"A Lay Lexicographer": On Codifying the Dictionary of Spanglish

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Contrary to common assumptions, Spanglish, the mix of Spanish and English, has been around since before 1848, with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, even if Merriam-Webster.com traces the origin of the word to 1958 and the OED to 1933. This personal meditation discusses the effort to codify a bilingual Spanglish-English dictionary by "a lay lexicographer" and the responses it received. It explores the way Spanglish is a global phenomenon whose base is the United States, enriched by various Spanishes, including Cuban, Dominican, Mexican, and Puerto Rican. It reflects on the evolution of Spanglish in tandem with the growth and diversity of the Latino minority in the US, the presence of US culture in the Americas, and the multiplicity of online resources. It includes personal anecdotes as well as lexicographic examples.