does anyone know a site where i can find an english ebo dictionary

Esta una Spanglish Conference, Amigo

The First International Spanglish Conference.



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"In un placete de la Mancha of which nombre no quiero remembrearme, vivía, not so long ago, uno de esos gentlemen who always tienen una lanza in the rack, una buckler antigua, a skinny caballo y un grayhound para el chase."

Is Spanglish killing English or Spanish?




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No. I never noticed. Didn't see the second one. Keanu's half Hawaiian, right?

Bookninja, right on, man! Who's Carrie Moss? I don't remember the movie except for Reeve's 'kung fu' line.

Um...can we relate this topic to books or philology in any way? Not that films aren't interesting, I just don't speak the lingity.

What the hell race is Carrie Moss? Is she a mix between Angles and Saxons?

G

Edited by author 09-20-2003 09:50 PM
What you were saying about how someday there might be a global language but it will be a mix of languages reminds me of The Matrix movies. Ever notice how all the people in The Matrix are mixed race? I wonder if the film makers are making a statement about evolution.

Ebo, you make an interesting point about cultural imperialism. While the English language speads itself around the world, it must be spreading itself pretty thin, picking up debris from the cultures it conquers. As far as I know there are over 70 countries where English is an official language, and all of them speak English a little differently. Over time, those little differences could very probably become big differences...separate dialcts and new languages are definitely possible.

But when the European languages developed from their Indo-European origins, communication was a lot different than it is today. People were cut off from each other, subject to geographic limitations. Norwegian sounds different than Italian because Norway and Italy are far apart from one another. I wonder if television and the internet (and whatever communication revolution is yet to come) might yet prove to be the tool by which the English language eventually spreads to the rest of the world. If there's going to be a global village, won't everyone in the village eventually speak the same language?

But still this article about Spanglish makes me think that as English spreads it will pick up bit and pieces from other languages. Maybe there will be a global language someday, but it won't be anything spoken today. It might be a mixture of many languages. The united tongues of Benaton? Hmmmm... this is starting to sound less like language theory and more like speculative fiction. Well, it's late and I can't think anymore.

Ciao Kimosabe.

Edited by author 09-19-2003 12:42 AM
Didn't we have this same question when the Oakland County school board debated whether or not to offer classes in Ebonics? I don't know if English is asborbing Spanish, or if Spanish is breaking English in two.

The thing with English is that it's never pure. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Didn't the British ruling class speak French for a long time, changing the Germanic roots of the language we speak. North America is made up of all kinds of different ethnic groups, and all of them bring some kind of linguistic influence with them. Is anyone really surprised when the Hispanic demographic is now the largest ethnic minority in the USA that more and more Spanish words are popping up in the lexicon?

Yiddish gave us the words "klutz" and "mensch." Hindi gave us "shampoo" and "pyjamas." Arabic gave us "mattress" and "algebra." Words borrowed from other languages are hardly anything new. The question is whether or not a new Hispanic dialect is forming. Or, given the size of the population behind this trend, is the English language undergoing yet another tectonic collision that will change the language itself...again.

Maybe all the different ethnic influences in North America is about to bring the same forces that helped to develop the various European languages from ancient Indo-European.

Maybe English in North America is preparing to split-up into the languages: Ebonics, Franglais, Spanglish, Cantonenglish, Japonenglish, etc. etc.

Could it be the same cultural imperialism that brought English to the world will be the same thing that finally breaks it down?

I'm not trying to sound alarmist or anything. I'm not saying someone needs to come to the rescue to save English as we know it. I know the French have an academy to keep French pure, and that's why they say 'ordinateur' instead of "computer' like almost every other language in Europe.

Does anyone think, aside from my grade three teacher, that English is this sacred cow that must be preserved? We don't speak the same English as Chaucer... maybe in 400 years, the English we speak will sound just as strange.

Spanglish? We Don't Need No... Aw, You Get It...

What do Spanish speakers call this? Espingles?





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