Is Spanglish a language?

The other day I read a wonderful article in the newspaper about “Spanglish”. First of all I want to start by defining the word ‘Spanglish’. It is the infiltration of English vocabulary and, less commonly, even syntax into the Spanish language. The most extreme cases of Spanglish can be heard in the United States, where some Spanish-speaking immigrants and their descendants use Spanish and English interchangeably, even in the same sentence. One of the most fascinating things is that the best selling book “Don Quijote de la Macha” was translated into Spanglish. And with this event a great debate was opened: Is Spanglish a genuine language? Some linguists have argued that Spanglish is not a language because it is only for a minority. They think that Spanglish is a form of regional dialect, rather than a Language in itself. On the other hand, millions of Hispanics who speak Spanglish feel that it is an authentic language. They define it as “code-switching", which is the mix of two languages. A group of Mexican people are even trying to open a course of Spanglish at a University in order to teach the language. This is a very good idea for those who like to study languages.

Milkyway