Chicano English: phonology Conclusion

ChcE is a native variety of English that has been influenced by the Mexican Spanish substrate. We have indicated that the distinguishing features of ChcE are associated with the substrate, or the ELL interlanguage of Mexican Spanish-speaking immigrants. We believe its features originated as second language learning features that Euro-Americans made salient in the English/Spanish contact setting. The Chicano community somehow reworked some of these markers of stigma into the most distinctive elements of ChcE phonology, creating a set of linguistic variables and discourse markers (most of which still have yet to be documented) that affirm ethnic solidarity.

Further empirical dialect contact research in these communities can develop both linguistic and sociolinguistic understandings of dynamic language and dialect contact settings. Well-crafted research has the potential to develop a richer understanding of the complex interaction of the full complement of prosodic, syntactic, and phonological variables that express nuanced Chicana and Chicano identities. In the sociological sphere, it can render precise the human processes by which ethnic communities reformulate linguistic features of out-group markers of stigma into in-group solidarity features.

Chicano communities show no sign of giving up these largely unconscious markers of identity, family, and neighborhood — even when Chicano youth shift from Spanish to English. This reveals a lasting sense of belonging to their community and culture, and a keen awareness of their circumstances in U.S. society. As Fought and Mendoza-Denton bring to light, Chicanos and Chicanas use the ChcE linguistic variables in their daily life to express a counterhegemonic stance toward a nation that still does not fully embrace all of its citizens.