So, I realized that I haven't posted a normal update here in a while. I kind of let my "Mission Moments" cover the bulk of what is going on with the project and little updates over on the Facebook page have helped some of you stay up to date as well. (If you are on Facebook and haven't "liked" our page, I invite you to do so! I'll try to do better about keeping the blog up to date, but the Facebook page is just so handy for quick little updates.) I did take a trip out to Solola last week, but I'll write about that in another post.
This post is about language. I sometimes feel like there are four languages going on around me. First, obviously, Spanish. Second, English. The third and fourth are two similar situations: words that were English and are used in Spanish with little to no change and words that were English and are used in Spanish with Spanish pronunciation.
Let's start with the first of those two: words that were in English and are used in Spanish with little to no change.
Examples: e-mail, internet, chat. (Are you sensing a theme?) Many of these words are based on technology, and rather than inventing a new word for them--okay, sure "correo electronico," but I don't know anyone who uses that; although they might say "correo" since the postal system here is basically non-existent--they simply adopt the word already in popular usage which happens to be in English. You also see this somewhat in verbs such as textear, but since Spanish verbs have to follow a certain pattern in order to be conjugated (that thing we do in English when it's "I run" but "he runs"), they can't keep there exact English appearance.
With the second, I can only think of one good example right now, but I know I've heard others. That's chance. Now, remember, these words are English words but they have been taken to fit Spanish pronunciation. That word right there in italics is a two-syllable word: Chan-say. I have no clue how or why this happens.
Now, in the multi-lingual community, there's something called "code switching." This refers to switching of languages during a conversation. The rules about it are interesting with plenty of theories by linguists who study this stuff. (I suggest the Wikipedia article for a thorough overview.) I don't claim to be a studied linguist, but I have noticed a few things. Words which retain their same pronunciation can be code switched. Words which change their pronunciation don't really work with code switching. I'm not positive why that is, but I have some theories. First, it could be because any true bilingual knows that "chance" (since it's the only example I can recall right now) is an English word and should therefore be pronounced as such. Second, it could be because, in Spanish, "chance" doesn't usually use its article ("un," masculine). In English, I would say "Give me a chance!" but Spanish would simply be "Deme chance!" not "Deme un chance!"
Just some language ramblings. Hope you are all doing well.
As the son of a Greek immigrant, I heard "code-switching" quite a bit in my youth. I found it amusing as a boy to hear my mother, speaking with fellow members of the diaspora in Greek, throw in the odd English word now and then, and to hear her friends do likewise. I did not learn until years later that there was a linguistic term for this, nor had I any idea it was an ordinary phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Internet, you might find this amusing, as I did when I noticed it on the Twitter a couple of years ago. Greeks online refer to the Direct Message as "Ντιέμ," which is literally just a made-up word that sounds exactly like saying the English initials "D.M."