> Subject: Re: New "get to know you" question
> From: [email protected]
> Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2011 10:56:56 -0800
> To: [email protected]
>
>
> On Nov 8, 2011, at 9:53 AM, Nick Andrews wrote:
>
> > Much like the debate around here of Spanish versus Mexican. And then
> > there's Spanglish... People from Spain come here and scratch their
> > heads at people speaking 'Spanish' a lot, wondering what they are
> > saying. It's almost like the difference between spoken Dutch and
> > German, but not quite as different.
>
>
> Languages evolve, though not as fast as they did before print.
>
> Portugese would be considered a dialect of Spanish if it wasn't for a very
> serious range of mountains between the two nations. For another example, look
> at Catalan, the language of the Catalonian region of Spain, but also spoken
> in Andora, the French Pyrenees, and Sardinia. It's a Romance language, like
> Spanish, Italian, French, etc. but there's a lot of linguistic debate on if
> it's originally it's own language or a dialect of early Spanish.
>
> As for Mexican and Spanish, the language is still Spanish in Mexico, but with
> a fair number of Mesoamerican (Aztec, Toltec, Tobassco, Texcallan, etc.)
> borrowed words mixed in. Many of the place names like Oaxaca are not Spanish,
> but native. Spanglish is a pidgin, a blended language with it's own
> structures.
>
> Afrikaan is a creole, a pidgin language that evolves to having native
> speakers, i.e. people born into the language group who use it as a primary
> language. If people start speaking Spanglish from birth, it will be a creole
> language.
>
> All languages borrow to some degree (even French, to the horror of the
> Academe d'Francais).
>
> One last note on pre-printing language drift. In the early 1700 there was a
> parasite infestation that destroyed much of the Great Southern Bison herd in
> North America. The Cheyenne were starving and broke into two bands to better
> survive, the southern branch moving down into Arapaho country, the norther
> branch moving up to stay with the LaKota (Sioux). Thirty years later the two
> bands met and they could hardly understand one another their languages had
> been so influenced by those they lived with. The tribes never reunited. The
> Norther Cheyenne rode with Sitting Bull against Custer, while the Southern
> Cheyenne refused do.
>
> A language is a living, evolving thing, and could change rapidly before it
> became "fixed" by print.
>
> Best, R.E.F.
> ----
> www.crydee.com
>
> Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by
> stupidity.
>
I don't have much knowledge on linguistics, but I can tell you my wife says
Castellano is spoken in Mexico (which of course is still MOSTLY Spanish). She
always just says Spanish though casually as well.
