5 How to Tame a Wild Tongue "We're going ro have to control your tongue" the dents ys, pulling ou all the metal Feom my ‘mount, Silver bits plop and sinkle ints the basin, My mouth ia ‘motherlode The dentist is cleaning ove my roots. get a whiff of the stench when I gasp." can't cap that tooth yet you're sil deaining” he says ‘We're going t0 have 10 do something about your tongue." Uheae the anger dsing in his ‘oie. My tongue Keeps peshing oot the wads uf coton, pushing Ick ehedrille she langhin ares "Ter never ene anything ae Strong or as stubborn." he says. And chink, How do you ame a wild tongue, eran it to be quiet how do you bridle ad sade? How da you make it lie dows? ‘Who isto say chat robbing a people of its language ie less violent shan wir? Ray Gwyn Smith! | remember being cavg spe Spanish at recess—that was good for thvee licks on the nuctley witha sharp euler. remember being sent tothe corner ofthe classroom for "ean beck tothe Anglo escher whesvalll wss ying codo asl er how to pronounce myname Ifyou want robe Americas, speak ‘Americin” Hf you dont ike iy go back to Mexico where yoW belong Twant you to speak English, Pa Dullar en trabajo tienes (que saber babler el inglés ue, Qué vale toda tu educacion siodavia hables inglés con wn ‘accent’ my mother would ay. fnortified that | spoke English lke 3 Mexican. Ax Pan America University. Land ll Chicano ssdenes were required rake 10 speech clases, Tele purpose: co get ri of our accents ‘Overcoming the Trad Abogadas,excupimos el oscuro Peleando con nuestra propia sombra el llencio nos tepaia, Exbocucertad no entran moves d'or alsed sno apg Kep heaving when ws teil, Sr Weleda wus ob gossip ats a taal too rch. Mabe ar beverngey welt orton aoa: back. wna sre pet ak buck tone terface remember one epee Fa cet tne pct n the cones bor the few Sines wc one ings omy ber soe or ecesea repens sive hovngabig meth. sete seninpratveal stot being aloud Ino) ite tly areal word thac ae devopory applied nach ft nvr esd ea apie a men “The frst time | heard two women, a Puerto Rican and 2 Cuban, may the word "nosotra” Iwas shocked had not knows the word existed, Chicnnas use orotros whether we're male or female, We are subbed of our female being by the masculine paral, Language isa male discourse And our tongues have become iy the wilderness bas deled out our tongues aod ‘re have forgorten specth, “Sirens Klepiine® ven our own people, thee Spanish speakers v0 quicren ‘poner candadav en kebncs. They would hol us back with chit bag ol relas de cade mia Oy como dra ol lenguaje de la fromtera Quion tine boca re equivaca ‘Mexican saying ?Pcho. cut rit, wate speaking the oppressors langage By speaking English, you're ruining he Spanish guage’ | have been accused by various Latins apd. Latins {ies Spanish oneered bythe prt aa by not Las Cefienn,¢ mutilation of Spanih Bat Chicano Spanish 4 boc tongue which developed away. Change, evolatisn, enrignecimiento de. Palabras ‘tetas por invensionoadopei have treated vaants of Chi Cin Spanish am nuevo lengua’ Un lengaje que corresponde tov modo de vivir. Chicano Spanish is ot inorrecs cing ‘engage ora peope who are either Spanish nove ina couney in which Spanish ithe firs languages for people wi ive Country n which English therein tongue bur wh ae not ‘Aoglr for a people who cannor eniey identify wth cicher seandard (oral. Canin) Spanish nor eandard English, whe feces lef other but to crete tir own hnguage? A Iangnge which they can conoec heeds o sone pablo commuricating the resives un vsivs tr tv themselves Tengu with terms that ate nek spool nines. bo oth ‘respec pus forked tongues varaviona Coo language et ih springen fh Chon ‘ty ourselves ava dsinet people. We necded» language mith seh we eld communicate with ourselves a secret angvage, For some of us, Lnguage is 3 homeland cosy than the Southwest—for many Chicanos toy Te i the Midwest sc the Bast And Bectuse we ae a complex, eteogeneots people ‘speak many languages Some ofthe langages we speak ae: Sunand ag 2 Working cis snd slang English 5: Standard Spanish 4 Stamlan Mic Spanish 5. é North Mesiean Spenish disks ChiearSpanish (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Cal: fornia have regional variations) Tex Mex 8 Pachuco (cll clé)My “home” tongues are the languages [speak with my sister and brothers, with my fricads. They are re las five iste, with 6 tnd 7 being closes 10 any beat, From school the media and job tions Te picked up standacd and working class English. From Mamageande Loch snd from reading Spanish and Mexi- ‘an erature, I've picked up Standard Spanish aad Standard ‘Mexican Spanish, FromJor recién legadoy, Mesican inmigron snd braceroreaened the North Mexicon daket. With Mexi ‘cans I'l try to spenk either Standard Mexican Spanish or the [North Mexican dialect, From my parents und Chicanos living in the Valle. [picked up Chicino Terss Spanish, and fspeak with ‘my mom, younger brother (who married 2 Mexican and who rarely mixes Spanish with English), aunts and older relatives ‘With Chicanas from Nuevo Maxicn oc Arizona | will speak CChicano Spanish lee, br often they don't understand what Fm saying. With most California Chicanas | speak entice in| English (snless I forget). When I fist moved co San Francisco, [rattle off something ia Spanish. unintentionally embarcassing them. Often'eisonly wth another Chicana jana tac ean alk freely Words dstored by English ate known as anglicisms ot ‘ochismos. The pocha is an anglicized Mexican or American of ‘Mexican origin who specks Spanish with an accent characterise fof North Americins and who distorts a reconsteuts the lan iuage according tothe ffluence of English. Tex-Mex, oe Spang Tish: comes must oatorally to me. I may swich back and forth from English to Spanish in the same sentence or in the same word, With my sister and my brocher Nune and wich Chicano Lejano contemporaries {speak in Tex-Mex rom kids sd povple my own age | picked up Pachuco. Pacheco (the language of the zoo suiters) is a language of ‘chelion,buth aguinst Stindard Spanish and Sanda English Ie fea scree langage. Adults of the clture and ousiders cannot toderstandit tis made po slang words from both English ad nish, Reea means girl or woman, xaf0 means guy or dode hale means. simén means yes,eburro is sure talks periaiar Digionear mesos petting, yue gacho rears how necly. ponte ‘gaila means wasch ont death is called pelona, Through lack of practice and wit having others who can speak it Ive lost most of| he Pachuer wong How 19 Tae Wil Tongue ‘Chicano Spanish Chicanos after 250 years of Spanish/ Anglo colonization have develope sgniican diferencts in the Spanish we speak Wecollapre emoadjcent vowels nos single sylable and some dimes aise ses incet fate. We lave. ou cers between vowel dela. mniad/majao. Chiao 0 Sat Tens panne / at ain fe) Chin nh words that are no longer ithe Spaoish language, woede tha Ihave been evolved out We say mor rae aap nse, 0d auiden We rein the archaic ain jl. thadetves from 3 Carlier, he French blero she Geran blow which wes ost {ostandard Spanish inthe l6chcentry), bor which stil found in Several cegional dsicts such atthe one spoken io South ‘Tenas (Due to geography, Chictnos lem she Valley of South ‘Texas were co ff linguistic from ster Spanish speakers ‘We tend co use words thatthe Spenaeds brought over frm Medieval Spain The msjrity ofthe Spanish colonizers in Mex. icoand the Southwest eame rom Extremadues Hernia Cotes swasoneof them™and Andalucia Andslcans pronounce I ike 2 ysand thei d's tend wo be absorbed by aljacent vowels trado Becomes ti, Thy bg longue Poplar dior reionalitmar®) Chicas st oer Spanish speakers also shite 07 and'= to 12 We leave out inal sylbls saying tar for etary for fitoyborefor aba exbantsand purtoriquetor so leave out ‘nivileersof some words) We sc leavetor the ial sylble Sich 35 pfor para The intersvelcy the U3 in ori ll Botella, gets replaced by tortie or torn e, bates, We ad sddiional syllable atte begining of cersin wocds acer for Incar-apactar for gattar Soretienes wel say Laas as vais {nes larater (substring the ater verb endings for the ‘We ose anglcisms, words borrowed from English: bola from ball carpese from catpet, michina de lavar Gostead of levadors) from washing machine. Tex-Mex argor, crested by ailding » Spanish sound atthe beginning or end of an Eaglish ‘word Such a8 coobiar for cook. wurchar tor wateh, parbiay for path aod rapar for rape, the result the pressureson Spanish spears 9 apr Eni fe don’ use the Word vorotrys/as ot its accompanying verb form, We don't say caro (10 mean yes). imagine. oF me