By: secundio valladares  (Page 13/17)

Finally, Professor Stavans considered the attacks (mere opinions) against Spanglish and person, originating in the Iberian Peninsula, as manifestations of buried emotions. This is what is known as a vicarious experience. No one other than Mr. Stavans can put themselves in the shoes of the Spaniards. Finally, the closure against the Spanish resistance of some Spaniards to recognize the kindness of Spanglish is seen as comic sketch. The professor tells us that unfortunately the Hispanic civilization never has been able to understand the role of constructive analysis because, to study Spanglish, Stavans continued, would not mean to bet on its future by blocking Spanish; rather it is the the complete opposite which is to analyze it in detail which would be the best form of understanding where we come from and who we are. Provisions were not needed for this trip. The issue is not about clarifying if Spanglish is a real language or not; rather, it is about whether Spanglish is an alternative to the future of bilingualism or not. It is simply about, as the professor says, playing the intellectual do-it-yourself game: a game in which the Hispanic civilization is lost. Until now, the Hispanic civilization had been attributed, for example, to not understanding free examination, but this of the constructive analysis is very new. In case it helps the professor in any way, I must tell him that my students in Madrid spend a whole year constructing the object , and I do not see that they are smarter than those who had been given the already constructed object. To know where we came from and who are, I do not believe Spanglish is the best way. And the professor, frustrated questioned the validity of syntax rules after all. Stavans concluded by saying that with the rate of the slang, perhaps a masterful piece that changes our way of understanding this world will be written. Perhaps, but at the moment, that masterful piece has been written for four hundred years, with the syntax of the Spanish language, while professor Stavans is limited to translate it to Spanglish .

Bilingualism or the fracture of the iron law

It has been said that bilingualism without diglossia (this is a group that speaks two languages without rigorously establishing a functional duality of the languages), although it is a reality individually, sociologically it is an entelechy and the linguistic policies that aspire to that objective lead no where. Richard Rodriguez (1992), on his behalf, has written that the bilingual education and, therefore, its objective is a romantic trap of the 1960s in which the leaders of the Hispanic community absurdly aspired to remain with the best thing of the Spanish and the English language, the private and public, the field and the city, without realizing that it is impossible to be two at the same time. In this dilemma, Rodriguez says the public and the city always win for the simple reason that it is the city that pays.

Without a discussion, in this last epigraph, I suggest that the Hispanics in the U.S. are entering a critical period in which, due to a series of factors, the iron law of the linguistic assimilation can break, giving rise to the possibility that the acquisition of the English language does not mean the inexorable loss of the Spanish language. This would invest the tendency of associating social and academic promotions with the progressive loss of the maternal language. Today, luckily, there are indications in short and medium terms that confirm the change of tendency, according to which the Spanish language would stop being associated with poverty and ignorance, and would begin to be perceived as a language compatible with the public life, as a means of work opportunities and economic income, and, mainly, as a source of self-esteem and cultural collective identity. In this point of inflexion, the attitudes of low linguistic self-esteem would yield to a more generalized attitude of loyalty toward the Spanish language. The following paragraphs mention some of the factors considered responsible for this break or inflection point that is aimed toward the establishment of a stable bilingualism without diglossia, to the maintenance of the Spanish language amongst Hispanics.