User:Rigley/Estadounidismo

United States Spanish (or US Spanish) is a variety of Spanish that is native to the United States. It is a koiné language that has developed among Hispanic and Latino Americans of the second and higher generations. US Spanish has its roots in the 22 or more varieties of Latin American Spanish, especially the Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central American, and Mexican varieties.

Definition
In 2015, the language regulator for Spain, the Real Academia Española (RAE), recognized Estadounidismo (literally "Americanism") is a variety of Spanish that represents the adaptation of Spanish in the United States to the particularities of American society Estadounidismo is not Spanglish, which is any spontaneous and unsystematic mixture of Spanish and English.

Vocabulary
Generally, semantic change (extension, calquing) in Estadounidismo converts false friends to English in standard Spanish to having the words' meanings converge. For example:
 * carpeta = "carpet" (Standard: alfombra; carpeta means "folder")
 * parada = "parade" (Standard: desfile; parada means "stop")
 * aplicar = "apply" (for a job) (Standard: presentar; aplicar means "use")
 * realizar = "realize" (Standard: darse cuenta)
 * libería = "library" (Standard: biblioteca)

Per Silva-Corvalán (1994), United States Spanish also contains lexico-semantic calques (cf Laissez les bons temps rouler).
 * tener un buen tiempo = "have a good time" (Standard: divertirse, pasarlo bien)
 * ser seis pies de alto = "to be six feet tall" (Standard: medir seis pies)
 * ¿Cómo te gusta tu carro nuevo? = "how do you like your new car?" (Standard: ¿Te gusta tu carro nuevo?)

Grammar
Grammatical simplifications in United States Spanish include losses in distinction between the preterite and present perfect, and between the indicative and subjunctive moods; as well as a loss of noun-adjective agreement. The gerund replaces the infinitive as a subject or object of a preposition, and certain arbitrary prepositions more resemble their usages in English.

In United States Spanish, the T–V distinction between polite and impolite versions of the second-person pronoun is weak. Dialect levelling has largely eliminated the voseo verb form, characteristic of Central American Spanish, by the second generation. Usage of the informal tú is expanding, while the informal usted is declining, and statements with mixed verb forms are common. For example:
 * Mira, como usted es un señor mayor, te voy a ayudar, aunque esto yo no lo hago normalmente
 * (Look, since you are [formal] an older gentleman, I will help you [informal], but I don't normally do this.)
 * Estimado profesor, prometo entregarte a usted mi trabajo mañana a primera hora. Gracias por tu comprensión
 * (Dear professor, I promise to give [informal] you [formal] my work tomorrow morning. Thanks for your [informal] understanding.)

Varieties
United States Spanish in the "Spanish speaking West" bears the most resemblance to Mexican and Mexican American Spanish. Characteristic features include the deletion of unstressed vowels such as [e] and [a]; the pronunciation of /f/ as [x], and the addition of -s to the second person preterite. By the states that include 10% or more Mexican-origin Spanish speakers since 2010, the states within the Spanish speaking West are: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. Francisco Moreno Fernández confirms that Mexican American Spanish is influential in the whole United States, but adds that Cuban Spanish influences Spanish speakers in Florida; Puerto Rican Spanish influences speakers in the northeast, and Central American Spanish influences speakers in the Midwest.

Origins
In Estadounidismo, certain words have acquired a different connotation than for non-United States speakers of Spanish, because of their association with certain social programs in the United States. For example, cobertura (literally "coverage") refers to health insurance coverage; beneficios (normally prestaciones sociales) refers to "[social welfare] benefits"; and empoderamiento (literally "empowerment") refers to affirmative action-related policies. Such constructions abound in government and work-related vocabulary as well:
 * Secretario de Estado = "Secretary of State" (Standard: Ministro de Asuntos Exteriores)
 * vida en prisión = "life in prison" (Standard: cadena perpetua)
 * centro de cuidado diurno = "day care center" (Standard: guardería infantil)

Because English and Spanish differ in terms of long and short scales for describing the names of large numbers, trillón in Estadounidismo can be used to describe the quantity 1012, like the word "trillion" in English, instead of the quantity 1018 as in standard Spanish. Because of social sensitivities around obesity in the United States, the standard word for a fat person (gordo) has been pejorized in Estadounidismo, and a euphemism meaning "overweight" (sobrepeso) is used instead.

Organizations
Founded in 1973, the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE) has played a major role in standardizing the vocabulary used in United States Spanish. As a result of its and other organizations' efforts, concepts which are described with many different Spanish terms in Spanish-speaking countries&mdash;ex. auto, coche, or carro for "car"&mdash;have only one widely-used Spanish translation in the formal Estadounidismo register&mdash;automóvil. The ANLE has helped to legitimize the usage of certain Spanish-language calques, previously considered Spanglish or bad Spanish, to describe American realities: such as condición preexistente for pre-existing condition and copago for copayment.