Posted on 02/03/2024 3:30:16 AM PST by Libloather
The fusion of Latin and Anglo-American cultures in South Florida in the latter half of the 20th century has created a new dialect, linguists say.
Known as Miami English, the increasingly popular parlance has its roots back in the 1950s, when Cubans began moving to the region en masse.
One of the country’s most bilingual cities today - and beyond that, home to many different Spanish dialects - research has shown that Miamians are finding a new way to engage with English, not unlike immigrant groups in other parts of the United States throughout modern history.
“In Miami, there are many ways of speaking English,” Phillip M. Carter, Director of the Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment at the Florida International University, told IFL Science.
“The variety we have been studying for the past 10 years or so is the main language variety of people born in South Florida in Latinx-majority communities. The variety is characterized by some unique but ultimately minor pronunciations, some minor grammatical differences, and word differences, which are influenced by the longstanding presence of Spanish in South Florida,” he said.
Miami English isn’t to be confused with Spanglish - it’s English, crammed with English phrases lifted directly from the literal Spanish, something known as a calque. And increasingly, everyone in Miami is using them - no matter where their families hail from, Indy100.com reported.
“What is remarkable about them is that we found they were not only used in the speech of immigrants - folks who are leaning on their first language Spanish as they navigate the acquisition of English - but also among their children, who learned English as their co-first language,” Carter said.
And calques are nothing new to the language...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Regards,
My favorite is “drink a pill”. In Spanish, “tomar” means “to take” or “to drink” so Spanish speakers, in English say, “I drank a pill”.
Of course they had to slip in a “Alex married Jose” example to satisfy the DEI standards.
Alex could be a woman.
“Miami English”, like “Ebonics”, is the left’s latest attempt to normalize ignorance.
“Miami English”, like “Ebonics”, is the left’s latest attempt to normalize ignorance”
While English and Russian are the two most technical languages, I understand that English is the most difficult to learn because of all the nuances and slang and the continuous evolution of etymology. I have worked with Latinos who grew up speaking “Latino” and they have difficulty and they always will because it’s not their mother tongue and they cannot grasp every nuance if American English. British English can be difficult for Americans to decipher as can Australian English. Take this to bank... those coworkers were far from ignorant, and I learned a smattering of latino, to the point of - I might not understand everything they’re saying but I can usually figure out what they’re talking about.
Hell, we already use many terms from other languages/idioms (carpe diem/coup d’etat, etc.) and texting has further butchered the language - it’s becoming lazy-ignorant speech.
I know - I know - SRSLY BAE?
Sub-standard English is for sub-standard people 😁
Likely correlated to the state of public education
And then there is Brandon English.
I saw a newspaper that was written in pidgin English. Unbelievable.
The patois in Jamaica is indecipherable, but supposedly English.
The most recent that gets me is people who insist on leaving out the middle syllable of words if they contain a d or t. (Impor-ent, di-ent, etc)
Make an effort.
I’m from Miami and still have family there. It’s interesting that Latinos who were born here, and maybe second or third generation born here, have developed a patois and accent that is strictly South Florida.
If you need to communicate with someone, YOU need speak in way they will understand.
It’s your problem, not theirs.
Lots of folks know their local dialect. It’s one of the ways they can identify Outsiders.
Don’t bundle all Latinos together. Northern Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Dom Republic Spanish are so very different they sometimes don’t understand each other.
Government Tagalog is way different from Ilocano or other Visaya dialects.
All the Euro languages are the same way.
“Miami English”, like “Ebonics”, is the left’s latest attempt to normalize ignorance.”
I live outside of a metro area that is 51% black. I was in Sam’s the other day and two black women were yelling at each other about 25 feet apart (not angry yelling, just conversational yelling). I could not understand one word they said as I walked right by them. They were not speaking English, but they were not speaking a foreign language, either. I can’t figure out how they understand each other.
I remember an article in a 1975 issue of Economic Geology for which the abstract was written in Melanesian pidgin as a joke. The article was about the Panguna porphyry copper deposit in Papua New Guinea.
There’s also lang belta from The Expanse.
One of the bigger problems with learning English is that it is actually two different languages: one as written and the other as spoken. We native speakers never notice the difference, but to others it is formidable.
I went to school in an area where Gullah was prevalent. At first it did not sound like a language at all, just a series of sharp, high frequency, yip, yip yip, sounds. Eventually, you learned the dialect’s unique rhythm and could pick out the words and could mostly understand what was being said, although I could never come close to speaking it.
I had The Expanse on my watchlist for the longest time. When I finally watched it, I was surprised at how good it was, akin to classic sci-fi, multi layered, with dimension adding touches like lang belta. Glad I didn’t just drop it off the watchlist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.