“Talking with Mi Gente ”

1. “Talking with Mi Gente” U.S. English Dialects: Chicano English

2. Where was it born? • Southwestern U.S. and California • Roots in Bilingual culture • Spoken mainly by people of Mexican origin in the U.S. • Is not Spanglish, or watered-down English; is a fully formed dialect.

3. Why Study Chicano English? • It’s an interesting dialect because it grew out of a bilingual setting • It emerged and stabilized with the children of immigrants who grew up with both Spanish and English • Many of my students speak Chicano English • It is not a reliable indicator of how fluent they are in academic English or in Spanish.

4. Don’t Make Assumptions • Chicano English is not “learner English” • It is a fully formed non-standard variety of English • Speaking Chicano English fluently is not a clear indicator of whether or not a person is fluent in Spanish. • Chicano English includes both Spanish influence, and the influence of other non-standard varieties of English such as African American English and Valley girl English.

5. Quees “Spanglish”? • Spanglish is a term often used to describe interspersing Spanish words while speaking primarily English. • Many Chicano English speakers do this, even those that do not speak Spanish fluently. • It is natural code-switching that occurs when growing up in a community where two languages are spoken regularly.

6. Interesting to Watch • While Chicano English has been influenced by many different languages and dialects, we can now watch as the influence goes in the other direction. • Chicano English is now influencing various U.S. English dialects, especially in parts of the country with a large Chicano population. • In the school that I work at, everyone’s speaking is influenced by Chicano-English speakers.