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Dame un hamburger plain con ketchup y papitas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2005

Ileana Cortés ,
Jesús Ramírez ,
María Rivera ,
Marta Viada  and
Joan Fayer
Ileana Cortés
Affiliation:
English MA (literature) student at the UPR in Rio Piedras
Jesús Ramírez
Affiliation:
English professor at UPR in Arecibo and a doctoral student at the Department of English, College of Humanities, UPR in Rio Piedras
María Rivera
Affiliation:
Doctoral TESOL student in the Faculty of Education, UPR, Rio Piedras
Marta Viada
Affiliation:
English professor at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, San German Campus
Joan Fayer
Affiliation:
English linguistics professor at the UPR, Rio Piedras Campus
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Abstract

English/Spanish contact in Puerto Rico.

ONE OUTCOME of language contact is lexical borrowing. Borrowing in Puerto Rico (for political, economic, and social reasons) is evident in the influence English has had on Spanish, especially in lexical terms. This paper explores the impact of American English on the lexicon of Puerto Rican Spanish, specifically on vocabulary relating to food. Data were collected through participant observation in selected fast food restaurants from different regions in P.R. An analysis of the corpus provides the basis for five categories useful in understanding the influence of English on Spanish in this domain. The study indicates that English borrowings have had a tremendous influence on the Puerto Rican lexicon, and predicts that, even though Spanish will continue to be the dominant Puerto Rican language, it will continue to change under the influence of English.

Type
Original Article
Information
English Today , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 35 - 42
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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