This thesis examines sociolinguistic characteristics of the Latino population in the Baton Rouge metro area and has a manifold purpose. The main purpose of the study is to determine whether Latinos consider that the way they speak their native language Spanish has changed as a consequence of their living in Baton Rouge, i.e., the United States. A questionnaire was applied to 106 Latinos in Baton Rouge, 58 male and 48 female, between the ages of 18 and 71 years old, from several socioeconomic backgrounds (white collar workers, blue collar workers, etc.). They represent 14 Latin American countries. I tested a total of 48 factor groups using Goldvarb as my statistical tool to determine their statistical significance. The factor groups examined include influence of the English language, diglossic environments, linguistic insecurity, and subject personal pronoun expression. Eight significant variables were found, with respect of to the main research question. The results showed that Latinos think their native Spanish has changed, essentially because of the influence of other Latinos with whom they have constant contact, but also because of the influence of the English language. Moreover, it was determined that the number of years in the United States is a factor that favors the occurrence of the dependant variable; the longer Latinos live here, they are more likely to report changes in their Spanish. Besides, it was found that the informants have constant contact with the Spanish spoken in their home country, but this factor has not stopped the change they perceived in their language. Latinos also have a high degree of bilingualism at work, meanwhile Spanish is the main language spoken at home. In addition, informants showed a positive attitude towards their native dialect, although some traces of linguistic insecurity were found among Salvadorans, Hondurans and Puerto Ricans. Finally, some particularities in the use of second person pronouns were found, such as the rare use of the pronoun vos among speakers who come from countries were this pronoun is highly used.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-04142009-103050 |
| Date | 14 April 2009 |
| Creators | Campos Molina, Dally |
| Contributors | Rafael Orozco, Alejandro Cortazar, Jeremy King, Andrea Morris |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04142009-103050/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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