SAN ANTONIO – When I was younger, I spoke with a true Texan drawl, a product of my upbringing in West Texas. Somewhere along the way, for better or worse, I lost that accent.
Language, dialect and how it varies across Texas and the world has always fascinated me. Even more fascinating is that San Antonians are unique in how we speak and communicate.
This edition of KSAT Explains examines language and dialects across San Antonio and the Lone Star State.
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
For help, we turned to the experts: Dr. Bridgette Drinka and Dr. Whitney Chappell from the University of Texas at San Antonio, who have both studied linguistics for decades.
My first question was a personal one: Why does my East Texas family sound different from my West Texas friends and family?
“So East Texas is a little more, you know, oriented to the south, the Gulf south. So, there are more southern sounds,” Drinka said.
The West Texas drawl draws more from the middle and western half of the country versus the Deep South.
After years of being in the television news business, Drinka said that my dialect has transitioned to more standard English.
UNIQUELY SAN ANTONIO
As for San Antonio, the city has a sound all its own. It’s a product of a meshing of cultures: English, German and Spanish. In some ways, it’s not as “Texan” as the rest of the state.
“It’s kind of unique in the fact that it doesn’t have so many southern features because so many people have come here [because of] the military,” Drinka said. “Other professionals and other people who have just moved here from various places around the United States and internationally.”
“We’ve got Spanish speakers who have been here for generations. We have new waves of immigration, which is renewing the Spanish that we have within the community. We also have southern English that is represented,” Chappell said. “And of course, we also have lots of migration from within the United States, bringing different types of English, all in contact within the same city, creating a very unique linguistic landscape.“
The meshing of these dialects is not always obvious; it can be subtle. For instance, almost all Texans, regardless of where they are, use “y’all” and “fixin’ to.”
“There’s this process called accommodation that’s been studied, especially about communication specialists,” Drinka said. “And it’s what you do when you like someone, you move towards them both with your body language and your language language.”
Still, language evolution has been influenced in other ways.
WHY IS ENGLISH THE GO-TO LANGUAGE?
“Well, there’s also another principle called ‘the founder’s principle,‘” Drinka said.
People of British heritage were generally the first to establish what would become the United States government, which is why historians believe English became predominant.
“So, first one in, and the others will follow,” said Drinka.
English took hold, and it spread as Europeans moved south and west.
“‘Why aren’t the indigenous languages still the language used on this continent?‘ And it’s kind of a sad response to that,” Drinka said. “You know, there has been takeover.”
“Perhaps the idea of nation-building has encouraged us to speak a single language,” said Chappell.
Other cultures also influenced the United States’ brand of English, which led to different accents. This explains why we sound nothing like the British today.
“Why is it the American sound not doing the ‘pawk your car’ and ‘Harvard yard’ Boston sound? Why does it not do in the Georgia Sound of the South so much?“
This is also why San Antonio has a unique sound and unique terminology, such as “puro.”
Still, the way we speak in San Antonio is a bit more complicated.
SPANISH VS. ENGLISH IN SAN ANTONIO
“Historically, here in San Antonio, we have, broadly speaking, privileged English over Spanish,” Chappell said.
Despite San Antonio’s cultural makeup, English is still the most widely used language.
“So, maybe you grow up in a house where Spanish is spoken, but — in society, in school, in the government, in really all other aspects of life — English has always been that historical expectation,” Chappell said. “So a lot of children say, ‘OK, well I see that English seems to have this privileged status over Spanish. I’m going to speak that.’ That’s still the case today.”
However, there has been a recent movement towards dual language. Many elementary schools in San Antonio are starting to offer a dual-language option. For those of Hispanic heritage, the option can also provide a way to explore their roots.
“We also have to recognize that our roots are so important,” Chappell said. “If we feel like we are losing our roots, often(times), there’s a sense of shame that accompanies that loss. And you can see that in a lot of Spanish speakers here in San Antonio who feel like maybe they don’t speak enough Spanish or they don’t speak the ‘right’ Spanish.”
Some term this as “Spanglish,” which can be a divisive term in and of itself. But the mixture of Spanish and English is certainly part of San Antonio’s unique vernacular and representative of the blending that is taking place. Keep in mind that there are many other languages spoken in our diverse city.
Regardless of how you communicate, it can make for an interesting conversation.
I asked my GMSA colleagues — anchors RJ Marquez, Japhanie Gray, Stephanie Serna and reporter Patty Santos — about their backgrounds and how it has affected the way they talk.
RJ MARQUEZ
“I was originally born and raised in El Paso, but predominately English-speaking because that’s what my parents did. They used English as a way to assimilate and, basically, communicate along the border there. Myself learning Spanish would be directly from my grandparents.“
How is the dialect different in El Paso versus San Antonio?
“I would say it’s different because in El Paso you generally have more of a traditional Spanish with (Ciudad) Juarez being right there, basically across the street. San Antonio is a lot more Tex-Mex, in my opinion. You have a variety of different cultures here, as well.”
JAPHANIE GRAY
“I grew up in northeast Arkansas, Oceola to be exact. I can’t tell [if I have an accent]. I know the way I talk is not with the long drawl, the way I hear some of my neighbors speaking.“
How has San Antonio changed the way you speak?
“Growing up in Arkansas and not being surrounded by Hispanic names, when you come here, it’s always, you know — just out of respect — ‘OK, I can see that’s written one way, and I could say it the Americanized way, but what’s more respectful?‘”
PATTY SANTOS
“Spanish was my first language. My parents are from El Salvador. I’m from El Salvador, so I grew up speaking Spanish.”
Can you tell Spanish dialects apart?
“I know when people are from Central America, from where I’m from, there’s a dialect. A little sing-songy way (in) which we talk versus people from Mexico.”
Why do you appreciate San Antonio?
“One of the reasons I stayed in San Antonio was because they offer dual-language programs [for my kids], which I haven’t seen anywhere else.”
STEPHANIE SERNA
“It’s interesting that things have changed to where now I’m pushing my daughter, and she’s in a dual-language program.”
Why is pronunciation sometimes stressful?
“Because some viewers see me and expect me to pronounce words a certain way, and I will pronounce the way a person wants their name pronounced.”
‘OVER’ AND ‘UNDER’
My fellow anchors, depending on their heritage, can sometimes be accused of “underdoing” or “overdoing” a pronunciation.
“You have actual bilingual speakers, who are what we call in linguistics. They’re doing phonological switches,” Chappell said. “So, they are speaking in English, and then they switch their sound system into Spanish, right? When that happens, sometimes monolingual English speakers do not quite understand what is happening or why it is happening and may have a negative attitude towards it.”
SKIBIDI SLANG AND THE LIKE
Speaking of negative attitudes, those of us who are older (yes, I am calling myself old) tend to feel that way when it comes to slang.
The internet and social media are having a huge impact on how the younger generation speaks.
“There’s always this moral panic from older generations that, ‘My goodness. They’re destroying the language. It’s changing forever,‘” said Drinka.
Before too much panic sets in, know that some slang words do work into the common vernacular when we are in our teens and 20s. But it doesn’t last forever.
“We tend to see age-graded shifts right around that particular age. There is a huge growth in the amount of slang that’s employed,” Chappell said. “And then, once you graduate from college and you enter the workforce, you see a very large reduction in the amount of slang that is used.”
If you can’t understand your kids, no need to panic. All of it is proof, that again, the way we talk is constantly evolving and can make for a fascinating conversation.
In any language.