MexiRicans: Interethnic Language and Identity

Abstract

Studies of Mexican and Puerto Rican communities living in the same United States cities suggest that a combination of historical factors and local conditions strongly influence to what extent these two groups interact and form a shared sense of pan-ethnic Latino unity. However, few studies have examined “MexiRican” individuals, those who have one Mexican and one Puerto Rican parent and who experience both cultures and dialects in their homes. This study examines various aspects of ethnolinguistic identity among 24 MexiRican individuals in Chicago, Illinois. It also formally assesses their Spanish proficiency and dialect characteristics. Almost all of the participants possessed a concept of identity that incorporated aspects of both Hispanic backgrounds, and none had experienced pressure to deemphasize or to stress one or the other. As found in other work on Spanish in the United States, Spanish proficiency declined with increasing generational presence. The primary factor related to the expression of Mexican or Puerto Rican features in the MexiRican participants' Spanish varieties was the dialect of the mother, although a few individuals evidenced highly hybridized dialects.

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