Linguists identify new dialect in South Florida that mixes Spanish and English

Researchers have identified a new dialect of the English language that is emerging in Southern Florida, according to a recently published study. 

The new dialect, mostly found in the greater Miami area, uses speech patterns and expressions that have developed over time by direct translations between Spanish and English words and phrases. 

“We got down from the car and went inside” might sound a little off to native English speakers, but in Southern Florida, it is commonly heard. It comes from a direct translation of the Spanish phrase “bajar del carro” (to get out of the car)—”bajar” meaning to get down. 

Similarly, it is common to hear that someone is “making a line” instead of “waiting in line,” which derives from the Spanish phrase “hacer la cola.”

As part of the study, linguists compared local and national responses of more than 50 phrases that were common in Miami, to identify whether the speech pattern was local or could be applied more broadly. 

When asked about these phrases, South Florida residents thought they sounded normal or even “perfect.” However, for people in other parts of the country, these phrases sounded “awkward.”

“Words come from somewhere and someplace,” wrote the study's lead author Phillip Carter, a sociolinguist at Florida International University, for The Conversation.

“Every word has a history. That goes for all words spoken in Miami.”

The researchers identified three categorie  of phases that were borrowed from Spanish and directly translated into English, known as “claques.”

First, they found “literal lexical claques” or word-to-word translations from common Spanish phrases. For example, residents say “throw a photo” instead of “take a photo” because in Spanish some say “tirar una foto.” 

The second category includes “semantic calques,” which are based on words with multiple meanings in Spanish. For example, the Spanish word for meat, “carne,” can mean all sorts of “meat” or just “beef” depending on the context. 

“We discovered local speakers saying 'meat' to refer specifically to ‘beef,' Carter wrote in a recent essay for The Conversation, “as in, 'I'll have one meat empanada and two chicken empanadas.''

The last category is “phonetic calques,” where only aspects of a Spanish word carry over to English. For example, many Miami residents say “Thanks God,” adding a final “s” to the word inspired by the Spanish phrase “gracias a Dios.”