The importance of Spanish as a world language has increased steadily in the United States. Little recognition, however, has been given to the dialect that is spoken natively by individuals born in cities such as Los Angeles. Like African American Vernacular English, Los Angeles Spanish is a non-standard oral dialect that is used mainly in informal contexts and is not taught in schools. This paper suggests that a closer examination of the origins and functions of the Los Angeles Spanish dialect could help to illuminate the social and linguistic situation in the aforementioned city.

Náhuatl, although the most widely spoken indigenous language in Mexico, is not spoken by indigenous immigrant communities in Los Angeles as are other languages such as zapotec or mixtec. Rather, it is used by Chicanos, those individuals of Mexican descent living in the United States who seek to recover or preserve their indigenous heritage, in their efforts to create a unique ethnic identity. The present work seeks to understand the role of náhuatl in the creation of Chicano identity.

The paper begins with a brief description of the linguistic situation of náhuatl in Mexico. This is followed by an explanation of the relevant terminology and then a description of the methodology used to collect the data on which the analysis is based. Information was collected from interviews with two náhautl instructors who represent different ideologies as well as from observations of a náhuatl workshop and a danza azteca rehearsal. The analysis itself consists of an overview of Chicano ideology in general and a description of the two main ideological groups to which Chicanos can belong based on their perspective of Aztec culture. Furthermore, it describes the specifc linguistic attitudes and behaviors that are direct reflexes of the ideologies peviously presented. The analysis is followed by a brief discussion of the linguistic situation of the Chicanos who live in Los Angeles, and the paper concludes with an examination of the effects that this situation have on the maintenance and/or loss of the náhuatl language.

La Real Academia Española (RAE) define el espanglish como ‘Modalidad del habla de algunos grupos hispanos de los Estados Unidos, en la que se mezclan, deformándolos, elementos léxicos y gramaticales del español y del inglés’. Dado que cuestionamos la validez de tal definición, le hemos preguntado a la gente de Los Ángeles si está de acuerdo o no con ella. En este trabajo analizamos las respuestas a las encuestas que realizamos en Los Ángeles (miembros de la comunidad hispana y estudiantes de español de nivel intermedio). Los resultados de nuestra investigación evidencian que, por lo general, la mezcla del español con el inglés se acepta como un proceso natural que no deforma, sino que cambia, ambas lenguas. Proponemos que la RAE redacte una nueva definición del espanglish que tome en cuenta las actitudes de la gente que tiene contacto con esta forma de hablar.

As is well known, Los Angeles is home to a large number of Spanish-speaking immigrants from a variety of different countries. Studies on the Spanish spoken in LA County have demonstrated the existence of a distinct dialect, a product of koineization and dialect leveling. In this paper we seek to explore the dynamics of such leveling as it occurs in a public elementary school in this area. Taking into consideration the fact that use of Spanish is not permited in the public school classroom, we choose to observe children’s use of this language during recess, lunch and a structured after school program designed to help Spanish speakers improve their English skills. These observations are further supplemented by answers to informal interviews with students froom the after school program. The evidence that we find provides further support for the validity of LA Spanish as a distinct dialect and serves to illuminate, at least in part, the role that the public school setting plays in the creation of linguistic norms.

As an immigration hub for a diverse group of Spanish speakers, Los Angeles lends itself to research on dialect contact and leveling. Studies regarding the Spanish spoken by natives of Los Angeles reveal considerable homogeneity with respect to pronunciation, vocabulary and terms of address. This uniformity is notable because two different dialect classes are represented in the Spanish-speaking population of Los Angeles: the so-called tierras altas dialects, which include Mexican varieties, and the tierras bajas dialects, such as those of Central America. This dissertation is motivated by the desire to provide quantitative and qualitative data regarding the principal phonetic, lexical and attitudinal characteristics of Spanish-speaking children in Los Angeles and the effects that their home dialect classification and school neighborhood might have on these. As the offspring of foreign-born parents, these children are in a position to illuminate the processes by which native youth adapt to a linguistic norm that differs from that to which they are exposed in the home.

160 Mexican and Central American Spanish-speaking fourth and fifth graders (ages 9-11) attending public elementary schools in several regions of Los Angeles County completed three sets of linguistic tasks while speaking with an interlocutor whose dialect was unknown to them. In such a situation, it was surmised that subjects would accommodate to what they identify as the prototypical linguistic behavior of their community with respect to three dimensions of their dialect use: vocabulary, pronunciation and attitudes. The results of the production tasks demonstrate that all of the subjects employ a majority of features of tierras altas Mexican Spanish, regardless of their national origin. The findings from the attitude tasks indicate that, children of both Mexican and Central American origin are able to articulate a conscious preference for Mexican Spanish over Salvadoran Spanish. Neither home dialect classification nor school neighborhood was found to have a significant effect on subjects' dialect use. The data obtained in this dissertation suggest that the speech of young Angelenos undergoes a leveling process that favors features of tierras altas Mexican Spanish, a variety that these children likely identify as the linguistic norm of the community.