"The purpose of this study is to examine the attitude of Mexican Americans toward their Texas Spanish in order to determine if present educational policies are successful in promoting high self-concepts for Mexican-American students..the conclusion of this thesis [is] that a sizable number of Mexican-Americans do not have a positive self-image as speakers of their native language. It is suggested that the rejection of Spanish dialects which are different and distinct from the school standard is a major factor in causing a low self-image on the part of the speaker of a non-standard dialect."-- leaves 1,3.

Speakers of Spanish in the United States are living perhaps the most interesting linguistic experience in the entire Hispanic world. The present study deals with the theme of the Spanish language in contact with English and the problems related with social bilingualism. The first part of Chapter I recounts the principal incidents in the history of Spanish expansion, and outlines the route of the advance of the Spanish language throughout the American continent. The second part of Chapter I presents statistical tables pertaining to immigrants, and explains the geographic and demographic distribution of Hispanics in the United States. Chapter II is a linguistic study of the varieties of Spanish found in the United States, along with lexical examples from daily use, and grammatical characteristics. Chapter III provides an academic classification according to the sociolinguistic and sociocultural factors which affect the Spanish language. Chapter IV presents the linguistic deviations produced by factors at the phonological, morphological, syntactical, lexical, semantic and grammatical level. Chapter V concentrates on the bilingual element of U.S. society. Three tables demonstrate the distribution of English and Spanish according to the sociolinguistic context and the type of text involved. In addition, three studies are presented to deepen our knowledge of bilingualism, as well as its causes and consequences. The conclusion must take into account the fact that it will not be possible to assimilate Hispanics as easily as has been done with people of other cultures in the United States, since the group renews itself continuously through the presence of recently arrived Hispanic immigrants, and those who have recently returned.

Speakers of Spanish in the United States are living perhaps the most interesting linguistic experience in the entire Hispanic world. The present study deals with the theme of the Spanish language in contact with English and the problems related with social bilingualism. The first part of Chapter I recounts the principal incidents in the history of Spanish expansion, and outlines the route of the advance of the Spanish language throughout the American continent. The second part of Chapter I presents statistical tables pertaining to immigrants, and explains the geographic and demographic distribution of Hispanics in the United States. Chapter II is a linguistic study of the varieties of Spanish found in the United States, along with lexical examples from daily use, and grammatical characteristics. Chapter III provides an academic classification according to the sociolinguistic and sociocultural factors which affect the Spanish language. Chapter IV presents the linguistic deviations produced by factors at the phonological, morphological, syntactical, lexical, semantic and grammatical level. Chapter V concentrates on the bilingual element of U.S. society. Three tables demonstrate the distribution of English and Spanish according to the sociolinguistic context and the type of text involved. In addition, three studies are presented to deepen our knowledge of bilingualism, as well as its causes and consequences. The conclusion must take into account the fact that it will not be possible to assimilate Hispanics as easily as has been done with people of other cultures in the United States, since the group renews itself continuously through the presence of recently arrived Hispanic immigrants, and those who have recently returned. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

Variation in Cuban Spanish Abstract The aim of this thesis is to deal with the topic of variation in Cuban Spanish, with a special emphasis on the Havana variety, one of the most innovative and recognizable within the island's linguistic landscape. The work is divided into three sections: phonetics and phonology, lexis and semantics, morphology and syntax. The cases described are illustrated with entries taken from a lexico- graphical work of personal authorship, or likewise with usage examples mainly taken from the Reference Corpus of Contemporary Spanish (CREA). On the basis of the analysis of the collected data, this paper examines the state of variability and balance inherent to the system, in order to deepen in the understanding of the mechanisms that shape this language variety. Keywords: Spanish language, Cuban Spanish, variation, dictionary of Cuban Spanish Variación lingüística en el español de Cuba Resumen El objetivo de la presente tesis es abordar el tema de la variación en el español hablado en Cuba, con especial énfasis en la modalidad de La Habana, una de las más innovadoras y representa- tivas del panorama lingüístico insular. El trabajo se halla dividido en tres grandes bloques: fonética y fonología, léxico y semántica, morfología y sintaxis. Los casos descritos se hallan ilustrados con...