East Los Angeles Chicano/a English (ELACE) is characterized by unique linguistic features that differentiate it from other varieties of English spoken in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. This paper will explore some of the more salient features that lead to many assumptions about the speaker of the variety, some negative and others potentially positive. Additionally, it argues that ELACE is not simply a sociolect reserved for communities of low socioeconomic status, but rather, it is an ethnolect that serves to represent the rich culture of the diverse Latino/a groups represented in East Los Angeles.

Parodi (2010, 2011) has evidenced a Spanish variety unique to Los Angeles, which she names Los Angeles Vernacular Spanish (LAVS). The present study focuses on active and passive knowledge of loanwords that incorporate linguistic elements of English into LAVS (such as: tíquete (chores (marqueta (troca (pochismos, and not Spanish.