SPANISH-AMERICAN CONTACT HUMOR

L. Dabène said that in the case of the first generation, Code Switching is often used as a remedial strategy to not knowing the correct English word. However in the second generation, code switching can fulfill different functions: It can enable the speaker to claim a personal identity.

It can express a kind of complicity with the others or, on the other hand, it can reveal a strategy of divergence from the environment. Code Switching can enable the speaker to comment about the language (metalinguistic use). Code Switching can also be used to comment on what has just been said (metadiscursive use). Or, finally, Code Switching can be used to change the type of interaction, to select other interlocutors or to switch from a dialogue to a collective exchange (metacommunicative use).

“Spanglish” is a new kind of slang finding its way not only into conversations but also into short stories, novels, popular music, comedy acts, and television sitcoms. Sprinkled through English sentences are such insertions as “Que no?,” “Tambien,” and “Yo se.” Sometimes English words are combined with Spanish words, so that “barber shop” and “peluqueria” becomes “barberia.” Similarly, “chilling out” becomes “chileando,” and “to park” becomes “parkear.”

Consider the following examples of Spanglish:

bacuncliner

vacuum cleaner

biper

beeper or pager

boyla

boiler

chileando

chilling out

choping

shopping

fafu

fast food

jangear

hanging out

joldoperos

muggers, holdup artists

liqueo

to leak

maicrogüey

microwave oven

pulover

T-shirt

roofo

roof

sangüiche

sandwich

tensén

ten-cent store like K-Mart or Woolworths