Will Parsons
2017-10-01 00:59:03 UTC
I will assume that if I were to say that "So-and-so is Spanish", that would
be understood outside of American (and Canadian?) English as meaning the
person referred to comes from Spain, and in fact, that's what it would mean
by a speaker of AmE who has a certain amount of education. However, in more
"blue colar" circles, "Spanish" can refer to someone from the
Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas.
My *assumption* has been that "Spanish" might be most commonly used in the
(South-)West to refer to someone from Mexico (keep in mind that I've never
actually lived in the US W/SW), and in the US North East as most likely
referring to Puerto Ricans, but in principle applying to anyone from any
Spanish-American country.
We had a call this evening from a relative (by marriage), who, among other
things, complained about her next-door neighbours, who made too much noise.
The linguistic point of interest here is that she referred to them first as
"Spanish", and then corrected herself, saying something like: "no, not
Spanish, they're Dominicans". This is in Eastern Pennsylvania, and I gather
from this snippet that "Spanish" to her means specifically Puerto Ricans, but
not e.g. Dominicans.
So, is "Spanish" used elsewhere to mean something more than the obvious in
other American (or other) dialects?
be understood outside of American (and Canadian?) English as meaning the
person referred to comes from Spain, and in fact, that's what it would mean
by a speaker of AmE who has a certain amount of education. However, in more
"blue colar" circles, "Spanish" can refer to someone from the
Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas.
My *assumption* has been that "Spanish" might be most commonly used in the
(South-)West to refer to someone from Mexico (keep in mind that I've never
actually lived in the US W/SW), and in the US North East as most likely
referring to Puerto Ricans, but in principle applying to anyone from any
Spanish-American country.
We had a call this evening from a relative (by marriage), who, among other
things, complained about her next-door neighbours, who made too much noise.
The linguistic point of interest here is that she referred to them first as
"Spanish", and then corrected herself, saying something like: "no, not
Spanish, they're Dominicans". This is in Eastern Pennsylvania, and I gather
from this snippet that "Spanish" to her means specifically Puerto Ricans, but
not e.g. Dominicans.
So, is "Spanish" used elsewhere to mean something more than the obvious in
other American (or other) dialects?
--
Will
Will