View source for Spanish language in the United States

{{Short description|none}}
{{pp-pc|small=yes}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = United States Spanish
| altname          = U.S. Spanish
| nativename       = Español estadounidense
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|es|espaˈɲol estaðowniˈðense|}}
| states           = [[United States]]
| speakers         = 44.9 million
| date             = 2024
| speakers_label   = Speakers
| ref              = <ref name="acs">{{cite web |url=https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2024.S1601?q=language |title=S1601: Language Spoken at Home |author=U.S. Census Bureau |date=2025-09-14 |website=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=2025-09-14}}</ref>
| speakers2        = 
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Spanish alphabet]])
| agency           = [[North American Academy of the Spanish Language]]
| nation           = 
| iso1             = es
| iso2             = spa<ref>{{cite web|title=ISO 639-2 Language Code search|url=https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/langcodes-keyword.php?SearchTerm=spa&SearchType=iso_639_2&Submit=Go|website=Library of Congress|access-date=22 June 2019}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Italic languages|Italic]]
| fam3             = [[Latino-Faliscan languages|Latino-Faliscan]]
| fam4             = [[Romance languages|Romance]]
| fam5             = [[Western Romance languages|Western]]
| fam6             = [[Ibero-Romance languages|Ibero-Romance]]
| fam7             = [[West Iberian languages|West Iberian]]
| fam8             = [[Castilian languages|Castillian]]
| fam9             = [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
| dia1             = [[Sabine River Spanish|Sabine River]]
| dia2             = [[New Mexican Spanish|Neomexican]]
| dia3             = [[Spanish language in California|Californio]]
| dia4             = [[Caló (Chicano)|Chicano]]
| dia5             = [[Isleño Spanish|Isleño]]
| ancestor         = [[Old Latin]]
| ancestor2        = [[Classical Latin]]
| ancestor3        = [[Vulgar Latin]]
| ancestor4        = [[Old Spanish]]
| ancestor5        = [[Early Modern Spanish]]
| isoexception     = dialect
| glotto           = none
| ietf             = es-US
| notice           = IPA
| map              = Spanish spoken at home in the United States 2019.svg
| mapcaption       = Percentage of the U.S. population aged 5 and over who speak the Spanish language at home in 2019, by states.
}}
{{Latinos in the United States}}
[[Spanish language|Spanish]] is the second most spoken [[language]] in the [[United States]], after [[American English|English]]. Approximately 45 million people aged five or older speak Spanish at home, representing about 14% of the [[Demographics of the United States|U.S. population]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Explore Census Data |url=https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2024.S1601?q=language |access-date=2025-09-14 |website=data.census.gov}}</ref>  Broader estimates place the total number of Spanish speakers—including [[First language|native speakers]], [[Heritage language|heritage speakers]], and [[Second language|second-language speakers]]—at around 59 million, or roughly 18% of the population.<ref>[https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_23/el_espanol_en_el_mundo_anuario_instituto_cervantes_2023.pdf Instituto Cervantes' Yearbook 2023]. 15.5 million Spanish speakers as a second language or limited competence, and 8 million sutdents. (PDF). Retrieved on 20231</ref><ref name="Más 'speak spanish' que en España">{{cite web|url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/speak/spanish/Espana/elpepucul/20081006elpepicul_1/Tes|title=Más 'speak spanish' que en España|access-date=2007-10-06}} (Spanish)</ref><ref>Romero, Simon., [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/us/spanish-language-united-states.html Spanish Thrives in the U.S. Despite an English-Only Drive], ''[[New York Times]]'', 23 August 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2022.</ref> The [[North American Academy of the Spanish Language]] (''Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española'') serves as the official institution dedicated to the promotion and regulation of the Spanish language in the United States.<ref name="Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española">{{cite web|url=http://www.anle.us/|title=Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española|access-date=July 13, 2018}}</ref>

In the United States, the number of [[Hispanophones]]  exceeds the combined total of speakers of [[French language in the United States|French]], [[German language in the United States|German]], [[Italian language in the United States|Italian]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], the [[Indo-Aryan languages]], [[Chinese language in the United States|the various varieties of Chinese]], [[Arabic language in the United States|Arabic]] and the [[Native American languages]]. The U.S. also has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world, after [[Mexico]].<ref>{{Cite web | title=Spanish has never been a foreign language in the United States | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=29 May 2018 | url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-lozano-spanish-language-in-america-20180529-story.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529135233/http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-lozano-spanish-language-in-america-20180529-story.html | access-date=2025-08-14 | archive-date=2018-05-29}}</ref> According to the 2024 [[American Community Survey]] conducted by the [[US Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]], 44.9 million people aged five or older speak Spanish at home — more than twice as many as in 1990.<ref name=":3" /> Spanish is also the most studied language in the United States after [[English language|English]],<ref name=":2">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country|title=US has more Spanish speakers than Spain|access-date=2016-05-09|work=theguardian.com}}</ref> with approximately 8 million students enrolled in Spanish courses at various [[Educational stage|educational levels]]. The use and importance of Spanish in the United States has increased significantly as [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanics]] are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the country. While the proportion of Hispanics who use Spanish in major urban areas has declined, the absolute number of Spanish speakers nationwide, as well as the use of Spanish at home, continues to grow annually.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/31/use-of-spanish-declines-among-latinos-in-major-u-s-metros/|title = Spanish speaking declines for Hispanics in U.S. Metro areas| date=31 October 2017 }}</ref>

Spanish has been spoken in what is now the United States since the 15th century, with the arrival of [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonization]] in [[North America]]. Colonizers settled in areas that would later become [[Florida]], [[Texas]], [[Colorado]], [[New Mexico]], [[Arizona]], [[Nevada]], and [[California]] as well as in what is now the Commonwealth of [[Puerto Rico]]. The [[conquistador|Spanish explorers]] explored areas of 42 of the future [[US states]] leaving behind a varying range of [[Hispanic]] legacy in North America. Western regions of the [[Louisiana Territory]] were also under Spanish rule between 1763 and 1800, after the [[French and Indian War]], which further extended Spanish influences throughout what is now the United States. These areas were incorporated into the United States in the first half of the 19th century, and the first constitutions of the states of California and New Mexico were written in both Spanish and English.<ref>{{Cite web | title=University of Arizona Press | url=https://open.uapress.arizona.edu/read/the-chicanos/section/4cf244e6-79ee-4e6b-8c96-03ac61f720a3 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303010719/https://open.uapress.arizona.edu/read/the-chicanos/section/4cf244e6-79ee-4e6b-8c96-03ac61f720a3 | access-date=2025-08-14 | archive-date=2023-03-03}}</ref> Spanish was later reinforced in the country by the acquisition of [[Puerto Rico]] in 1898. Despite the rise of the [[English-only movement]], Hispanophone publications resisted the acculturation to [[Anglo-Saxon]] culture and the English language,<ref>{{Cite web| title=Language and translation practices of Spanish-language newspapers published in the U.S. borderlands between 1808 and 1930 | url=https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=modernlanguagesandliterature-facultypubs | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106135759/https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=modernlanguagesandliterature-facultypubs | archive-date=2020-11-06}}</ref> and waves of immigration from [[Mexico]], [[Cuba]], [[Venezuela]], [[El Salvador]], and elsewhere in [[Hispanic America]] have strengthened the prominence of Spanish in the country to the present day.

==History==
[[File:RUIDIAZ(1893) 1.083 JUAN PONCE DE LEÓN.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Juan Ponce de León]] ([[Santervás de Campos]], [[Province of Valladolid|Valladolid]], [[Spain]]). He was one of the first Europeans to arrive to the current United States because he led the first European expedition to [[Florida]], which he named. Spanish was the first European language spoken in the territory that is now the United States.]]
{{See also|History of Hispanic and Latino Americans}}

===Early Spanish settlements===
The Spanish arrived in what would later become the United States in 1493, with the Spanish arrival to Puerto Rico. [[Juan Ponce de León|Ponce de León]] explored Florida in 1513. In 1565, the Spaniards founded [[St. Augustine, Florida]]. The Spanish later left but others moved in and it is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States. Juan Ponce de León founded  [[San Juan, Puerto Rico]], in 1508. Historically, the Spanish-speaking population increased because of territorial annexation of lands claimed earlier by the [[Spanish Empire]] and by wars with Mexico and by land purchases.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Fuller|first1=Janet M.|title=Speaking Spanish in the US : the sociopolitics of language|last2=Leeman|first2=Jennifer|date=2020|isbn=978-1-78892-831-1|edition=2nd|location=Bristol, UK|oclc=1139025339}}</ref><ref>David J. Weber, ''Spanish Frontier in North America'' (Yale UP, 1992) ch 1-5.</ref>

=== Spanish Louisiana ===
{{Main|Louisiana (New Spain)|Isleño (Louisiana)}}
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, land claimed by Spain encompassed a large part of the contemporary U.S. territory, including the French colony of Louisiana from 1769 to 1800. In order to further establish and defend Louisiana, Spanish Governor [[Bernardo de Gálvez]] recruited [[Canary Islands|Canary Islanders]] to emigrate to North America.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Emigración por reclutamientos: canarios en Luisiana|author=Santana Pérez|author2=Juan Manuel|date=1992|publisher=Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Servicio de Publicaciones|others=Sánchez Suárez, José Antonio.|isbn=84-88412-62-2|location=Las Palmas de G.C.|pages=103|oclc=30624482}}</ref> Between November 1778 and July 1779, around 1600 [[Isleño (Louisiana)|Isleños]] arrived in [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]], and another group of about 300 came in 1783. By 1780, the four Isleño communities were already founded. When [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Louisiana]] was [[Louisiana Purchase|sold to the United States]], its Spanish, [[Louisiana Creole people|Creole]] and [[Cajun French|Cajun]] inhabitants became U.S. citizens, and continued to speak Spanish or French. In 1813, [[George Ticknor]] started a program of [[Spanish Studies]] at Harvard University.<ref name="Garcia" />
Spain also founded settlements along the [[Sabine River (Texas–Louisiana)|Sabine River]], to protect the border with [[French Louisiana]]. The towns of [[Nacogdoches, Texas]] and [[Los Adaes]] were founded as part of this settlement, and the people there spoke [[Sabine River Spanish|a dialect descended from rural Mexican Spanish]], which is now almost completely extinct.{{sfn|Lipski|2008|pp=214–216}}
Although it's commonly thought in Nacogdoches that the Hispanic residents of the Sabine River area are {{lang|es|isleños}},<ref>
{{Harvp|Abernathy|1976|p=25}}, cited in {{Harvp|Lipski|1987|p=119}}</ref>
their Spanish dialect is derived from rural Mexican Spanish, and their ancestors came from Mexico and other parts of Texas.{{sfnp|Lipski|1987|p=119}}

===Annexation of Texas and the Mexican–American War===
[[File:St Aug Lindsley House sign01.jpg|thumb|right|Spanish language heritage in Florida dates back to 1565, with the founding of [[St. Augustine, Florida|Saint Augustine, Florida]]. Spanish was the first European language spoken in Florida.]]

In 1821,<ref>{{cite book|last=Van Young|first=Eric|title=The Other Rebellion: Popular Violence, Ideology, and the Mexican Struggle|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8047-4821-6|page=324|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Zn_nCFYY_4C}}</ref> after [[Mexican War of Independence|Mexico's War of Independence]] from Spain, Texas was part of the [[United Mexican States]] as the state of [[Coahuila y Tejas]]. A large influx of Americans soon followed, originally with the approval of Mexico's president. In 1836, the now largely "American" Texans fought a war of independence from the central government of Mexico. The arrivals from the US objected to Mexico's abolition of slavery. They declared independence and established the Republic of Texas. In 1846, the Republic dissolved when Texas entered the United States of America as a state. By 1850, fewer than 16,000 or 7.5% of Texans were of Mexican descent, Spanish-speaking people (both Mexicans and non-Spanish European settlers, including [[German Texan]]s) were outnumbered six to one by English-speaking settlers (both Americans and other immigrant [[European ethnic groups|Europeans]]).{{citation needed|date=February 2007}}

After the [[Mexican War of Independence]] from Spain, [[California]], [[Nevada]], [[Arizona]], [[Utah]], western [[Colorado]] and southwestern [[Wyoming]] also became part of the Mexican territory of [[Alta California]].  Most of [[New Mexico]], western Texas, southern [[Colorado]], southwestern [[Kansas]], and the [[Oklahoma]] panhandle were part of the territory of [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México]]. The geographical isolation and unique political history of this territory led to [[New Mexican Spanish]] differing notably from both Spanish spoken in other parts of the United States of America and Spanish spoken in the present-day United Mexican States.

Mexico lost almost half of the northern territory gained from Spain in 1821 to the United States in the [[Mexican–American War]] (1846–1848). This included parts of contemporary Texas, and Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, California, Nevada, and Utah. Although the lost territory was sparsely populated, the thousands of Spanish-speaking Mexicans subsequently became U.S. citizens. The war-ending [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] (1848) does not explicitly address language. Although Spanish initially continued to be used in schools and government, the English-speaking American settlers who entered the Southwest established their language, culture, and law as dominant, displacing Spanish in the [[public sphere]].<ref name="Lozano_Page_1">{{cite book |last1=Lozano |first1=Rosina |title=An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States |date=2018 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Oakland |isbn=9780520969582 |pages=1–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzZODwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>

The California experience is illustrative. The first California constitutional convention in 1849 had eight [[Californio]] participants; the resulting state constitution was produced in English and Spanish, and it contained a clause requiring all published laws and regulations to be published in both languages.<ref name="Valdés">Guadalupe Valdés et al., ''Developing Minority Language Resources: The Case of Spanish in California'' (Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2006), 28–29.</ref> One of the first acts of the first [[California State Legislature|California Legislature]] of 1850 was to authorize the appointment of a State Translator, who would be responsible for translating all state laws, decrees, documents, or orders into Spanish.<ref name="Martin">{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Daniel W.|title=Henke's California Law Guide|date=2006|publisher=Matthew Bender & Co.|location=Newark|isbn=08205-7595-X|pages=45–46|edition=8th}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Winchester|first1=J.|title=The Statutes of California Passed At The First Session of the Legislature|publisher=California State Printer|location=San Jose|page=51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8qI3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA51|year=1850}}</ref>

Such magnanimity did not last very long. As early as February 1850, California adopted the Anglo-American [[common law]] as the basis of the new state's legal system.<ref name="McMurray">{{cite journal |last1=McMurray |first1=Orrin K. |title=The Beginnings of the Community Property System in California and the Adoption of the Common Law |journal=California Law Review |date=July 1915 |volume=3 |issue=5 |pages=359–380 |doi=10.2307/3474579 |jstor=3474579 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3474579.pdf |access-date=9 September 2020}}</ref>   In 1855, California declared that English would be the only [[medium of instruction]] in its schools.<ref name="Garcia">{{cite book|title=How the United States Racializes Latinos|editor1-first=Jose|editor1-last=Cobas|editor2-first=Jorge|editor2-last=Duany|editor3-first=Joe|editor3-last=Feagin|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|chapter=Racializing the Language Practices of U.S. Latinos: Impact on Their Education|first=Ofelia|last=Garcia|pages=102–105}}</ref> These policies were one way of ensuring the social and political dominance of Anglos.<ref name=":0" />

The state's second constitutional convention in 1872 had ''no'' Spanish-speaking participants; the convention's English-speaking participants felt that the state's remaining minority of Spanish-speakers should simply learn English; and the convention ultimately voted 46–39 to revise the earlier clause so that all official proceedings would henceforth be published only in English.<ref name="Valdés" />

Despite the displacement of Spanish from the public sphere, much of the border region, including most of Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and south Texas, was home to Spanish speaking communities until at least the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lipski |first=John M. |author-link=John M. Lipski |date=2010 |title=The impact of the Mexican Revolution on Spanish in the United States |url=https://johnlipski.github.io/festiba.pdf}}</ref>

===Spanish–American War (1898)===
{{Further|Spanish–American War}}
In 1898, consequent to the [[Spanish–American War]], the United States took control of [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Guam]], and the [[Philippines]] as [[Territories of the United States|U.S. overseas territories]]. In 1902, Cuba became independent from the United States, while Puerto Rico remained a U.S. territory. The [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]] required government services to be bilingual in Spanish and English, and attempted to introduce English-medium education to Puerto Rico, but the latter effort was unsuccessful.<ref name="LP"/>

Once Puerto Rico was granted autonomy in 1948, even mainlander officials who came to Puerto Rico were forced to learn Spanish. Only 20% of Puerto Rico's residents understand English, and although the island's government had a policy of official bilingualism, it was repealed in favor of a Spanish-only policy in 1991. This policy was reversed in 1993 when a [[Statehood movement in Puerto Rico|pro-statehood]] party ousted a [[Puerto Rican independence|pro-independence]] party from the commonwealth government.<ref name="LP">{{cite web|url=http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/can-pr.htm|title=Puerto Rico and Official English|year=1997|first=James|last=Crawford|publisher=Language Policy}}</ref>

Spanish disappeared in several countries and US territories during the 20th century, notably in the [[Philippines]] and in the [[Pacific Island]] countries of [[Guam]], [[Federated States of Micronesia|Micronesia]], [[Palau]], the [[Northern Marianas]] islands, and the [[Marshall Islands]].

===Hispanics as the largest minority in the United States===
The relatively recent but large influx of Spanish-speakers to the United States has increased the overall total of Spanish-speakers in the country. They form majorities and large minorities in many political districts, especially in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas (the [[U.S. state|U.S. states]] bordering Mexico), and also in [[South Florida]].

Mexicans first moved to the United States as refugees in the turmoil of the [[Mexican Revolution]] from 1910 to 1917, but many more emigrated later for economic reasons. The large majority of Mexicans are in the former Mexican-controlled areas in the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]]. From 1942 to 1962, the [[Bracero program]] would provide for mass Mexican migration to the United States.<ref name="Garcia" />

At over 5 million, Puerto Ricans are easily the second largest Hispanic group. Of all major Hispanic groups, Puerto Ricans are the least likely to be proficient in Spanish, but millions of [[Stateside Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican Americans]] living in the U.S. mainland are fluent in Spanish. Puerto Ricans are natural-born U.S. citizens, and many Puerto Ricans have migrated to [[New York City]], [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], [[Philadelphia]], and other areas of the [[Eastern United States]], increasing the Spanish-speaking populations and in some areas being the majority of the [[Hispanophone]] population, especially in [[Central Florida]]. In Hawaii, where Puerto Rican farm laborers and Mexican ranchers have settled since the late 19th century, seven percent of the islands' people are either Hispanic or Hispanophone or both.

The [[Cuban Revolution]] of 1959 created a community of [[Cuban exile]]s who opposed the Communist revolution, many of whom left for the United States. In 1963, the [[Ford Foundation]] established the first bilingual education program in the United States for the children of Cuban exiles in [[Miami-Dade County, Florida]]. The [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]] boosted immigration from Hispanic American countries, and in 1968, Congress passed the [[Bilingual Education Act]].<ref name="Garcia"/> Most of these one million [[Cuban Americans]] settled in southern and central Florida, while other [[Cubans]] live in the Northeastern United States; most are fluent in Spanish. In the city of Miami today Spanish is the first language mostly due to Cuban immigration. Likewise, the [[Nicaraguan Revolution]] and subsequent [[Contra War]] created a migration of Nicaraguans fleeing the Sandinista government and civil war to the United States in the late 1980s.{{Sfn|Lipski|2008|p=169}} Most of these [[Nicaraguans]] migrated to Florida and California.{{Sfn|Lipski|2008|p=171}}

[[File:SER-Niños Charter School.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[SER-Niños Charter School]], a K–8 bilingual public school in [[Houston]], [[Texas]]. [[Bilingual education]] is popular in school districts with large numbers of Spanish-speakers.]]

The exodus of [[Salvadorans]] was a result of both economic and political problems. The largest immigration wave occurred as a result of the [[Salvadoran Civil War]] in the 1980s, in which 20 to 30 percent of [[El Salvador]]'s population emigrated. About 50 percent, or up to 500,000 of those who escaped, headed to the United States, which was already home to over 10,000 Salvadorans, making Salvadoran Americans the fourth-largest Hispanic and Latino American group, after the Mexican-American majority, stateside Puerto Ricans, and Cubans.

As civil wars engulfed several Central American countries in the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans fled their country and came to the United States. Between 1980 and 1990, the Salvadoran immigrant population in the United States increased nearly fivefold from 94,000 to 465,000. The number of Salvadoran immigrants in the United States continued to grow in the 1990s and 2000s as a result of family reunification and new arrivals fleeing a series of natural disasters that hit El Salvador, including earthquakes and hurricanes. By 2008, there were about 1.1 million Salvadoran immigrants in the United States.

Until the 20th century, there was no clear record of the number of Venezuelans who emigrated to the United States. Between the 18th and early 19th centuries, there were many European immigrants who went to [[Venezuela]], only to later migrate to the United States along with their children and grandchildren who were born and/or grew up in Venezuela speaking Spanish. From 1910 to 1930, it is estimated that over 4,000 South Americans each year emigrated to the United States; however, there are few specific figures indicating these statistics. Many [[Venezuelans]] settled in the United States with hopes of receiving a better education, only to remain there following graduation. They are frequently joined by relatives. However, since the early 1980s, the reasons for Venezuelan emigration have changed to include hopes of earning a higher salary and due to the economic fluctuations in Venezuela which also promoted an important migration of Venezuelan professionals to the US.<ref name="Everyculture:Venezuelan American">{{cite news|author=Drew Walker|year=2010|url=http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Sr-Z/Venezuelan-Americans.html|title=A Countries and Their Cultures: Venezuelan American|publisher= Countries and their cultures|access-date= December 10, 2011 <!-- to 22:30 pm --> }}</ref> In the 2000s, dissident [[Venezuelans]] migrated to [[South Florida]], especially the [[suburb]]s of [[Doral, Florida|Doral]] and [[Weston, Florida|Weston]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Man |first1=Anthony |title=After making South Florida home, Venezuelans turning to politics |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-venezuelan-politics-florida-20150702-story.html |website=Sun Sentinel |date=2 July 2015 |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref> Other main states with Venezuelan American populations are, according to the 1990 census, [[New York (state)|New York]], [[California]], [[Texas]] (adding to their existing Hispanic populations), [[New Jersey]], [[Massachusetts]] and [[Maryland]].<ref name="Everyculture:Venezuelan American"/>

Refugees from Spain also migrated to the U.S. due to the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936–1939) and political instability [[Spain under Franco|under the regime of Francisco Franco]] that lasted until 1975. The majority of Spaniards settled in Florida, Texas, California, [[New Jersey]], [[New York City]], [[Chicago]], and [[Puerto Rico]].

The publication of data by the [[United States Census Bureau]] in 2003 revealed that Hispanics were the largest minority in the United States and caused a flurry of press speculation in Spain about the position of Spanish in the United States.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}  That year, the [[Instituto Cervantes]], an organization created by the Spanish government in 1991 to promote Spanish language around the globe, established a branch in New York.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=US Latinos, ''la hispanofonia'', and the Language Ideologies of High Moderinty|first=Jose|last=del Valle|pages=33–34|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|title=Globalization and Language in the Spanish-Speaking World: Macro and Micro Perspectives|editor1-first=Clare|editor1-last=Mar-Molinero|editor2-first=Miranda|editor2-last=Stewart|year=2006}}</ref> In total, there were 36,995,602 people aged five or older in the United States who spoke Spanish at home (12.8% of the total U.S. population) according to the 2010 census.<ref name="2010 survey">{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_S1601&prodType=table|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212214642/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_S1601&prodType=table|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-02-12|title=Primary language spoken at home by people aged 5 or older|publisher=United States Census Bureau|date=2010}}</ref>

==Demographics and status==
{{see also|Languages of the United States|List of United States cities by Spanish-speaking population}}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="float:right; margin-left:1em; font-size:100%"
|+ Spanish-speakers in the United States
|-
!Year
!Number of native <br>Spanish-speakers
!Percent of<br />US population
|-
| 1980
| style="text-align:right;" | 11 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 5%
|-
| 1990
| style="text-align:right;" | 17.3 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 7%
|-
| 2000
| style="text-align:right;" | 28.1 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 10%
|-
| 2010
| style="text-align:right;" | 37 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 12.8%
|-
| 2015
| style="text-align:right;" | 40 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 13.3%
|-
| 2023
| style="text-align:right;" | 43.4 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 13.7%
|-
| colspan=3 | Sources:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/05/what-is-the-future-of-spanish-in-the-united-states/|title=What is the future of Spanish in the United States?|date=5 September 2013|work=Pew Research Center|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref><ref>[https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000]. ''Census.gov''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/Castro1.htm|title=The Future of Spanish in the United States|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_S1601&prodType=table|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212214642/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_S1601&prodType=table|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 February 2020|title=American FactFinder – Results|author=Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS)|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref>
|}
As of 2023, according to [[American Community Survey]] statistics, the number of Spanish speakers at home amounted to 43.4 million.<ref name="acs"/> An additional 12 million American residents are [[bilingual]]. This total number makes the United States the second largest [[Hispanophone]] country in the world, including ahead of [[Colombia]], [[Spain]] and [[Argentina]].<ref>{{cite web | title=By 2050, the US could have more Spanish speakers than any other country | date=30 June 2015 | url=https://qz.com/441174/by-2050-united-states-will-have-more-spanish-speakers-than-any-other-country }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=United States has more Spanish speakers than Spain does, report says | date=July 2015 | url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/01/us/spanish-speakers-united-states-spain }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=U.S. Is the No. 2 Spanish-Speaking Country in the World | website=[[NBC News]] | date=29 June 2015 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/u-s-no-2-spanish-speaking-country-world-n383921 }}</ref> Despite this, Spanish has no official status in the country other than the (non-state) territory of [[Puerto Rico]], where it is also the most commonly used language including in local governance and education.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Puerto Ricans worry about new Trump order designating English as official language | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-worries-trump-english-official-language-rcna194249 | access-date=2025-08-14 | website=www.nbcnews.com | date=28 February 2025 }}</ref> English was and is the dominant language of business, education, government, religion, media, culture, and the public sphere in the [[contiguous United States]]. Virtually all state and federal government agencies as well as large corporations use English as their internal [[working language]], especially at the management level, and English is as of [[Executive Order 14224|2025]] the ''de jure'' [[official language]] of the United States.

Spanish, however, retains some use in some official contexts, for example some states such as Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas, provide bilingual legislative notices and official documents in Spanish. Also, the annual [[State of the Union Address]] and other presidential speeches are translated into Spanish, following the precedent set by the [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton administration]] in the 1990s. Moreover, non-Hispanic American origin politicians fluent in Spanish speak in Spanish to Hispanic-majority [[constituency|constituencies]]. Notably in 2013, [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] senator [[Marco Rubio]] gave his [[response to the State of the Union address]] in Spanish, along with English. It marked the first time that a high-profile speech was given in two languages by the same person.<ref>{{Cite web | title=In GOP Shift, Rubio Shows Power of Español - The Atlantic | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/02/in-gop-shift-rubio-shows-power-of-espanol/430047/ | access-date=2025-08-14 | website=www.theatlantic.com | date=13 February 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=In English and Español, Sen. Marco Rubio to give first-ever bilingual GOP response to president's State of the Union address {{!}} Miami Herald | website=[[Miami Herald]] | url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article1947040.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906063832/http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article1947040.html | access-date=2025-08-14 | archive-date=2015-09-06}}</ref> The official [[whitehouse.gov]] website previously had a Spanish-language version alongside the English-language, but has been suspended under both [[Presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administrations]] as part of support for the [[English-only movement]].<ref>{{Cite web | title=Spain concerned over missing White House Spanish website: 'not a good idea' {{!}} Spain {{!}} The Guardian | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/23/spain-spanish-white-house-website | access-date=2025-08-14 | website=www.theguardian.com | date=23 January 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Madrid shocked by removal of Spanish from White House website | url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/02/25/madrid-shocked-by-removal-of-spanish-from-us-president-s-internet-site_6738532_4.html | access-date=2025-08-14 | website=www.lemonde.fr | date=25 February 2025 }}</ref>

[[File:Berclair Elementary School sign in Spanish Memphis TN 2013-01-01 015.jpg|thumb|Public elementary school sign in Spanish in [[Memphis, Tennessee]] (although in Spanish, DEC and JAN would be DIC and ENE respectively).]]
The language is most often spoken by Americans with a [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] background: according to 2017 ACS data, 94 percent of Spanish-speakers are Hispanic. An additional 2.6 million Spanish-speakers do not belong to or identify as Hispanic ethnically.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Hispanic Map of the United States 2018 | url=https://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/mapa_hispano_23_octubre_eng.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211116162807/https://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/mapa_hispano_23_octubre_eng.pdf | archive-date=2021-11-16}}</ref> Of the latter, approximately 59% of Hispanophones trace their ancestry to non-Spanish European countries while approximately 12% are of [[African-American]] descent. 26% of non-Hispanic Spanish speakers reside in a household where at least one other member is Hispanic.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Who Are the 2.8 Million Non-Hispanic Americans Who Speak Spanish at Home? {{!}} Smart News {{!}} Smithsonian | url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/who-are-the-28-million-non-hispanic-americans-who-speak-spanish-at-home-2154/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725161917/http://www.smithsonianmag.com:80/smart-news/who-are-the-28-million-non-hispanic-americans-who-speak-spanish-at-home-2154/? | access-date=2025-08-14 | archive-date=2016-07-25}}</ref>

The native Spanish-speaking population greatly differ between the states and is most prominent in [[Southwestern United States]] and [[Florida]]. According to Census Bureau statistics from 2019, [[Texas]] (29.2% speaking Spanish at home), [[California]] (28.8%) and [[New Mexico]] (26.5%) had the largest proportions of Spanish-speakers of the fifty states.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://orb.binghamton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/alpenglowjournal/article/1112/&path_info=Vazquez__Eva__Power__Policy__Profit_The_Spanish_Language_in_the_United_States___1_.pdf | title=Power, Policy, Profit: The Spanish Language in the United States | website=orb.binghamton.edu | date=2021-11-30 | author=Eva C. Vazquez}}</ref> In urban metropolitan areas, the largest Hispanophone communities are 4.4 million in [[Greater Los Angeles|Los Angeles metro]] (36% of its population), 3.6 million in [[New York metropolitan area|New York metro]] (20.2%), 2.4 million in [[Miami metropolitan area|Miami metro]] (42.8%) 1.9 million in [[Houston metropolitan area|Houston metro]] (30.3%), 1.6 million in [[Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex|Dallas metro]] (23.1%), and 1.5 million each in [[Chicago metropolitan area|Chicago metro]] (17.4%) and [[Inland Empire]] (35.1%).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dietrich |first1=Sandy |last2=Hernandez |first2=Erik |date=August 2022 |title=Language Use in the United States: 2019 |url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2022/acs/acs-50.pdf |journal=ACS-50}}</ref>

[[File:Spanishuspsposter.jpg|thumb|right|Federal agencies such as the [[US Postal Service]] translate information into Spanish.]]
Spanish-language mass media (such as [[Univisión]], [[Telemundo]], and the former [[Azteca América]]) support the use of Spanish, although they increasingly serve bilingual audiences. In addition, the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) makes many American manufacturers use multilingual product labeling in English, French, and Spanish, three of the four official languages of the [[Organization of American States]] (OAS). Besides the specialized businesses that have long catered to Hispanophone immigrants, a small but increasing number of mainstream American retailers also now advertise bilingually in Spanish-speaking areas and offer bilingual customer services. One common indicator of such businesses is ''Se Habla Español'', which means "Spanish Is Spoken".

===Bilingualism===
In 2015, the proportion of Hispanics in the country who spoke Spanish at home was 73 percent (down from 78 percent in 2000).<ref name="ajspanish">{{Cite web |url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/2/more-latino-voters-dont-speak-spanish.html |title=Candidates Facing More Latino Voters Who Don't Speak Spanish |last=Nasser |first=Haya El |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] |date=January 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509210937/http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/2/more-latino-voters-dont-speak-spanish.html |archive-date=May 9, 2017 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Generally, Hispanics (13.4% of the 2002 US population) are bilingual to a degree. A Simmons Market Research survey recorded that 19 percent of Hispanics speak only Spanish, 9 percent speak only English, 55 percent have limited English proficiency, and 17 percent are fully English-Spanish bilingual.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Good Spanish Book|first=Ricardo|last=Roque Mateos|publisher=University Academic Editions|year=2017|page=37}}</ref>

===Language shift===
[[File:Hispanic and Latino Americans by county.png|thumb|Distribution of [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanics in the U.S.]] in the [[2020 United States census]].]]
As the most commonly spoken language after English in the United States, continued immigration has been a key reason for the continued presence and use of Spanish, since the descendants of early immigrants and those incorporated into the United States as a result of annexation have largely undergone language shift to English.<ref name=":0" /> Historically, immigrants' languages tend to disappear or to be reduced by generational [[Language shift|assimilation]], with English monolingualism predominant by the third generation. This pattern has largely held steady among more recent immigrants—including Spanish-speakers—and their descendants.<ref name=":0" />

Intergenerational transmission of Spanish is a more accurate indicator of Spanish's future in the United States than raw statistical numbers of Hispanophones. Although Hispanics hold varying English proficiency levels, almost all second-generation Hispanics speak English, but about 50 percent speak Spanish at home. Two thirds of third-generation [[Mexican Americans]] speak only English at home. [[Calvin Veltman]] undertook in 1988, for the National Center for Education Statistics and for the Hispanic Policy Development Project, the most complete study of Anglicization by Hispanophone immigrants. Veltman's [[language shift]] studies document abandonment of Spanish at rates of 40 percent for immigrants who arrived in the US before the age of 14, and 70 percent for immigrants who arrived before the age of 10.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Brief History of the Spanish Language|first=David|last=Faries|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2015|page=198}}</ref> The complete set of the studies' demographic projections postulates the near-complete assimilation of a given Hispanophone immigrant cohort within two generations. Although his study based itself upon a large 1976 sample from the Bureau of the Census, which has not been repeated, data from the 1990 census tend to confirm the great [[Anglicisation|Anglicization]] of the Hispanic population.

The [[English-only movement]] seeks to establish English as the sole official language of the United States. Generally, they exert political public pressure upon Hispanophone immigrants to learn English and speak it publicly. As universities, business, and the professions use English, there is much social pressure to learn English for upward socio-economic mobility. These social pressures and policies contribute to the loss of Spanish and the shift to English.

===Social===
Possibly at least partially as a result of a [[language barrier]], children from Spanish-speaking households in the United States experience 50% higher rates of obesity than those in English-speaking households, according to the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Families may not have access to health education materials or resources in Spanish, and food labels are typically in English only.<ref name="Endocrine Society 2021">{{cite web | title=U.S. children from Spanish-speaking households experience higher rate of obesity than those from English-speaking families | website=Endocrine Society | date=2021-03-20 | url=https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/featured-science-from-endo-2021/us-children-from-spanish-speaking-households-experience-higher-rate-of-obesity | access-date=2022-03-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Hang Long |last2=Tsoi |first2=Man Fung |last3=Feng |first3=Qi |last4=Cheung |first4=Ching-Lung |last5=Cheung |first5=Tommy |last6=Cheung |first6=Bernard M Y |title=Prevalence of Childhood Obesity in the United States 1999 - 2018: A 20-Year Analysis |journal=Journal of the Endocrine Society |date=3 May 2021 |volume=5 |issue=Supplement_1 |pages=A24–A25 |doi=10.1210/jendso/bvab048.047 |doi-access=free|pmc=8090293 }}</ref>

==Spanish across the states==
[[File:Bus Time Manhattan Launch (10142776423).jpg|thumb|Bilingual bus information sign in [[Manhattan]] - 1 in 5 people in the [[New York metropolitan area|New York-Newark-Jersey City]] region speak Spanish at home]]
===California===
{{main|Spanish language in California}}
California's first constitution recognized Spanish-language rights:

{{blockquote
|text=All laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions emanating from any of the three supreme powers of this State, which from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish.
|sign=[[California Constitution]], 1849
|source=Art. 11 Sec. 21.
}}

By 1870, English-speakers were a majority in California; in 1879, the state promulgated a new constitution with a clause under which all official proceedings were to be conducted exclusively in English, which remained in effect until 1966. In 1986, California voters added a new constitutional clause by [[referendum]]:

{{blockquote
|text=English is the official language of the State of California.
|sign=California Constitution
|source=Art. 3, Sec. 6
}}

Spanish remains widely spoken throughout the state, and many government forms, documents, and services are bilingual in English and Spanish. Although all official proceedings are to be conducted in English, the California courts system offers accommodations to Spanish speakers:

{{blockquote
|text=A person unable to understand English who is charged with a crime has a right to an interpreter throughout the proceedings.
|sign=California Constitution
|source=Art. 1. Sec. 14
}}

===Arizona===
Throughout the history of the Southwestern U.S., the controversial issue of language as part of cultural rights and bilingual state government representation has caused sociocultural friction between Anglophones and Hispanophones. The State of Arizona, like its neighbors in the Southwest, has had close linguistic and cultural ties with Mexico. The state, except for the 1853 [[Gadsden Purchase]], was part of the [[New Mexico Territory]] until 1863, when the western half was made into [[Arizona Territory]]. The area of the former Gadsden Purchase was largely Spanish-speaking until the 1940s, although the [[Tucson]] area had a higher ratio of Anglophones (including Mexican Americans who were fluent in English). The continuous arrival of Mexican settlers increased the number of Spanish speakers.

===Florida===
[[File:WalgreenDrugStoreMiami.jpg|thumb|left|La Época is an upscale [[Miami]] department store, whose Spanish name comes from [[Cuba]]. La Época is an example of the many businesses started and owned by Spanish-speakers in the United States.]]
During the 1990s and 2000s, Miami emerged as a global city with a majority Hispanic bilingual population.  Today, most of the residents of the Miami metropolitan area speak Spanish at home, and the influence of Spanish can even be seen in many features of the [[Miami accent|local dialect]] of English. Miami is considered the "capital of Latin US" for its many bilingual corporations, banks, and media outlets that cater to international business. 

[[File:Pardon our dust.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|right|First settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, 19% of Floridians now speak Spanish, which is the most widely taught second language. In [[Miami]], 67% of residents spoke Spanish as their first language in 2000.]]
In addition, there are several other major cities in Florida with a sizable percentage of the population able to speak Spanish, most notably [[Tampa]] (18%) and [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]] (16.6%). [[Ybor City]], a historic neighborhood near downtown Tampa, was founded and is populated chiefly by Spanish and Cuban immigrants. Most Latinos in Florida are of Cuban descent and live in metropolitan Miami, followed by those of Puerto Rican origin in Miami and Orlando, and Mexican origin in Tampa, Fort Myers and Naples.<ref name="pewhispanic2004">{{Cite web |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2004/03/19/latinos-in-california-texas-new-york-florida-and-new-jersey/  |title=Latinos in California, Texas, New York, Florida and New Jersey  |publisher=[[Pew Research Center]] |date=March 19, 2004 }}</ref>

===New Mexico===
{{Also|New Mexican Spanish}}
New Mexico is commonly thought to have Spanish as an official language alongside English because of its wide usage and legal promotion of Spanish in the state; however, the state has no official language. New Mexico's laws are promulgated in both Spanish and English. English is the state government's paper working language, but government business is often conducted in Spanish, particularly at the local level.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} Spanish has been spoken in New Mexico since the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bills |first1=Garland D. |last2=Vigil |first2=Neddy A. |title=The Spanish Language of New Mexico and Southern Colorado : A Linguistic Atlas |date=16 December 2008 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |isbn=9780826345516 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2cxVwA-fyoEC}}</ref> Spanish was formerly an official language of New Mexico until 1953 at latest.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Perea|first1=Juan F.|title=Los Olvidados: On the Making of Invisible People|publisher=New York University Law Review, 70(4), 965–990}}</ref>

Because of its relative isolation from other Spanish-speaking areas over most of its 400-year existence, New Mexico Spanish, particularly the Spanish of northern New Mexico and Colorado has retained many elements of 16th- and 17th-century Spanish lost in other varieties and has developed its own vocabulary.<ref name="Cobos-1">{{harvnb|Cobos|2003}}</ref> In addition, it contains many words from [[Nahuatl]], the language that is still spoken by the [[Nahua people]] in Mexico. New Mexican Spanish also contains loanwords from the [[Pueblo]] languages of the upper [[Rio Grande|Rio Grande Valley]], Mexican-Spanish words (''mexicanismos''), and borrowings from English.<ref name="Cobos-1"/> Grammatical changes include the loss of the second-person plural verb form, changes in verb endings, particularly in the [[preterite]], and the partial merger of the second and third conjugations.{{sfn|Cobos|2003|pp=x-xi}}

===Texas===
[[File:NoSmokingTexasDeptStateHealth.JPG|thumb|"No Smoking" sign in Spanish and English at the headquarters of the [[Texas Department of State Health Services|Texas Department of Health]] in [[Austin, Texas]]]]

In Texas, English is the state's ''[[de facto]]'' official language and is used in government, although it lacks ''[[de jure]]'' status. However, the longstanding presence of Spanish Speaking Texans (see: [[Tejanos]] and [[Mexican Americans]]), in addition to the ebb and flow of Spanish-speaking people across the border since the [[Texas Revolution]], has resulted in large significance of Spanish as a [[minority language]] in Texas. Texas's counties close to the Mexican border are mostly Hispanic and so Spanish is commonly spoken in the region. The [[Texas government]], in Section 2054.116 of the Government Code, mandates providing by [[state agency|state agencies]] of information on their websites in Spanish to assist residents who have limited English proficiency.<ref>"[http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/docs/gv/htm/gv.2054.htm Sec. 2054.001]." [[Texas Legislature]]. Retrieved on June 27, 2010.</ref>

=== Kansas ===
Spanish has been spoken in the state of [[Kansas]] since at least the early 1900s, primarily because of several waves of immigration from Mexico. That began with refugees fleeing the [[Mexican Revolution]] (c. 1910–1920).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oppenheimer|first=Robert|date=1985|title=Acculturation or assimilation: Mexican immigrants in Kansas, 1900 to World War II|journal=The Western Historical Quarterly|volume=16|issue=4|pages=429–448|doi=10.2307/968607|jstor=968607}}</ref> There are now several towns in Kansas with significant Spanish-speaking populations: [[Liberal, Kansas|Liberal]], [[Garden City, Kansas|Garden City]], and [[Dodge City, Kansas|Dodge City]] all have Latino populations over 40%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/liberalcitykansas/PST045217|title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Liberal, KS|date=2017|website=U.S. Census Bureau}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dodgecitycitykansas|title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Dodge City, KS|date=2018|website=U.S. Census Bureau}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/gardencitycitykansas|title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Garden City, KS|date=2018|website=U.S. Census Bureau}}</ref> Recently, linguists working with the [https://www.k-state.edu/english/kspeak/ Kansas Speaks Project] have shown how high numbers of Spanish-speaking residents have influenced the dialect of English spoken in areas like Liberal and in other parts of southwest Kansas.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.kansas.com/news/local/article213100119.html|title=As the Latino population grows in this rural area, youths are developing a new accent|last=Alanis|first=Kaitlyn|date=June 13, 2018|work=The Wichita Eagle}}</ref>

There are many [[:Category:Spanish-language radio stations in Kansas|Spanish-language radio stations throughout Kansas]], like [[KYYS]] in the Kansas City area as well as various Spanish-language newspapers and television stations throughout the state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ks/people/employees/?cid=nrcs142p2_033297|title=Hispanic Media Sources in Kansas|website=USDA National Resources Conservation Service}}{{dead link|date=June 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Several towns in Kansas boast Spanish-English [[dual language]] immersion schools in which students are instructed in both languages for varying amounts of time. Examples include [https://www.usd259.org/horacemann Horace Mann Elementary] in [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]], named after the [[Horace Mann|famous educational reformer]], and [https://bj.gckschools.com/ Buffalo Jones Elementary] in [[Garden City, Kansas|Garden City]], named after [[Charles "Buffalo" Jones]], a [[frontiersman]], [[bison]] preservationist, and cofounder of Garden City.

===Puerto Rico===
{{Main|Puerto Rican Spanish}}
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico recognizes Spanish and English as official languages, but Spanish is the dominant language and was proclaimed the first official language in 1978. The island was under [[History of Puerto Rico#Spanish rule (1493–1898)|Spanish control]] for 400 years; its [[Spanish settlement of Puerto Rico|settlers were mainly Spanish speakers]] before Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States in 1898 following the [[Spanish-American War]].

==Place names==
{{Main|List of U.S. place names of Spanish origin}}
Because much of the US was once under Spanish, and later Mexican sovereignty, many places have Spanish names dating to these times. These include the names of several states and major cities. Some of these names preserve older features of Spanish orthography, such as [[San Ysidro, San Diego|San Ysidro]], which would be {{lang|es|Isidro}} in modern Spanish. Later, many other names were created in the American period by non-Spanish speakers, often violating Spanish syntax. This includes names such as [[Sierra Vista, Arizona|Sierra Vista]].

==Learning trends==
In 1917, the [[American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese]] was founded, and the academic study of Spanish literature was helped by negative attitudes towards [[German language|German]] due to World War I.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/350775/Leeman_J._2007_.The_value_of_Spanish_Shifting_ideologies_in_US_language_teaching._ADFL_Bulletin._38_1-2_32-39], Leeman, Jennifer (2007) “The Value of Spanish: Shifting Ideologies in United States Language Teaching.” ADFL Bulletin 38 (1–2): 32–39.</ref>

Spanish is currently the most widely taught language after English in American secondary schools and higher education.<ref>Richard I. Brod {{cite web |url=http://www.mla.org/adfl/bulletin/v19n2/192039.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011125162147/http://www.mla.org/adfl/bulletin/v19n2/192039.htm |archive-date=November 25, 2001 |title=Foreign Language Enrollments in US Institutions of Higher Education—Fall 1986 |url-status=dead |access-date=September 1, 2016 }}. AFL Bulletin. Vol. 19, no. 2 (January 1988): 39–44</ref> More than 790,000 university students were enrolled in Spanish courses in the autumn of 2013, with Spanish the most widely taught foreign language in American colleges and universities. Some 50.6% of the over 1.5 million U.S. students enrolled in foreign-language courses took Spanish, followed by [[French language|French]] (12.7%), [[American Sign Language]] (7%), [[German language|German]] (5.5%), [[Italian language|Italian]] (4.6%), [[Japanese language|Japanese]] (4.3%), [[Chinese language|Chinese]] (3.9%), [[Arabic]] (2.1%), and [[Latin]] (1.7%). These totals remain relatively small in relation to the total U.S. population.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=http://www.mla.org/pdf/2013_enrollment_survey.pdf |title=Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2013 |last1=Goldberg |first1=David |last2=Looney |first2=Dennis |last3=Lusin |first3=Natalia |date=February 2015 |publisher=Modern Language Association |access-date=May 20, 2015}}</ref>

==Radio and media==
{{Main|Hispanic and Latino Americans#Media}}
{{multiple image
 | align     = right
 | direction = vertical
 | image1    = Logo Univision 2019.svg
 | width1    = 150
 | caption1  =
 | alt1      =
 | image2    = Telemundo logo 2018.svg
 | width2    = 150
 | caption2  = As of 2012, [[Univisión]] was the fourth-largest network overall in the United States and also the country's largest Spanish-language network, followed by [[Telemundo]].<ref>{{cite web|author=D.M. Levine |url=http://www.adweek.com/news/television/hispanic-tv-market-grows-univision-reshuffles-execs-137594 |title=As Hispanic Television Market Grows, Univision Reshuffles Executives |work=[[Adweek]] |date=2012-01-19 |access-date=2013-10-02 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
 | alt2      =
}}
Spanish language radio is the largest non-English broadcasting media.<ref>Todd Chambers, "The state of Spanish-language radio." ''Journal of Radio Studies'' 13.1 (2006): 34–50.</ref> While foreign language broadcasting declined steadily, Spanish broadcasting grew steadily from the 1920s to the 1970s.

The 1930s were boom years.<ref>Jorge Reina Schement, “The Origins of Spanish-Language Radio: The Case of San Antonio, Texas,” ''Journalism History'' 4:2 (1977): 56–61.</ref> The early success depended on the concentrated geographical audience in Texas and the Southwest.<ref>Félix F. Gutiérrez and Jorge Reina Schement, ''Spanish-Language Radio in the Southwestern United States'' (Austin: UT Center for Mexican American Studies, 1979).</ref> American stations were close to Mexico, which enabled a steady circular flow of entertainers, executives and technicians and stimulated the creative initiatives of Hispanic radio executives, brokers, and advertisers. Ownership was increasingly concentrated in the 1960s and 1970s. The industry sponsored the now-defunct trade publication ''Sponsor'' from the late 1940s to 1968.<ref>Andrew Paxman, "The Rise of US Spanish-Language Radio From 'Dead Airtime' to Consolidated Ownership (1920s–1970s)." ''Journalism History'' 44.3 (2018).</ref> Spanish-language radio has influenced American and Latino discourse on key current affairs issues such as citizenship and immigration.<ref>Dolores Inés Casillas, ''Sounds of belonging: US Spanish-language radio and public advocacy'' (NYU Press, 2014).</ref>

There are 500 Spanish newspapers, 152 magazines, and 205 publishers in the United States. ''[[El Nuevo Herald]]'' (Miami) and ''[[La Opinión]]'' (Los Angeles) are among the highest circulating American Spanish-language newspapers.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Circulation for daily Hispanic newspapers | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/chart/sotnm-hispanic-black-hispanic-daily-newspaper-circulation/ | access-date=2025-08-14 | website=www.pewresearch.org | date=27 July 2021 }}</ref>

==Language variation==
There is a great diversity of accents of Spanish in the United States.<ref name="bbc">{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-50550015 |title=Spanish Accents Spoken in the United States |date=November 25, 2019 |access-date=November 25, 2019 |publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref> The influence of English on [[Spanish language in the Americas|US Spanish]] is very important. In many Latino<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303816504577322723349114252 | work=The Wall Street Journal | first=Miriam | last=Jordan | title='Hispanics' Like Clout, Not the Label | date=April 4, 2012}}</ref> (also called Hispanic) youth [[subcultures]], it is common to mix Spanish and English to produce [[Spanglish]], a term for [[code-switching]] between English and Spanish, or for Spanish with heavy English influence.

The ''[[Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española]]'' (North American Academy of the Spanish Language) tracks the developments of the Spanish spoken in the United States<ref>{{Cite web|title=Misión|url=https://www.anle.us/nuestra-academia/mision/|access-date=March 23, 2021|website=Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española}}</ref> and the influences of English.<ref>{{Cite web|title="Amenaza para la seguridad"|url=https://www.anle.us/proyectos/nuestro-idioma-de-cada-dia/amenaza-para-la-seguridad/|access-date=March 23, 2021|website=Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title="Esto es": copia hispana de la redacción anglo|url=https://www.anle.us/proyectos/nuestro-idioma-de-cada-dia/esto-es-copia-hispana-de-la-redaccion-anglo/|access-date=March 23, 2001|website=Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española}}</ref>

===Varieties===
Linguists distinguish the following varieties of the Spanish spoken in the United States:
*[[Mexican Spanish]]: the US–Mexico border, throughout the Southwest from California to Texas, as well as in Chicago, but becoming ubiquitous throughout the Continental United States. Standard Mexican Spanish is often used and taught as the [[standard dialect]] of Spanish in the Continental United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Villarreal |first1=Belén |title=Why Los Angeles Spanish Matters |journal=Voices |date=2013 |volume=1 |issue=1 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/55h6g7qt |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Villareal dissert">{{cite thesis |last=Villarreal |first=Belén |date=2014 |title=Dialect Contact among Spanish-Speaking Children in Los Angeles |type=PhD |publisher=UCLA |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8q06b36g |access-date=2021-05-29}}</ref>
*[[Caribbean Spanish]]: Spanish as spoken by Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans. It is largely heard throughout the Northeast and Florida, especially New York City and Miami, and in other cities in the East.
*[[Central American Spanish]]: Spanish as spoken by Hispanics with origins in Central American countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. It is largely heard in major cities throughout California and Texas, as well as Washington, DC; New York; and Miami.
*[[Spanish language in South America]]: Spanish as spoken by Hispanics with origins in South American countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Bolivia. It is largely heard in major cities throughout [[New York State]], California, Texas, and Florida.
*Colonial Spanish: Spanish as spoken by descendants of Spanish colonists and early Mexicans before the United States expanded and annexed the Southwest and other areas.
**[[Spanish language in California|Californian Spanish]] (1769–present): California, especially the [[Central Coast (California)|Central Coast]]
**[[Isleño Spanish]] (1783–present): [[St. Bernard Parish]], Louisiana
**[[Sabine River Spanish]]: Parts of [[Sabine Parish, Louisiana|Sabine]] and [[Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] Parishes, Louisiana, and the Moral community west of [[Nacogdoches, Texas|Nacogdoches]]. Moribund, originated from rural Mexican Spanish.
**[[New Mexican Spanish]]: Central and north-central New Mexico and south-central Colorado and the border regions of Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico, and southeastern Colorado

Many Spanish speakers in the US speak it as a [[heritage language]].
Many of these heritage speakers are [[semi-speaker]]s, or [[Transitional bilingualism|transitional bilinguals]], which means they spoke Spanish in early childhood but largely switched to an English-speaking environment. They typically have a strong passive command of the language, but never fully acquired it. Other, fluent heritage speakers have not undergone such a total shift from Spanish to English in their immediate family.

Transitional bilinguals often produce errors which are rarely found among native Spanish speakers but which are common among second-language learners.
Transitional bilinguals often face difficulties in Spanish classrooms since teaching materials designed for English monolinguals and those designed for fluent heritage speakers are both inadequate.{{sfn|Lipski|2008|pp=56–64}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Lipski |first=John M. |author-link=John M. Lipski |date=1999 |orig-date=1993 |chapter=Creoloid phenomena in the Spanish of transitional bilinguals |chapter-url=https://johnlipski.github.io/creoloid.pdf |publisher= De Gruyter Mouton |pages=155–182 |isbn=9783110165722 |doi=10.1515/9783110804973.155 |title=Spanish in the United States}}</ref>

Heritage speakers in general have a native or near-native phonology.<ref>Benmamoun, Elabbas; Montrul, Silvina; Polinsky, Maria, (2010) [https://scholar.harvard.edu/mpolinsky/files/hl_white_paper_june_12.pdf ''White Paper: Prologmena to Heritage Linguistics''] Harvard University</ref><ref>Chang, C. B, Yao, Y., Haynes, E. F, & Rhodes, R. (2009). Production of Phonetic and Phonological Contrast by Heritage Speakers of Mandarin. ''UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report'', 5. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5p6693q0</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Oh|first1=Janet S|last2=Jun|first2=Sun-Ah|last3=Knightly|first3=Leah M|last4=Au|first4=Terry Kit-fong|date=2003-01-01|title=Holding on to childhood language memory|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027702001750|journal=Cognition|language=en|volume=86|issue=3|pages=B53–B64|doi=10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00175-0|pmid=12485742|s2cid=30605179|issn=0010-0277|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== Dialect contact ===
Spanish in the US shows mixing and [[dialect leveling]] between different varieties of Spanish in large cities with Hispanics of different origins.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lipski |first1=John M. |author1-link=John M. Lipski |editor1-last=Gutiérrez-Rexach |editor1-first=Javier |title=Enciclopedia de Lingüística Hispánica |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=978-1138941380 |pages=363–374 |chapter-url=https://johnlipski.github.io/ency.pdf |language=es |chapter=Dialectos del Español de América: Los Estados Unidos |doi=10.4324/9781315713441}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Potowski|first=Kim|title=El futuro de la lengua española en Estados Unidos|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdp_KEDIC4Y| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/Jdp_KEDIC4Y| archive-date=2021-11-13|url-status=live|access-date=March 18, 2021|website=Youtube|date=August 2019 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> For example, Salvadorans in Houston show a shift towards lowered rates of /s/ reduction,<ref>{{Citation|last1=Aaron|first1=Jessi Elana|title=18. Quantitative evidence for contact-induced accommodation|date=2007|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/impact.22.23aar|work=Spanish in Contact|pages=327–341|place=Amsterdam|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=978-90-272-1861-2|access-date=2021-03-19|last2=Esteban Hernández|first2=José|doi=10.1075/impact.22.23aar|url-access=subscription}}</ref> due to contact with the larger number of Mexican speakers and the low prestige of Salvadoran Spanish.

[[Los Angeles]] has its own vernacular Spanish variety, the result of dialect leveling between speakers of different, mainly central Mexican varieties. The children of Salvadoran parents who grow up in Los Angeles typically grow up speaking this variety.<ref name="Villareal dissert" /> Other cities may have their own vernacular Spanish varieties as well.<ref>{{Harvp|Melgarejo|Bucholtz|2020}} mentions "Miami Spanish"</ref>

[[Voseo]], the use of the [[second person pronoun]] {{lang|es|vos}} instead of or alongside the more widespread {{lang|es|tú}}, is widespread among Honduran and Salvadoran immigrants to the US. The children of these immigrants tend to accommodate to more widespread use of {{lang|es|tú}}, although at the same time they maintain occasional use of {{lang|es|vos}} as a symbol of Central American identity. Second-generation Salvadoran-Americans often engage in verbal voseo, using voseo-related verb forms alongside {{lang|es|tú}} due to linguistic insecurity in contact situations. On the other hand, third-generation Salvadoran-Americans have begun using pronominal voseo, with {{lang|es|vos}} being used alongside the verb forms associated with {{lang|es|tú}}.<ref name=VoseoIdentity>{{cite book |url=http://www.lingref.com/cpp/hls/13/paper2478.pdf |chapter=Use of Voseo and Latino Identity: An Intergenerational Study of Hondurans and Salvadorans in the western region of the U.S. |publisher=Oregon State University |author=Susana V. Rivera-Mills |title=Selected Proceedings of the 13th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium |editor=Luis A. Ortiz-López}}</ref>

==Phonology==
{{cleanup list|date=April 2024}}
{{IPA notice}}
Spanish in the US often has some phonological influence from English. For example, bilinguals who grew up in the [[Mesilla Valley]] in southern New Mexico most often merge the two rhotic consonants {{IPA|/r/}} and {{IPA|/ɾ/}} as {{IPAblink|ɾ}}. The use of a trill is even less frequent in northern New Mexico, where contact with monolingual Mexican Spanish is lesser.<ref>
{{Harvp|Waltermire|Valtierrez|2017}}, citing {{Harvp|Vigil|2008}} for the low frequency of the trill in northern New Mexico
</ref>

{{IPAblink|v}} has been reported as an allophone of {{IPA|/b/}} in Chicano Spanish in the Southwest, both when spelled {{angbr|b}} and when spelled {{angbr|v}}. This is primarily due to English influence.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Torres Cacoullos |first1=Rena |last2=Ferreira |first2=Fernanda |title=Lexical frequency and voiced labiodental-bilabial variation in New Mexican Spanish |journal=Southwest Journal of Linguistics |date=2000 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=1–17 |url=http://www.personal.psu.edu/rct11/Resources/Publications/Lexical%20frequency%20Voiced%20labiodentals.pdf |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115235414/http://www.personal.psu.edu/rct11/Resources/Publications/Lexical%20frequency%20Voiced%20labiodentals.pdf |archive-date=15 January 2022}}</ref><ref name="threecons">{{cite journal |last1=Timm |first1=Leonora A. |title=Three consonants in Chicano Spanish: /x/, /b/ and /d/ |journal=Bilingual Review / La Revista Bilingüe |url=https://ur.booksc.eu/book/48829448/0ba09e |date=1976 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=153–162 |jstor=25743678}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Robert |editor1-last=Amastae |editor1-first=Jon |editor2-last=Elías-Olivares |editor2-first=Lucia |title=Spanish in the United States: Sociolinguistic Aspects |date=1982 |orig-date=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |pages=71–81 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXk6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA71 |chapter=Influences of English on /b/ in Los Angeles Spanish|isbn=9780521286893 }}</ref>
Although Mexican Spanish generally pronounces {{IPAslink|x}} as a velar fricative, Chicano Spanish often realizes it as a glottal {{IPAblink|h}}, like English's h sound. In addition, {{IPA|/d/}} may occasionally be realized as a fricative in initial position.<ref name="threecons"/>

The [[vowel system]] of Spanish speakers in the US may also be affected by English influence. For example, {{IPA|/u/}} can be [[fronting (sound change)|fronted]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lease |first=Sarah |date=2022-02-28 |title=Spanish in Albuquerque, New Mexico: Spanish-English Bilingual Adults' and Children's Vocalic Realizations |journal=Languages |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=53 |doi=10.3390/languages7010053 |issn=2226-471X|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Willis |first=Erik W. |date=2005 |title=An Initial Examination of Southwest Spanish Vowels |url=https://www.academia.edu/8607913 |journal=Southwest Journal of Linguistics |volume=24 |pages=185–198}}</ref>

Much of the variation in US Spanish pronunciation reflects the differences between other [[Spanish dialects and varieties]]:

*As in most of [[Hispanic America]], {{angle bracket|z}} and {{angle bracket|c}} (before {{IPAslink|e}} and {{IPAslink|i}}) [[phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives|are pronounced as]] {{IPAblink|s}}, the same way as {{angle bracket|s}}. Note that ''[[seseo]]'' (the act of not distinguishing {{IPA|/s/}} from {{IPA|/θ/}}) is not only typical of the speech of Latino Americans but is also typical among Hispanic Americans of [[Andalusia]]n and [[Canary Islands|Canarian descent]].
*[[Spanish language in the Americas|Spanish in the Americas]] usually features ''[[yeísmo]]'', with no distinction being made between {{angbr|ll}} and {{angbr|y}} as both are pronounced {{IPAblink|ʝ˕|ʝ}}. ''Yeísmo'' is an expanding and now dominant feature of [[Peninsular Spanish]] as well, particularly in urban speech ([[Madrid]], [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]]) and in Andalusia and the Canary Islands, but {{IPAblink|ʎ}} is still preserved in some rural areas of northern Spain. Speakers of [[Rioplatense Spanish]] pronounce both {{angbr|ll}} and {{angbr|y}} as {{IPAblink|ʒ}} or {{IPAblink|ʃ}}. The traditional pronunciation of the digraph {{angbr|ll}}, {{IPAblink|ʎ}}, is preserved in some dialects along the [[Andes]] range, especially in inland [[Peru]] and the highlands of [[Colombia]] highlands, northern Argentina, and all of [[Bolivia]] and [[Paraguay]].
*Most speakers with ancestors born in the coastal regions may [[debuccalization|debuccalize]] or [[aspiration (linguistics)|aspirate]] syllable-final {{IPAslink|s}} to {{IPAblink|h}} or entirely drop; this, ''está'' {{IPA|es|esˈta|}} ("s/he is") sounds like {{IPA|[ehˈta]}} or {{IPA|[eˈta]}}, as in southern Spain ([[Andalusia]], [[Region of Murcia|Murcia]], [[Castile–La Mancha]] (except the northeastern part), [[Canary Islands]], [[Ceuta]], and [[Melilla]]).
*In many Caribbean dialects, the phonemes {{IPAslink|l}} and {{IPAslink|r}} can be exchanged or sound alike at the end of a syllable: ''caldo'' > ''ca[r]do'', ''cardo'' > ''ca[l]do''. At the end of words, {{IPAslink|r}} becomes silent, which gives Caribbean Spanish a partial [[rhotic and non-rhotic accents|non-rhoticity]]. That occurs left often happens as well in Ecuador and Chile{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}} and is a feature brought from [[Extremadura]] and westernmost Andalusia, in Spain.
*In [[Puerto Rico]], besides {{IPAblink|ɾ}}, {{IPAblink|r}}, and {{IPAblink|l}}, syllable-final {{IPAslink|r}} can be realized as {{IPAblink|ɹ}}, an influence of [[American English]]: ''"verso"''' (verse) can become {{IPA|[ˈbeɹso]}}, besides {{IPA|[ˈbeɾso]}}, {{IPA|[ˈberso]}}, or {{IPA|[ˈbelso]}}; "''invierno''" (winter) can become {{IPA|[imˈbjeɹno]}}, aside from {{IPA|[imˈbjeɾno]}}, {{IPA|[imˈbjerno]}}, or {{IPA|[imˈbjelno]}}; and "''escarlata''" (scarlet) can become {{IPA|[ehkaɹˈlata]}}, aside from {{IPA|[ehkaɾˈlata]}}, {{IPA|[ehkarˈlata]}}, or [{{IPA|ehkaˈlata}}]. Word-finally, {{IPAslink|r}} is usually one of the following:
# a trill, a tap, an approximant, {{IPAblink|l}}, or silent before a consonant or a pause, as in ''amo''{{IPA|[r ~ ɾ ~ ɹ ~ l ~ ∅]}} ''paterno'' ('paternal love');
# a tap, an approximant, or {{IPAblink|l}} before a vowel-initial word, as in ''amo''{{IPA|[ɾ ~ ɹ ~ l]}} ''eterno'' ('eternal love').

#Word-finally, {{IPA|/n/}} is frequently velar {{IPAblink|ŋ}} in [[Spanish language in the Americas|American Spanish]] and ''pan'' (bread) is often pronounced {{IPA|['paŋ]}}. To an English-speaker, the {{IPAslink|ŋ}} makes ''pan'' sound like ''pang''. Velarization of word-final {{IPA|/n/}} is so widespread in the Americas that only a few regions maintain the alveolar {{IPAblink|n}}, as in Europe: most of Mexico, Colombia (except for coastal dialects), and Argentina (except for some northern regions). Elsewhere, velarization is common although alveolar word-final {{IPAblink|n}} appears among some educated speakers, especially in the media or in singing. Velar word-final {{IPAblink|ŋ}} is also frequent in Spain, especially in the South (Andalusia and the Canary Islands) and in the Northwest: Galicia, Asturias, and León.

==Vocabulary and grammar==
The vocabulary and grammar of US Spanish reflect English influence, accelerated change, and the Hispanic American roots of most US Spanish. One example of English influence is that the usage of Spanish words by American bilinguals shows a convergence of [[semantics]] between English and Spanish [[cognates]]. For example, the Spanish words ''atender'' ("to pay attention to") and ''éxito'' ("success") have acquired a similar semantic range in US Spanish to the English words "attend" and "exit." In some cases, [[loanwords]] from English turn existing Spanish words into [[homonyms]]: ''coche'' has come to acquire the additional meaning of "coach" in the United States, it retains its older meaning of "car."<ref>{{cite book|chapter=English Calques in Chicano Spanish|first1=Robert|last1=Smead|first2=J Halvor|last2=Clegg|page=127|editor1-first=Ana|editor1-last=Roca|editor2-first=John|editor2-last=Jensen|title=Spanish in Contact: Issues in Bilingualism}}</ref>
Other phenomena include:

* Loan translations such as {{lang|es-spanglis|correr para}} 'to run for', {{lang|es-spanglis|aplicar para}} 'to apply for', and {{lang|es-spanglis|soñar de}} instead of {{lang|es-spanglis|soñar con}} 'to dream of' frequently occur.{{sfn|Lipski|2008|pp=226–229}}
* Expressions with {{lang|es-spanglis|[[Spanglish#pa'trás|patrás]]}}, such as {{lang|es-spanglis|llamar patrás}}, are widespread. Though these appear to be calques, they likely represent a semantic extension.{{sfn|Lipski|2008|pp=226–229}}
* Spanish speakers in the US tend to use {{lang|es|estar}} more often instead of {{lang|es|ser}}. This is an extension of an ongoing trend within Spanish, since historically {{lang|es|estar}} was used far less often.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Silva-Corvalan |first1=Carmen |title=Bilingualism and Language Change: The Extension of Estar in Los Angeles Spanish |journal=Language |date=September 1986 |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=587–608 |doi=10.2307/415479 |jstor=415479 |author-link=Carmen Silva-Corvalan}}</ref> For more information, see [[Romance copula#Spanish|Spanish copulas]].
* Spanish speakers in the southwest tend to use the morphological [[Spanish verbs#Future (futuro simple or futuro imperfecto)|future tense]] exclusively to express [[grammatical mood]]. The [[periphrastic]] construction '{{lang|es|ir + a +}} infinitive' is used for speaking about events that will occur in the future.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gutiérrez |first1=Manuel J. |editor1-last=Silva-Corvalán |editor1-first=Carmen |editor1-link=Carmen Silva-Corvalan |title=Spanish in four continents: studies in language contact and bilingualism |date=1997 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=9780878406494 |pages=214–226 |url=https://www.academia.edu/33623859 |chapter=On the Future of the Future Tense in the Spanish of the Southwest}}</ref>
* In Chicano Spanish varieties, the word {{wikt-lang|es|agarrar}} has acquired a very wide range of meanings, much like the English word "get".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=García |first1=Mary Ellen |title=Chicano Spanish/Latin American Spanish: Some Differences in Linguistic Norms |journal=Bilingual Review / La Revista Bilingüe |date=1977 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=200–209 |jstor=25743735 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25743735 |issn=0094-5366}}</ref>
* While varieties of Spanish in the US have traditionally not used [[voseo]], this feature has been introduced by Central American immigrants. While the children of these immigrants use voseo much less often than their parents, the pronoun {{lang|es|vos}} remains as a symbol of identity. Verbal voseo is often found among linguistically insecure second-generation Salvadoran-Americans in contact with speakers of other varieties, while pronominal voseo is often found among third-generation Salvadoran-Americans who have adopted the {{lang|es|tú}}-related verb forms but maintain the pronoun {{lang|es|vos}} as a symbol of identity.<ref name="VoseoIdentity" />
* Spanish-speakers who are more proficient in English tend to use the subjunctive mood less often. This same preference for the indicative also correlates independently with lower education in Spanish, reflecting variation in monolingual Spanish.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Waltermire |first1=Mark |title=The social conditioning of mood variation in the Spanish of Albuquerque, New Mexico |journal=Sociolinguistic Studies |date=21 July 2014 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=111–137 |doi=10.1558/sols.v8i1.111 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276914414 |access-date=27 March 2022}}</ref>
*Disappearance of ''de'' (of) in certain expressions, as is the case with [[Canarian Spanish]]: ''esposo Rosa'' for ''esposo de Rosa'', ''gofio millo'' for ''gofio de millo'', etc.{{citation needed|date=January 2022|reason=This has been unsourced since 2012, similar claim on Canarian Spanish article has gone unsourced since 2007}}
*Doublets of Arabic-Latin synonyms, with the [[Arabic]] form being more common in US Spanish, which derives from American Spanish (Hispanic America) and so is influenced by [[Andalusian Spanish]], like Andalusian and Hispanic American ''alcoba'' for standard peninsular ''habitación'' or ''dormitorio'' ('bedroom') or ''alhaja'' for standard ''joya'' ('jewel').{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}
*See [[Spanish dialects and varieties#Vocabulary|List of words having different meanings in Spain and Hispanic America]].

==Literature==
{{main|American literature in Spanish}}
{{see also|Cuban American literature|Hispanic and Latino literature|Puerto Rican literature}}

American literature in Spanish dates back to 1610 when a Spanish explorer [[Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá]] first published his epic poem ''History of New Mexico''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=López|first=Miguel R.|date=2001|title=Disputed History and Poetry: Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá's Historia de la Nueva México|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25745738|journal=Bilingual Review / La Revista Bilingüe|volume=26|issue=1|pages=43–55|jstor=25745738|issn=0094-5366}}</ref> However, it was not until the late 20th century that Spanish, [[Spanglish]], and bilingual poetry, plays, novels, and essays were readily available on the market through independent, trade, and commercial publishing houses and theaters. Cultural theorist Christopher González identifies Latina/o authors—such as [[Oscar Zeta Acosta|Oscar “Zeta” Acosta]], [[Gloria E. Anzaldúa|Gloria Anzaldúa]], [[Piri Thomas]],  [[Gilbert Hernandez]], [[Sandra Cisneros]], and [[Junot Díaz]]—as having written innovative works that created new audiences for Hispanic Literature in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book|author=González, Christopher|title=Permissible narratives : the promise of Latino/a literature|year=2017|isbn=978-0-8142-7582-5|location=Columbus|oclc=1003108988}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fagan|first=Allison|date=2019-09-20|title=Latinx Theater in the Times of Neoliberalism by Patricia A. Ybarra, and: Permissible Narratives: The Promise of Latino/a Literature by Christopher González (review)|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/733619|journal=MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States|language=en|volume=44|issue=3|pages=197–201|doi=10.1093/melus/mlz028|issn=1946-3170|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|United States|Latino and Hispanic American|Language}}
*[[List of most commonly learned foreign languages in the United States]]
*[[List of U.S. cities with diacritics]]
*[[List of U.S. communities with Hispanic majority populations]]
*[[List of Spanish-language newspapers published in the United States]]
*[http://spanishintheus.org Biennial academic conference of Spanish in the United States]

'''General:'''
*[[Bilingual education]]
*[[Spanglish]]
*[[Spanish language in the Americas]]
*[[Spanish language in science and technology]]
*[[List of colloquial expressions in Honduras]]
*[[Spanish language in the Philippines]]
*[[History of the Spanish language]]
*[[Languages in the United States]]
*[[Hispanic]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|indent=}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Abernathy |first1=Francis |year=1976 |chapter=The Spanish on the Moral |title=The Bicentennial Commemorative History of Nacogdoches |pages=21–33 |publisher=Nacogdoches Jaycees |location=Nacogdoches}}
* {{Cite book |title=A Dictionary of New Mexico & Southern Colorado Spanish |publisher=Museum of New Mexico Press |year=2003 |last=Cobos |first=Rubén |edition=2nd |isbn=0-89013-452-9}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Lipski |first1=John M. |author-link=John M. Lipski |date=1987 |title=El dialecto español de Río Sabinas: vestigios del español mexicano en Luisiana y Texas |language=es |journal=Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=111–128 |doi=10.24201/nrfh.v35i1.624 |jstor=40298730 |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lipski |first1=John M. |author-link=John M. Lipski |title=Varieties of Spanish in the United States |date=2008 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=9781589012134 |url=http://press.georgetown.edu/book/languages/varieties-spanish-united-states |url-access=limited}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Melgarejo |first1=Victoria |last2=Bucholtz |first2=Mary |date=2020 |title=Oh, I don't even know how to say this in Spanish |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt2rp1542x/qt2rp1542x_noSplash_e60ce1c47085b6184101c790e6a61d49.pdf?t=qsqj6e |journal=Spanish in Context |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=488–510 |doi=10.1075/sic.18028.buc |s2cid=225015729 |issn=1571-0718}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Vigil |first=Donny |date=2008 |title=The traditional Spanish of Taos, New Mexico: Acoustic, phonetic and phonological analyses |type=PhD |publisher=Purdue University}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Waltermire |first1=Mark |last2=Valtierrez |first2=Mayra |title=The trill isn't gone: Rhotic variation in southern New Mexican Spanish |journal=Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest |date=2017 |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=133–161 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322721890}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|indent=}}
* {{cite book |last1=Escobar |first1=Anna María |title=El español de los Estados Unidos |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=9781107451179 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/latin-american-language-and-linguistics/el-espanol-de-los-estados-unidos?format=PB |url-access=limited}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fuller |first1=Janet M. |last2=Leeman |first2=Jennifer |title=Speaking Spanish in the US : the sociopolitics of language |date=2020 |location=Bristol, UK |isbn=9781788928298 |edition=2nd |url=http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?k=9781788928298 |url-access=limited}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lozano |first1=Rosina |title=An American language : the history of Spanish in the United States |date=2018 |location=Oakland, California |isbn=9780520297074 |publisher=University of California Press |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520297074/an-american-language |url-access=limited}}
{{refend}}

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