View source for Chicano English

{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
{{Short description|Dialect of English spoken in the Southwestern United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = March 2019}}
{{Refimprove|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox language
| states           = [[United States]]
| region           = [[Southwestern United States]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3             = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4             = [[North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5             = [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo–Frisian]]
| fam6             = [[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
| fam7             = [[English language|English]]
| fam8             = [[North American English]]
| fam9             = [[American English]]
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[English alphabet]])<br>[[American Braille]]
| isoexception     = dialect
| name             = Chicano English
| ethnicity        = [[Latino Americans]], [[Hispanic Americans]]
| altname          = Mexican-American English
}}

{{Chicano and Mexican American topics sidebar|state=collapsed}}

'''Chicano English''', or '''Mexican-American English''', is a dialect of [[American English]] spoken primarily by [[Mexican Americans]] (sometimes known as [[Chicano]]s), particularly in the [[Southwestern United States]] ranging from [[Texas]] to [[California]],<ref name="NYLEPP">Newman, Michael. "[http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~mnewman/Site/NYLE.html The New York Latino English Project Page]." [[Queens College, City University of New York|Queens College]]. Accessed 2015. "Almost all recent research on Latino English in the US has been done in the Southwest, particularly California. NYLE [<nowiki/>[[New York Latino English]]] differs in two respects from these forms."</ref>{{sfn|Bayley|Santa Ana|2004|p=374}} as well as in [[Chicago]].{{sfn|Bayley|Santa Ana|2004|p=375}} Chicano English is sometimes mistakenly conflated with [[Spanglish]], which is a mixing of [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[English language|English]]; however, Chicano English is a fully formed and native dialect of English, not a "learner English" or [[interlanguage]]. It is even the native dialect of some speakers who know little to no Spanish, or have no Mexican heritage.

== Naming issues ==
Many people who speak Chicano English do not themselves identify with the term "Chicano." For example, none of {{Harvp|Brumbaugh|2017}}'s eight Hispanic participants identified with the term. Despite this, Chicano English remains the most widely used and recognized term for this language variety. Some studies on Chicano English have used terms such as "Mexican-American English", "Latino English", and "Mexican Heritage English".{{Sfn|Brumbaugh|2017|pp=15, 28}}

==History==
Communities of Spanish-speaking [[Tejanos]], [[Nuevomexicanos]], [[Californios]], and [[Mission Indians]] have existed in the American Southwest since the area was part of [[New Spain]]'s ''[[Provincias Internas]]''. Most of the historically Hispanophone populations eventually [[language shift|adopted English]] as their first language, as part of their overall [[Americanization]].

A high level of [[Mexico|Mexican]] [[immigration]] began in the 20th century, with the [[emigration|exodus]] of [[refugees]] from the [[Mexican Revolution]] (1910) and the linkage of Mexican railroads to the US (Santa Ana, 1991). The [[Hispanic Americans|Hispanic]] population is one of the largest and fastest-growing [[ethnic groups]] in the United States. In the [[Los Angeles]] metropolitan area alone, they form 45% of the population (roughly 6 million out of 13.3 million in 2014). The result of the migration and the segregated social conditions of the immigrants in California made an ethnic community that is only partly assimilated to the matrix ''[[Anglo]]'' ([[European American]]) community. It retains symbolic links with Hispanic culture (as well as real links from continuing immigration), but linguistically, it is mostly an English-speaking, not a Spanish-speaking, community. However, its members have a distinctive accent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=plas#:~:text=Chicano%20English%20is%20a%20distinct,constructions%20from%20Spanish%20with%20them.|title=Dialect influence on California Chicano English - Purdue e-Pubs}}</ref>

The phonological inventory of Chicano English speakers appears to be identical to that of the local Anglo community. For example, long and short vowels are clearly distinguished, as is the English vowel {{IPAslink|æ}}. Speculatively, it seems that the main differences between the Chicano accent and the local Anglo accent are that the Chicanos are not always participating in ongoing [[phonetic]] changes in Anglo communities, such as the raising of {{IPA|/æ/}} that characterizes Anglo [[Inland North]]ern speakers but not necessarily Hispanic ones.{{Sfn|Brumbaugh|2017|p=25}}

Because Spanish-speaking people migrated from other parts of the Hispanophone world to the Southwest, Chicano English is now the customary dialect of many Hispanic Americans of diverse national heritages in the Southwest. As Hispanics are of diverse racial origins, Chicano English serves as the distinction from non-Hispanic and non-Latino Americans in the Southwest.

A common stereotype about Chicano English speakers, similar to stereotypes about other racial/ethnic minorities in the United States, is that Chicano English speakers are not proficient in English and are generally uneducated. This [[language ideology]] is linked to negative perceptions about Chicano Americans and Hispanics in general.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fought|first1=Carmen|title=Chicano English in Context|date=January 2002|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=0333986385}}</ref>

==Phonology==
{{IPA notice|section}}

===Prosody===
The rhythm of Chicano English tends to have an intermediate [[prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] between a Spanish-like [[syllable timing]], with syllables taking up roughly the same amount of time with roughly the same amount of stress, and [[General American English]]'s [[stress timing]], with only stressed syllables being evenly timed.{{sfn|Santa Ana|Bayley|2004|p=426}} 

Chicano English also has a complex set of nonstandard English intonation patterns, such as pitch rises on significant words in the middle and at the end of sentences as well as initial-sentence high pitches, which are often accompanied by the lengthening of the affected syllables.{{sfn|Santa Ana|Bayley|2004|pp=427, 429}} When needing extra emphasis to certain words, there is the use of rising glides. Rising glides can be used multiple times in one sentence. On compound nouns and verbs, major stress is on the second word.  Rising glides can occur at any time and at either monosyllabic or polysyllabic words.<ref>{{cite book|title=Chicano English: An Ethnic Contact Dialect|last1=Penfield|first1=Joyce|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=90-272-4865-6|pages=48–49|date=January 1985}}</ref>

===Consonants===
Certain Chicano English consonant pronunciations are similar to [[African-American Vernacular English]]. 
*Chicano English often exhibits [[th-stopping]]. That  is, /ð/ sounds may be replaced with /d/ sounds, as in "dese" and "dem" instead of "these" and "them".<ref name="PBS">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/speak/education/curriculum/college/spanish/|title= Spanish & Chicano English|website= [[PBS]]}}</ref> 
*t/d deletion occurs at the end of a word when those consonants are part of a [[consonant cluster]]. For example, "missed" becomes "miss".<ref name="PBS"/>
Certain consonants show Spanish-language influence:
*Chicano speakers may realize {{IPA|/v/}} bilabially, as a stop {{IPAblink|b}} or a fricative/approximant {{IPAblink|β}}, with ''very'' being pronounced {{IPA|[ˈbɛɹi]}} or {{IPA|[ˈβɛɹi]}}.
*{{IPA|/l/}} is never [[dark l|velarized]] and so it is pronounced similarly to Spanish {{IPA|/l/}}, which also lacks velarization, in all positions.
*{{IPA|/z/}} can undergo [[devoicing]] in all environments: {{IPA|[ˈisi]}} for ''easy'' and {{IPA|[wʌs]}} for ''was''.

===Vowels===
Mexican-Americans show variable participation in local sound shifts, like the [[Northern Cities Shift]] of the Great Lakes or the [[Canadian Shift|California Shift]] in the American West.{{Sfn|Brumbaugh|2017|p=25}}

[[Stress and vowel reduction in English|Reduction of unstressed vowels]] is less common in Chicano English than in Anglo varieties.<ref name="PBS" />

While a lack of pre-nasal [[/æ/ raising]] is often characteristic of Chicano English, in [[El Paso]], /æ/ raising is found among both Anglos and Hispanics.{{Sfn|Brumbaugh|2017|p=36}} 

The [[cot–caught merger]] is complete, approximately to {{IPA|[ɑ̈]}}.<ref>Maddieson & Godinez, 1985, p. 45</ref>{{sfn|Santa Ana|Bayley|2004|p=421}} For younger speakers, however, the vowel is retracted to {{IPAblink|ɑ}} by the Californian Vowel Shift.

The [[salary–celery merger]] occurs, with {{IPA|/æ/}} and {{IPA|/ɛ/}} merging before {{IPA|/l/}}.<ref name="Guerrero">Guerrero, Jr., Armando. (2014). " '[http://escholarship.org/uc/item/94v4c08k55 You Speak Good English for Being Mexican]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}' East Los Angeles Chicano/a English: Language & Identity." ''Voices'', 2(1).  ucla_spanport_voices_22795.</ref>{{Sfn|Brumbaugh|2017|p=122}} This is found in Los Angeles, northern New Mexico and Albuquerque, and in El Paso.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Penfield |first1=Joyce |title=Chicano English: an ethnic contact dialect |date=1985 |publisher=J. Benjamins Pub. Co |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789027248657 |page=45}}</ref>{{Sfn|Brumbaugh|2017|p=122}}<ref>{{Cite thesis |url=https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/2811 |last=Williams |first=Lance Levi |date=2010 |title=/ӕ/ and /e/ in El Paso English |type=MA |publisher=University of Texas at El Paso}}</ref>

{{IPA|/ɪŋ/}} is pronounced as {{IPA|[in]}}, making ''showing'' sound like ''show-een''.<ref name="PBS" /> This feature has since spread to other varieties of California English.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eckert |first=Penelope |author-link=Penelope Eckert |date=March 2008 |title=Where do ethnolects stop? |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13670069080120010301 |journal=International Journal of Bilingualism |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1–2 |pages=25–42 |doi=10.1177/13670069080120010301 |s2cid=35623478 |issn=1367-0069|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The distinction between {{IPA|/ɪ/}} and {{IPA|/i/}} before [[liquid consonants]] is often reduced in some Chicano accents, making ''fill'' and ''feel'' [[homophones]]. That is also a feature of general California English.<ref>{{cite work |last=Metcalf |first=Allan |author-link= |date=1979 |title=Chicano English |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED176591.pdf |location= Arlington, Va. |publisher= Center for Applied Linguistics |series=Language in Education: Theory and Practice, 21}}</ref>

{{IPA|/u/}} is slightly fronted, as in most American and many [[British English|British]] dialects, but less fronted than in mainstream California English.<ref>Maddieson & Godinez, 1985, p. 56</ref>

Some realizations of {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/eɪ/}}, {{IPA|/oʊ/}}, and other long vowels are [[monophthong]]al. That may be an effect of Spanish, but other American English dialects ([[North-Central American English|Minnesota]], for example) also can show monophthongization of such vowels, which are more commonly [[diphthongs]] in English. Also, such vowels are underlyingly long monophthongs so the general effect thus is to simplify the system of phonetic implementation, compared to the {{IPA|/ɪi, eɪ, oʊ, ʊu/}} of many other English dialects.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tomveatch.com/Veatch1991/node104.html |title=Impressionistic Transcriptions |access-date=2011-05-08 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514083527/http://www.tomveatch.com/Veatch1991/node104.html |archive-date=May 14, 2006 }}</ref>

==Variation==
A fair to strong degree of variation exists in the [[phonology]] of Chicano English. Its precise boundaries are difficult to delineate, perhaps because of its separate origins of the dialect in the Southwest and the Midwest.<ref name="Santa Ana, 2004a, p. 419">{{Harvnb|Santa Ana|Bayley|2004|p=419}}</ref>

One subvariety, referenced as [[Tejano]] English,{{sfn|Santa Ana|Bayley|2004|p=433}} is used mainly in southern [[Texas]]. California subvarieties are also widely studied, especially that of the [[Los Angeles metropolitan area]],<ref name="Santa Ana, 2004a, p. 419"/> such as [[East Los Angeles, California|East Los Angeles]] Chicano English, which includes elements of [[African American Vernacular English]] and [[California English]].<ref name="Guerrero"/>

===New Mexico===
One type of Hispanic English, a sub-type under Chicano English of the American West, is specific to north-central [[New Mexico]]. A recent study found that native English–Spanish bilinguals in New Mexico have a lower/shorter/weaker [[voice-onset time]] than that typical of native monolingual English speakers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Balukas| first1=Colleen |last2=Koops| first2=Christian| title=Spanish-English bilingual voice onset time in spontaneous code-switching | journal=International Journal of Bilingualism | volume=19 | issue=4 | pages=423–443 |year=2014| issn=1367-0069 | doi=10.1177/1367006913516035 | s2cid=144159300 }}</ref> [[Northern New Mexico]] Hispanic English, transcending age, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, has been reported as having its own vowel shift as follows: {{IPA|/i/}} is {{IPA|[ɪ]}} before a final {{IPA|/l/}} (so ''feel'' merges to the sound of ''fill''), {{IPA|/u/}} is {{IPA|[ʊ]}} before any consonant (so ''suit'' merges to the sound of ''soot''), {{IPA|/ɛ/}} is {{IPA|[æ]}} before a final {{IPA|/l/}} (so ''shell'' [[salary-celery merger|merges to the sound]] of ''shall''), and {{IPA|/ʌ/}} is {{IPA|[ɑ̈]}} before any consonant (so ''cup'' merges to the sound of something like ''cop'').<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hernández|first=Pilar|year=1993|title=Vowel shift in Northern New Mexico Chicano English|journal=Mester|volume=22|issue=2 |pages=227–234|doi=10.5070/M3222014266|doi-access=free}}</ref>
That said, a later study examining the speech of college students in Albuquerque failed to find evidence of {{IPA|/u/}} being laxed to {{IPA|[ʊ]}} or of {{IPA|/ʌ/}} becoming lowered to {{IPA|[ɑ̈]}}.<ref name="BrumbaughKoops2017">{{Cite journal |last1=Brumbaugh |first1=Susan |last2=Koops |first2=Christian |date=December 1, 2017 |title=Vowel Variation in Albuquerque, New Mexico |journal=Publication of the American Dialect Society |volume=102 |issue=1 |at=31-57. p. 49. |doi=10.1215/00031283-4295200}}</ref>

===East Los Angeles===
This form of Chicano English is predominantly spoken in East Los Angeles and has been influenced by the [[California English]] of coastal European-Americans and [[African-American Vernacular English]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Latino and Hispanic American|Languages}}
* [[Caló (Chicano)]]
* [[New York Latino English]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book 
|title=A handbook of varieties of English 
|date=2004 
|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter 
|location=Berlin 
|isbn=3-11-017532-0 
|editor-last1= Kortmann 
|editor-first1=Bernd 
|editor-last2=Schneider 
|editor-first2=Edgar W. 
|editor-link2=Edgar W. Schneider 
|editor-last3= Burridge 
|editor-first3=Kate 
|editor-link3=Kate Burridge 
|editor-last4= Mesthrie 
|editor-first4= Rajend
|editor-last5=Upton
|editor-first5=Clive
|volume=2: Morphology and Syntax
|chapter=Chicano English: morphology and syntax
|last1=Bayley
|first1=Robert
|last2= Santa Ana
|first2=Otto
|doi=10.1515/9783110197181-100
|pages=374–390
}}
*Briggs, Charles L. Competence in Performance: The Creativity of Tradition in Mexicano Verbal Art. University of Pennsylvania Press conduct and communication series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, (1988).
* {{cite thesis 
|last=Brumbaugh
|first=Susan
|date=2017
|title=Anglo and Hispanic Vowel Variation in New Mexican English
|type=PhD
|publisher=University of New Mexico
|url=https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds/54
|access-date=March 15, 2022
}}
* Castaneda, L. V. and Ulanoff, S. H. (2007). Examining Chicano English at school. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.). ''Language and Languages: Global and Local Tensions,'' (pp.&nbsp;328–345). Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
* Fought, Carmen. (2003). ''Chicano English in context''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
* Galindo, Letticia D. (1987). Linguistic influence and variation of the English of Chicano adolescents in Austin, Texas. (PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin).
* Liu, Jennifer [https://web.archive.org/web/20050504064712/http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=16253&repository=0001_article ''Anchor dissects American English''] Stanford Daily, February 23, 2005
* Maddieson, Ian, and Manuel Godinez Jr. "Vowel differences between Chicano and General Californian English." ''International Journal of the Sociology of Language'' 1985, no. 53 (May 1985): 43-58. Communication & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 15, 2015).
* Ornstein-Galicia, J. (1988). ''Form and Function in Chicano English''. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers.
* Penfield, Joyce. Chicano English: An Ethnic Contact Dialect. Varieties of English around the world, General series; v. 7. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co., (1985).
* Sanchez, Rosaura. Chicano Discourse: Sociohistoric Perspectives. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers, (1983).
* Santa Ana, Otto. (1993). Chicano English and the Chicano language setting. ''Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences'', ''15'' (1), 1-35.
* {{cite book 
|title=A handbook of varieties of English
|date=2004 
|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter 
|location=Berlin 
|isbn=3-11-017532-0 
|editor-last1= Kortmann 
|editor-first1=Bernd 
|editor-last2=Schneider 
|editor-first2=Edgar W. 
|editor-link2=Edgar W. Schneider 
|editor-last3= Burridge 
|editor-first3=Kate 
|editor-link3=Kate Burridge 
|editor-last4= Mesthrie 
|editor-first4= Rajend
|editor-last5=Upton
|editor-first5=Clive
|volume=1: Phonology
|chapter=Chicano English: phonology
|last1= Santa Ana
|first1=Otto
|last2=Bayley
|first2=Robert
|doi=10.1515/9783110197181-030
|pages=417–434
}}
* Veatch, Thomas [https://web.archive.org/web/20060514082649/http://www.tomveatch.com/Veatch1991/node101.html ''Los Angeles Chicano English''] (2005)
* Wolfram, Walt. (1974). ''Sociolinguistic aspects of assimilation: Puerto Rican English in New York City''. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
* A Handbook of Varieties of English<ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=Dptsvykgk3IC |page=3 }} |title=A Handbook of Varieties of English: CD-ROM |access-date=2015-02-18 }}</ref>
*Guerrero, Armando. “'You Speak Good English for Being Mexican' East Los Angeles Chicano/a English: Language & Identity.” Voices, 4 June 2014, escholarship.org/uc/item/94v4c08k.
*Santa Ana, Otto. “Chicano English and the Nature of the Chicano Language Setting.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 1 Feb. 1993, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/07399863930151001.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*"[https://www.pbs.org/speak/education/curriculum/high/spanish/ Spanish & Chicano English]." [[Do You Speak American?]]
* [https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2011-oct-24-la-me-eastla-accent-20111025-story.html Hector Becerra, "East L.A. speaks from its heart", ''Los Angeles Times'' October 24, 2011]
* [https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialLaCoacha La Coacha]

{{English dialects by continent}}
{{Chicano/Mexican-American}}
{{Hispanic and Latino Americans navbox}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:American English]]
[[Category:Chicano]]
[[Category:Mexican-American culture in California]]
[[Category:Mexican-American culture in Arizona]]
[[Category:Mexican-American culture in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Mexican-American culture in Texas]]
[[Category:Languages of California]]
[[Category:Languages of Texas]]
[[Category:Languages of New Mexico]]