GARCIA: MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT S. TEXAS SPANGLISH

Throughout my life I have noticed frequent misinterpretations and misunderstandings of what I term “South Texas Spanish” or the use of Spanish by Rio Grande Valley residents.

Demeaning terms include: Tex-Mex, pocho, Border Spanish, and Spanglish, none of which truly explains this linguistic phenomena.

No language lacks intrusion by other languages, all suffer from the same mixture caused by invasions, and the mingling of cultures.

Remove the Greek, Latin, French, German words out of English and what we have left is an Anglo-Saxon trail. Since time has cemented the use of these words loaned to the English language, no one bothers to call it anything else but English.

Spanish was first developed in Spain from ordinary Latin as opposed to the Classical Latin, which was spoken by the learned. This emerging Spanish occurred during the 10th century A.D., but was invaded by the Greek, Visigothic, Celtic, Hebrew, Basque, and Arabic languages as these groups arrived in Spain. So now what we have is a mixture of various languages with Latin being the predominant root. This is the Spanish language that was brought to South Texas in the 16th century.

So let’s set the record straight:

Myth 1: Residents of South Texas speak a language that is not close to the real Spanish, especially one called Castilian Spanish. They are not truly bilingual because many do not know the grammar or how to write the Spanish language.

Fact: The definition of bilingual: is the ability to speak two languages. Nothing is said about writing the language, nor knowledge of grammar. There is no such activity known as Castilian Spanish. It is an invention by individuals who are prone to consider it more elegant than the Spanish spoken in the Americas. Obviously, and due to locations far from the mother language and influence by other languages, regions have developed regional words that are used only in certain areas or parts of the world. This phenomena is true of all languages, and can also be applied to the English spoken in England, in the South, in New York City and in South Texas. All have a regional usage, a sort of variety peculiar to the area.

Also noteworthy is that over time, many Spanish words have creeped into the present day usage of English. This includes: rodeo/rodeo; lasso/lasso; dale vuelta/dolly welter; pugnar/pugnacious; rancho/ranch; vigilante/vigilant; en pos de/posse; la riata/lariat; educación/education; teatro/theater; drama/drama; diligente/diligent and arribar/arrive.

Does that make English any different from other parts, and should we call it English-Mex? Absolutely not!

Myth 2: All Hispanics in the Southwest speak Tex-Mex or Spanglish.

Fact: In South Texas there are various levels of Spanish abilities, similar to any other language spoken in the world. The Spanish spoken in South Texas is mostly speaking/comprehension ability, since there are few occasions to write anything in Spanish; and the speaking/comprehension component is done at various levels of performance, reflecting the person’s level of education, awareness and immersion. To say that all Hispanics speak at a low-level or high-level reflects lack of knowledge of this topic.