By , the American immigrants, joined by a small number of native Spanish-speakers, decided to pursue independence from Mexico and establish an independent Texan republic -- thus sparking the Texas Revolution. Just one year later, Texas was established as a republic. In , Texas was admitted into the United States, a move that angered the Mexicans and led to the Mexican-American War in , the outcome of which was the American annexation of vast territories to the north and west of Texas in However, despite the marginalization of Spanish, the language endured in many Southwestern communities and developed into unique regional varieties Post ; Rael ; Ornstein that are still used as the first or second language of Hispanics.
Though English eventually became the dominant language of the United States, Spanish played an important role in the early linguistic landscape of the country, as the Spanish influence spread to nearly every region by the midth century.
Similarly, the Spanish-language will significant shape the linguistic landscape of America in the 21st century, as evidenced by the sizeable Spanish-speaking communities located throughout the country. For instance, linguists have identified a number of unique Spanish dialects within the United States, each with core features traceable to 16 th - and 17 th -century Spain.
In the evolution of Spanish, many monophthongs single vowel sounds underwent a process of diphthongization, which combines two vowel sounds into one vocalic segment. The Spanish of Colorado, for example, exhibits forms with the earlier, monophthongal vowels instead of the later diphthongal developments.
Additionally, varieties of Spanish in the United States are distinctive because of their unique contact situations with various Native American languages. Some words were borrowed into Spanish from indigenous languages in the Southwest, though these contributions are generally regarded as relatively slight. Despite the robust diversity, enduring nature and increased visibility of Spanish in the United States in the 21 st -century, the Spanish language in no way poses a threat to English, contrary to the speculation of many English-only zealots.
In fact, just the opposite may be true. Moreover, immigrant languages are usually lost by the third generation of speakers. Although Spanish has successfully endured in some parts of the country, there is evidence that language shift may be underway for some speakers, even in communities where Spanish is ostensibly thriving. Many young second-generation Mexican-Americans in Raleigh, N. In sum, many Hispanics may perceive the access to social opportunity that English language-use affords as outweighing the cultural, social and familial benefits of maintaining Spanish.
As this essay has shown, a number of myths about Spanish in the United States are being continually reproduced and promulgated. Variation in the Spanish of the United States is due to the results of a founder effect, later immigration from across the Spanish diaspora, and sociolinguistic variables such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age and gender.
The Romans settled on the peninsula in about BC, bringing their spoken language with them. Instead, they spoke a more common, cruder form of Latin, known as Vulgar Latin. Other settlers and languages began to filter in to the area, including Arabic due to the Muslim rule of the peninsula between and In fact, approximately modern Spanish words are derived from Arabic!
You can hear just how similar the two languages are in this fun video from Annenberg Media. As the languages in the area mixed together, dialects began to take shape within the spoken language. Around the end of the 11 th century, the Castilian dialect was formed in northern Spain. This is the earliest point where we can see the beginnings of modern Spanish being spoken! What started as a local dialect spread and gained a foothold when the kingdoms of Castile, Leon and Aragon joined together to form the beginnings of Spain in the late 15th century.
In , Castilian became the official language of the region, having also developed a writing system. With this newly widespread use, literature began to emerge from the area. People started to write down the tales that were previously spread through oral storytelling, further evolving and refining the language.
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