Body language guides8/18/2023 When the contact takes place over an extended period of time – decades, generations or longer – the structures of the languages in question may begin to influence one another, and the speakers can begin to share each other’s vocabulary. This can happen when certain events – war, colonialism, political exile, immigration and climate change – put speakers of different language groups into contact with one another. They’re all over English vocabulary: “ pajamas” from Hindi “ gazelle” from Arabic, via French and “ tsunami” from Japanese.īorrowed words usually come from the minds and mouths of bilingual speakers who end up moving between different cultures and places. But borrowed words are far more pervasive than you might think. You’re probably aware that a limited number of words – usually foods, such as “sriracha” or “croissant” – are borrowed from other languages. Whether you’re an English speaker living in Miami or elsewhere, chances are you don’t know where the words you know and use come from. This language variety came about through sustained contact between Spanish and English speakers, particularly when speakers translated directly from Spanish. In Miami, however, they’ve become part of the local parlance.Īccording to my recently published research, these expressions – along with a host of others – form part of a new dialect taking shape in South Florida. These phrases might sound off to the ears of most English-speaking Americans “He made a party to celebrate his son’s birthday.” “We got down from the car and went inside.”
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