词汇大师(Wordmaster)--The Making of a New American Langua

Broadcast: October 9, 2003

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- we talk with the author of a book called "Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language."

RS: Ilan Stavans is a professor of Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He's originally from Mexico. His newest work is a lexicon¹ and "user's manual" to a mostly spoken language used by Latinos. People of Spanish-speaking ancestry² are now the largest minority in the U.S., comprising more than 13 percent of the population.

AA: Spanglish blends the two most spoken languages in the country. It can mix English and Spanish in the same sentence or even within in the same word -- like "Hollywoodiano," a noun defined in the book as "Hollywood lifestyle."

But Ilan Stavans says Spanglish is more than simply words.

STAVANS: "It is the announcement of a new way of thinking, of a new way of being, by a large portion of the population that lives in the United States that traces its roots to the Hispanic world. According to the U.S. Census³, this population is almost 40 million people, which is a huge number -- it's the entire population of Spain and seven or eight times the population of a country like El Salvador.

"And the fact that this population is having an identity struggle, so to speak -- it is part Anglo, part Hispanic, but neither one nor the other -- is perfectly⁴ reflected on the language that is spoken, Spanglish, that is part English and part Spanish. And it is a way of saying I'm neither here nor there but I am perfectly who I am."

RS: "Where do these words come from, where does this new identity come from?"

STAVANS: "These words come from the streets, come from the people. They are to be heard in playgrounds, in restaurants, by gardeners, by migrant workers in states like Oregon and Wisconsin and Arizona, by urban dwellers⁵, youngsters that live in the inner city, in New York, in Chicago, in L.A., in Miami.

"And it is really a very spontaneous, very popular way of communication that, it is important to stress, goes beyond class. It is not only spoken by those that don't speak fluent English or don't speak fluent Spanish. It is actually a way of relating by people of the middle class and upper middle class and even the upper class. And as such I think it is an extraordinary American phenomenon, one that tells lots about who we are as a country, as a people."

AA: "Now I see you've even got 'Cyber-Spanglish.' Why don't we talk about some examples of Spanglish terms, including words that you particularly enjoy."

STAVANS: "Of all the Spanglishes that exist -- there's the Spanglish spoken by Cuban Americans. Mexican Americans speak their own Spanglish and New Yoricans -- that is, the Puerto Ricans that live in New York -- have their own style and manner. Of all the ones, the one that I feel is more provocative⁶, perhaps, or stimulating⁷ is Cyber-Spanglish, maybe because we tend to think of Hispanics as rooted in the past and not always looking at the future. And Cyber-Spanglish is the answer to that.

"We have terms like 'downloadiar,' meaning to download, or 'attachiar,' or 'forwardiar,' all verbs that relate to sending manuscripts or sending messages from one side to another. The language of technology and the language of the Internet is fascinating. There is a term that is very popular in the U.S.-Mexican border and more so in Mexico, a Spanglish term, to refer to the Web, 'la Web.' But in Spanish 'web' or 'weba' has also this kind of risky⁸ element of being lazy, but being lazy together with just wasting your time in front of the Internet."

AA: "Actually, that raises the question of, in the same way the French are concerned about English words coming into French, is there a similar concern about Spanish?"

STAVANS: "A substantial concern, particularly among those that consider themselves purists of the language. If in the United States, the debate on Spanglish is played out against issues like assimilation and integration⁹ -- are Latinos following the patterns of other, previous immigrant groups, are they becoming part of the American tapestry¹⁰, are they giving up their immigrant language and embracing English -- outside the United States the debate is very different.

"The debate has to do with American foreign policy, with cultural imperialism¹¹. But I think this is a misguided perception. I don't think that, at least for the time being, Spanglish is replacing anything else. But it's certainly making its way through, and that scares some people."

RS: Ilan Stavans is author of "Spanglish: the Making of a New American Language." It includes a chapter of the Spanish classic "Don Quixote de la Mancha" translated into Spanglish!

AA: That's Wordmaster for this week. Our e-mail address is [email protected]. And you can find all our programs at voanews.com/wordmaster. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 lexicon   

n.字典，专门词汇

参考例句：

• Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
• Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。

2 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

3 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

7 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

8 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

9 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

10 tapestry   

n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面

参考例句：

• How about this artistic tapestry and this cloisonne vase?这件艺术挂毯和这个景泰蓝花瓶怎么样？
• The wall of my living room was hung with a tapestry.我的起居室的墙上挂着一块壁毯。

11 imperialism   

n.帝国主义，帝国主义政策

参考例句：

• They held the imperialism in contempt.他们鄙视帝国主义。
• Imperialism has not been able to subjugate China.帝国主义不能征服中国。