Contact linguistics: The Contact Situation between Americans and Hispanics in the South of the United States: A Linguistical and Sociolinguistical Approach

Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,0, University of Rostock (Anglistik/ Amerikanistik), course: HS: Contact Linguistics and Mixed-Language Genesis: the Case of English, language: English, abstract: As the topic of this terms seminar „ Contact Linguistics and Mixed-Language Genesis: the Case of English” was, I soon thought about the idea to write this term paper about Spanish speaking people living in the south of the United States of America. As a student of both languages, it is interesting for me to see how the so- called Hispanics and Americans live together on American territory and in which way both world languages influence each other. Is there also an influence of Spanish on English, or is it just the other way around? I would like to have a closer look on the term “Spanglish”, what it means and as what it could be described in linguistical terms. Is it already an independent language or could it become one? As a starting point it might be interesting to give an overview of the historical and contemporary situation of Hispanics in the USA. Proceeding from that introduction, I will come to the linguistical aspects. First, I will give a few explanation of terms that might be interesting in the case of Spanish speaking people living in the USA. On that foundation I will attempt not just to have a look on the term Spanglish, but with the help of an example also try to define what kind of linguistical phenomenon it might be. Finally, I will try to examine the sociocultural circumstances that can be found in those areas like New Mexico, Texas, California, Colorado or Arizona. A conclusion shall summarize the results of my work and I will try to express my view on the entire situation of Hispanics in the USA.