Language Attitudes Toward Mexican Spanish-Accented And Standard Varieties Of English

The unique demographics of El Paso, Texas show that it is a site with intense Mexican-American ethnolinguistic contact that creates a co-existence of different English and Spanish varieties. In El Paso, approximately 80 percent of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino and approximately 95 percent of that group has reported to be of Mexican ancestry (Statistical Atlas, 2015). As a result, Spanish is spoken by 68 percent of the population (United States Census Bureau, 2016). Yet, particular Hispanic-accented English varieties spoken in the region, (Chicano English and Mexican Spanish-accented English), are stigmatized. The focus of this study will be placed on Mexican Spanish-accented English. The stigma towards Mexican Spanish-accented English in El Paso is very important to analyze because it is related to ethnic discrimination and can be an obstacle to professional development. Because of this, I decided to investigate in more detail the social factors that affect the linguistic attitudes toward Mexican Spanish-accented English within the context of the border city of El Paso, Texas. This study contributes to the field of sociolinguistics by adding to the discourse on border studies which focus on sociolinguistic disparity in the U.S.-Mexico border region. The findings of my study add to the body of sociolinguistic literature by incorporating new dialogue that presents a contemporary reexamination of linguistic perspectives in El Paso, Texas