de la
Publicidad created their own ad to show the public the consequences of the excessive
use of anglicisms. The creative director of Gray Spain, Enric Nel-lo, who coordinated
the initiative, said: “La publicidad es uno de los principales sectores implicados, ya que
el uso excesivo de los anglicismos en los anuncios que se emiten en España no solo
afecta a las marcas, sino directamente a la población en general y a cómo perciben los
mensajes comerciales.”

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2.5 Fields of use

There are many semantic fields in which anglicisms are used, so to speak of all would
be very extensive, so below are mentioned those in which they are more abundant.

On the one hand are the fields of gastronomy, fashion or makeup, very common
in Instagram especially, that being international issues, English terms abound due to the
aforementioned globalization.

Since the Spanish language institutions tend to recommend the use of

equivalents instead of foreign terms, although if you talk about the world of fashion and
cosmetics, some terms are already established. Without further delay, a table is shown
where you can see some of the anglicisms most common in these areas with its
equivalent in Spanish:

Anglicisms Spanish equivalent

Casual Estilo informal

Must Imprescindibles

Fashion De moda

Outfit Conjunto

Look Estilo

Beauty blogger Bloguero/a de belleza

Eye (shadow) palette Paleta de sombras (de ojos)

Eyeliner Delineador (de ojos)

Glitter Purpurina

Makeup Maquillaje

Table 1: Glossary about style.1

As I said before, gastronomy also abounds in many Anglicisms, many of them

unnecessary, since there is an equivalent in Spanish, but also used in media and
publications. Below it can be seen some of the most used words in this domain:

1
All the terms have been extracted from the Fundéu BBVA. Available at: http://cort.as/-KCyI.

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 Anglicisms Spanish equivalent

Burger Hamburguesa

Cake Tarta

Fast food Comida rápida

Food truck Gastroneta

Grill Parrilla

Healthy Saludable

Hot dog Perrito caliente

Muffin Magdalena

Pop corn Palomitas de maíz

Topping Ingrediente (adicional)

Table 2: Glossary about gastronomy.2

On the other hand, another sector with greatest rise in the Spanish territory is
tourism because it is one of the main pillars of its economy. That is why the country's
tourism companies need to globalize since, especially in high season, the majority of
their clients are foreigners. This is probably the main reason why all tourism companies,
both those related to accommodation and transport, choose to use anglicisms instead of
their equivalents in Spanish, for better communication with the client. The following
table shows some of the most common terms:

Anglicisms Spanish equivalent

Single room Habitación individual

Check in Llegada

Check out Salida

Lobby Vestíbulo

Overbooking Sobreventa

2
All the terms have been extracted from the Fundéu BBVA. Available at: http://cort.as/-KD7h.

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Resort Complejo turístico

Jet-lag Desfase horario

Amenities Comodidades / Productos de acogida

Pet friendly hotel Hotel que permite mascotas

Low cost Coste bajo

Tabla 3: Glossary about tourism.3

There are many more fields in which an infinity of anglicisms could be found, such as,
for example, the digital marketing by which many international companies are
interested, above all, to make themselves known in a correct way in social networks.

Then, once it have seen everything related to the theoretical framework, a detailed
analysis of social media and their most common concepts is carried out in the next
chapter.

3
All the terms have been extracted from the work of Giménez, 2015. Available at: http://cort.as/-KD8t.
More details in references.

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14
3. STUDY OF ANGLICISMS IN SELECTED MEDIA

3.1. Classification (traditional and modern)

The most traditional media are television, newspaper and radio, although evidently, they
were modernized with the arrival of the Internet. Currently, these media are still used as
was done when it was the only way of information, but now, we have a plus in terms of
speed, both to search and to share information: social networks, where “users can share
thoughts, curate content, upload photos and videos, form groups based on interests, and
participate in lively discussions. They’re built around the user and everything that’s
important to them and their social circles.”

Younger generations have been born in the digital age, which means that for
them, the constant change in technology is not a problem, but it is their means of
expression. The opposite side of the coin are the previous generations, who take longer
to get used to it and find it, sometimes, complicated.

When looking for big differences between traditional and modern media, I think
one of the most remarkable is the audience. Today, companies seek to reach the
maximum possible public, and the best way to do this is social networks, where without
a doubt they have a greater and more varied audience.

However, the audience is not the only difference between traditional and modern
media, but also the way of writing. The same style is not used when writing a
newspaper article that a tweet. A newspaper should be based on the seriousness and
veracity of its information, with which, it will use a correct language, without
abbreviations and without abusing foreign words. On Twitter, however, we have more
freedom and naturalness when it comes to expressing ourselves. The use of
abbreviations becomes necessary, taking into account that there is a limit of characters
per tweet; the grammar used is also different, but not incorrect.

In the case of this essay, I have focused especially on social networks and the
way of communication used in them, specifically how young people use foreign terms,
which initially were only used on the Internet, in their daily conversation.

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3.2. Anglicism in social media

3.2.1. Twitter vs. Instagram

Facebook was the first social network with a great impact which reached our lives in
2004, and after that others have appeared, similar or not, but with the same objective: to
share. Following this thread, we come to the two social networks chosen for this study:
Twitter and Instagram. Their concepts are totally different, although in my opinion, they
complement each other.

On the one hand is Twitter, a social network that despite having been founded
since 2006, today still has many detractors, either because they do not like the format,
or because they prefer other networks. Twitter is characterized by its brevity since, until
its last update; the maximum number of characters allowed in a tweet was 140. That is
why the users of this network are those who prefer to share thoughts and daily events
where naturalness prevails. Twitter has become the “newspaper” for many users due to
the ease it provides to be aware of any topic through labels. As you can see below:

Image 1 Image 2
Screenshot of the ‘world news’ section of Screenshot of the ‘trends section in
Twitter. Spain’ from Twitter. 16
 On the other hand is Instagram, an application that from the beginning was very
well received by the public. In the beginning it was based exclusively on sharing
photos, usually food, sunsets or selfies. Now, years later, through brand profiles you can
even make purchases. This network has been the cradle of the so-called “postureo”, a
term that will be discussed later. In short, Instagram today is one of the main ways used
by companies for their promotion as they know the repercussion and dissemination
caused by this social network.

3.2.2. Popular slang in social networks

The purpose here has been to gather the words, not only more used in social networks,
but more used in the daily speech of most people who use social media. Many of them
have been taken as they are from English, others have been modified and others have an
equivalent in Spanish but it is not used with the same frequency.

Next, in the following table there is a list with words extracted directly from Twitter
and also the context in which they are used:

SLANG WORDS IN CONTEXT

BAE “Cuando el bae me ignora #MasterChef”

̶ MasterChef (@MasterChef_es)

Crush “Cuando mi amiga me dice que le ha escrito

el crush.”
̶ mtmad (@mtmad)

Fail “El 'fail' de Mendy dando toques en su

presentación (y las mofas del
antimadridismo).”
- Revista El Balón (@RevistaElBalon)

Fake “Fake. La imagen no es de ahora.”

̶ Ana Pastor (@_anapastor_)

Followers “Ya superamos los 2500 followers!!! Mil

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 gracias a todos.”
̶ Bon Jovi Spain (@BonJovi_Spain)

Hashtag #LosInfiltradosDeGol
¡COMENZAMOS!¡Todavía estás a tiempo
de ganar una camiseta del
@realmadrid!¡Participa con el hashtag del
programa!
̶ Gol (@Gol)

Hater “[#RESEÑA] #JeA regresa en un mundo de

monstruos de lo más humanos y los combate
con fuerza en #DearRude, una crítica a los
“haters” de la industria.”
̶ Norae Magazine (@noraemagazine)

Influencers “SeñorNayde: «Ahora la Industria Musical

quiere que los músicos seamos
influencers».”
̶ Madrid es Cultura (@madrid_cultura)

Likes “Su vida vale más que unos cuantos likes!”

̶ Fundación FAADA (@FAADAorg)

Meme “Con el reestreno de #AvengersEndgame

muchos usuarios de redes reaccionaron con
memes.”
̶ Reforma Gente! (@reformagente)

Postureo “Se cae Google Calendar (herramienta de

trabajo) y nadie dice nada, pero se cae
Instagram (herramienta de postureo) y todos
pierden la cabeza.”
̶ Lope de Vega 2.0 (@lopedevegac)

Salseo “Alerta salseo, todo sobre el shippeo de

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 Rosalía y Bad Bunny.”
̶ Yasss (@yasss_es)

Shippear Por favor, ¿nombres para este shippeo?

̶ Netflix España (@NetflixES)

Spam “El virus en sí, conocido como la "familia

Triada", permitía la instalación de
aplicaciones para enviar spam y anuncios.”
̶ Business Insider España (@BIEspana)

Spoiler “La escena post-créditos de

#SpiderManLejosDeCasa es vital para el
futuro de UCM. ¡No contiene ‘spoilers’!”
̶ SensaCine (@SensaCine)

Stalkear “Vas a stalkear a una persona y terminas

stalkeando a cinco porque necesitas
entender toda la conversación.”
̶ Reflexiones de vida
(@FrasesdelYingYang)

Stories “La tecnología avanza más rápido de lo que

las empresas pueden adaptarse, es por ello
que es necesario trabajar y capacitarnos en la
transformación digital, adaptando nuestros
procesos, servicios y productos.
Sigue nuestros stories para ver nuestra
participación en #TNE.”
̶ HACSYS (@HACSYS)

Trending “Somos Trending Topic gracias a nuestras

Fresas Salvajes Rellenas. Y a vosotros,
claro. Para celebrarlo, ¡regalamos un
estuche más a las 19:30h!
¡Todos a jugar con #TiendasSalvajes!”

19
 ̶ Fini Golosinas (@Fini_golosinas)

Tabla 4: Glossary of terms used in Twitter and their context.4

3.2.3. Influence on language

Once introduced the base words in the slang of any current young, we will analyze
some of them, their origins and equivalents, if they are accepted or not by the RAE, if
they will remain or simply are a fashion. For this, I will help myself from the Fundéu
BBVA, which was mentioned previously, but which will be discussed in detail. The
foundation is active in all social networks, in addition to having its own website, where
it publishes videos, articles and images about everything related to the use of Spanish.

La Fundación del Español Urgente —Fundéu BBVA— es una

institución sin ánimo de lucro que tiene como principal objetivo
impulsar el buen uso del idioma español en los medios de
comunicación, cuya influencia en el desarrollo de nuestra lengua es
cada vez mayor. Fue presentada el 8 de febrero del 2005 en Madrid y
es el fruto de un acuerdo entre la Agencia Efe y BBVA. Desde el
2011, la Fundéu BBVA trabaja también con Argentina, Chile,
Colombia y Perú. (Fundéu BBVA, 2005)

Because this section consists of an analysis of the words most used in social
networks, I have decided to start with one of the concepts that currently has the most
impact: influencer. It is very common to see this term in media and social networks to
refer to those people who with their prestige and knowledge on a subject, influence their
audience to promote a product or create a trend. Faced with this, the Fundéu offers us
the term «influidor» or «influenciador» as equivalent to not use the English term, or at
least, less frequently. “Las voces españolas influidor, correctamente formada a partir del
verbo influir (‘ejercer predominio, o fuerza moral’), e influenciador (a partir de
influenciar), pueden sustituir perfectamente al anglicismo influencer.” (Fundéu BBVA,
2019)

4
The table has been completed with information extracted directly from Twitter.

20
 Another word very present in the day to day of the youngest is stories, which are
publications with a duration of 24 hours that it can find in several social networks,
although the most famous now are those of Instagram. This term has a clear equivalent
in Spanish «historia», but once again, it is more common to hear the Anglicism than its
equivalence.

Shippear means “idealizar y apoyar una hipotética relación amorosa entre dos
famosos o dos personajes, en especial en las redes sociales” (Fundéu BBVA, 2019), and
it is used both in the form of a verb (shippear) and a noun (shippeo).

“El término shippear, que proviene del verbo inglés shipping —y este,
a su vez, del acortamiento de relationship—, se considera un híbrido
no adecuado en castellano, pues combina la forma inglesa no
incorporada al español ship con la terminación española de los verbos
de la primera conjugación”. (Fundéu BBVA, 2019)

As an equivalent word, from the foundation recommend using «emparejar» and

even «empatar».

Another example of Anglicism not adapted but that has a great use is spoiler,
used in the occasions in which someone discovers an important part of a series or film
that can spoil the interest of the person in following the plot. The alternative proposed
this time is the verb «destripar», which has the same meaning and also, its first
appearance in the Dictionary with this meaning consists of 1884.

In relation especially with Twitter, although this term is also applicable to

Instagram, we find hashtag, defined as:

“una palabra, frase o grupo de caracteres alfanuméricos que se emplea

en las redes sociales para agrupar varios mensajes sobre un mismo
tema; se identifica fácilmente, ya que está compuesto por el símbolo #
(hash) y un nombre o etiqueta (tag), por ejemplo: #escribireninternet”.
(Fundéu BBVA, 2019)

From the Fundéu they dismiss this Anglicism as “totally unnecessary” since
there is an equivalence like «etiqueta». Another anglicism totally unnecessary according

21
to the foundation is spam, since in Spanish there are alternatives such as
«correo/mensaje basura».

Then, the term hater “que procede del verbo inglés to hate —‘odiar’—, hace
referencia a la ‘persona que odia algo o a alguien y dice o escribe cosas desagradables
sobre alguien o critica sus logros, especialmente en internet y en redes sociales’”. The
alternative proposed by the Fundéu is the concept «odiador» although also “existen
otras expresiones, quizá más transparentes, como enemigo, detractor, difamador,
maldiciente, aquel/el que odia, etc”. (Fundéu BBVA, 2019)

As for the concept of meme, it could be said that it is not something new since it
has been present on the Internet for several years. “Este término, creado por Richard
Dawkins en su libro El gen egoísta, aparece definido en el diccionario Webster como
‘idea, comportamiento, moda o uso que se extiende de persona a persona dentro de una
cultura’.” (Fundéu BBVA, 2019)

It is an accepted neologism that can be written and used as such since it follows
the orthographic rules of Spanish. In fact, it is officially recognized by the RAE, as it
can see in its online dictionary:

Image 3
Screenshot from RAE Online Dictionary of the term meme.

Another accepted neologism is the noun postureo and with it, the verb
posturear. “La expresión postureo surge en el ámbito de las redes sociales para
calificar actitudes impostadas, con un sentido que puede ir de lo irónico a lo

22
despectivo.”(Fundéu BBVA, 2019). For its creation, a mixture of «postura» and
especially «pose» has been used, since it refers to an unnatural posture.

Finally, about the term stalkear the Fundéu says that “acechar, espiar, husmear
o incluso acosar, según el contexto, son alternativas en español preferibles a stalkear,
término que se emplea con el significado de ‘seguir a alguien en las redes sociales para
obtener información y observar sus movimientos.’” (Fundéu BBVA, 2019). This term is
an adaptation of stalking, a term that has a meaning of crime, which does not occur
when the Anglicism stalkear is used in Spanish, since it loses the acceptation of the
original word.

3.2.4. Language of a generation

As explained throughout this essay, languages evolve and change constantly. This
evolution is best appreciated when we analyze the change from one generation to
another, where it is easy to see how much things have changed.

Today's teenagers have their own language seen from the eyes of adults. It could
even speak of a variant of Spanish having so many foreign terms. “La brecha
generacional es hoy un pronunciado socavón alimentado por las redes sociales, la
mensajería instantánea y los realities de televisión, progenitores de una jerga que ha
relegado al adulto a carca desorientado”. (Viñas, 2017)

As María Viñas, journalist of La Voz de Galicia, suggests in the previous quote,

the great barrier that separates one generation from another is technological. Many
values are transmitted from one generation to another in the family environment, and
with it, the language or the way of speaking. This is what used to always happen, until
technology arrived. Now adolescents are not only in contact with the environment of
their home but also with the environment of social networks. They have Google to
search on any topic and contact people from anywhere on the planet. This leads them to
acquire other points of view, other forms of expression and end up creating their own
personality.

23
 This personality is not only formed by his values as a person or his way of thinking,
but also by his way of speaking. So, this generation gap is not only evident in aspects
such as the way of speaking, but also in the personality and way of life since everything
is totally different from how it was done years ago.

24
4. CONCLUSIONS

Once the study is exposed and to conclude the essay, I will limit myself to answering
the questions formulated at the beginning, contributing my point of view to what has
already been narrated. In the introduction of the essay and as objectives, I asked three
questions that were the following:

- Do anglicisms damage Spanish?

- Why do people use them?
- Do social media help or are prejudicial to language?

There are several pros and cons on the use of anglicisms, as seen above. In my
opinion, foreign terms, whether from English or another language, do not spoil Spanish,
but enrich it, provided they are used in their proper measure. What I mean by this is that
adolescents and other users of social networks, will continue to use these terms, either
because they are fashionable or by their own choice, but it should also be known in
which field it is good to use an Anglicism and in which the Spanish equivalent. This is
something that is acquired with maturity and use.

On the other hand, its use is due to several reasons, as has already been said, and
I think that such use will not stop growing in the coming years, especially in Spain,
where a higher level of language proficiency is increasingly required for the most jobs
and, as a result, more and more students are bilingual from school. The millennial
generation, and therefore, the following are among the most prepared. Unlike other
generations who were only in contact with English during school hours, they do not
"leave that contact" by being more active on the Internet, where much of the
information they obtain is in English.

So, and following this thread, in my opinion and as I said before, social networks
are enriching if you know how to use them. They can help a lot of people who have
difficulties to relate physically and give the option of being able to relate and learn
about people who are miles away.

25
 Without further ado, I would like to conclude with a quote from Godfried
Bogaard, expert in social networks:

“In the past you were what you had; now you are what you share.”

26
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