Yanito- Gibraltar’s unique form of language

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
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I came across this interesting article while browsing for material about Spanish spoken in the US.

It is about Yanito the unique form of language spoken in Gibraltar which was written last year. According to a historian the language is slowly disappearing and is being replaced by Spanglish. The examples of the language in article reveal its uniqueness which is a mix of English and Spanish not only from a vocabulary perspective but also syntax. As well, the article provides historical background about Yanito.

I personally have never heard it spoken but if indeed it is changing and becoming more like Spanglish the interesting part is what type of Spanglish will it become since Spanglish itself has variations (there is a lot info in the form of articles, documented research and books available on the web about this).

Gibraltar is not considered a Spanish-speaking country but the vestiges of Spanish are there because of its history which has its roots in Andalusian Spanish.

http://www.surinenglish.com/gibraltar/201701/14/yanito-tale-languages-20170114011554.html


-MP.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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As a native speaker I can confirm that the article is fairly accurate in terms of summarising the evolution and apparent decline of Yanito, but these examples are not based on anything you would ever hear in Gibraltar.
Maybe you’ve been greeted with a warming “buenos morning” while walking into a shop on Main Street.
Or perhaps like me recently, you smiled when you were told the price of something you wanted to buy was “ninety nueve” pence.
The theories about the origins of the name mentioned in the article leave out what many consider the most plausible: As so many of us are of Genoese origin and Gianni - John in Italian - was a very common name, the Spanish heard it as 'Llani' and nicknamed the locals 'los Llanis', or 'los Llanitos'.

A local linguist - of Maltese origin - explains it better:

[video=youtube_share;pwmq9MGw2e8]https://youtu.be/pwmq9MGw2e8[/video]
 

RichardDavis

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Aug 31, 2018
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When reading this, I have remembered about Denglish (German + English). It seems to me that the "englification" problem is now sufficient for many languages.
 

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
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@Chiri,

After looking at video the article was more academic in my opinion although I agree the examples given were questionable at best. I was going to inquire about that. Do you know the name of the local linguist in the video? He does not seem strong as a subject matter expert and as a linguist how can he call the subjunctive a tense? A linguist surely knows that there are three moods in Spanish- indicative, subjunctive and the imperative mood. The moods have tenses i.e. the indicate and subjunctive have tenses. The subjunctive is a mood. Maybe he has better material than this. Just my observation.

Therefore, is Yanito an official world language? This is what I am trying to determine based on the article and the video. At the 4:55 mark of the video the linguist says ‘I consider Yanito a language’ but is it or is just a local form of communication? In school, are students educated in straight English? What are the grammatical parameters around Yanito?

Once I learned a bit about this language it strikes me as another hybrid but very localized. It seems to be at risk since the population of Gibraltar is small combined with the fact that less people speak that form of language today. For any language to survive it needs speakers. A language is a part of cultural patrimony thus the concern in the article and video. How does a person that speaks Yanito communicate with a person that speaks pure Spanish?

Needless to say Spanish as a language can and will hold its own and the same holds true for English which is a Lingua Franca too thus making it harder for this form of communication like Yanito that derived from other languages to survive unless the spoken population base is maintained or increases.


-MP.
 
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Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
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766
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When reading this, I have remembered about Denglish (German + English). It seems to me that the "englification" problem is now sufficient for many languages.

I am not familiar with or heard of Denglish but I am not really surprised by the fact that this form of communication exists. English is a Lingua Franca and is still the international language of business so it could be that some form of English influence is inevitable.


-MP.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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@Chiri,

After looking at video the article was more academic in my opinion although I agree the examples given were questionable at best. I was going to inquire about that. Do you know the name of the local linguist in the video? He does not seem strong as a subject matter expert and as a linguist how can he call the subjunctive a tense? A linguist surely knows that there are three moods in Spanish- indicative, subjunctive and the imperative mood. The moods have tenses i.e. the indicate and subjunctive have tenses. The subjunctive is a mood. Maybe he has better material than this. Just my observation.
Dale Buttigieg. As some of the commenters on the YouTube video noted, he got that detail wrong.

Therefore, is Yanito an official world language? This is what I am trying to determine based on the article and the video. At the 4:55 mark of the video the linguist says ‘I consider Yanito a language’ but is it or is just a local form of communication? In school, are students educated in straight English? What are the grammatical parameters around Yanito?

Once I learned a bit about this language it strikes me as another hybrid but very localized. It seems to be at risk since the population of Gibraltar is small combined with the fact that less people speak that form of language today. For any language to survive it needs speakers. A language is a part of cultural patrimony thus the concern in the article and video. How does a person that speaks Yanito communicate with a person that speaks pure Spanish?
It hasn't got any official status as a language, but Dale is on a quest to have it recognised as such and tries to formalise a written phonetically spelled Yanito, similar to Haitian Kreyol or Papiamento in the NL Antilles. More realistically though, it is a hybrid. I'm not sure whether it is closer to a patois or a creole.

The official language is English and we weren't allowed to speak any Spanish at school, apart from during actual Spanish lessons and to some extent in the less formal lessons like art and PE. Spanish is taught as a second language, using the UK curriculum. Yanito was traditionally the home and street language so we know all the names of household items (mainly in Spanish) but in formal settings - workplace, school, institutions - the familiar vocabulary is all in English.

For example, when the border reopened in the 1980s and people started going into Spain they would use Yanito words thinking they were Spanish (queque for cake, marchapie (Genoese) for pavement/sidewalk), and would find themselves struggling when having to use the terms we only knew in English e.g. banking transactions. When someone goes to hospital in Spain they have to learn all the Spanish names for procedures, diseases, specialisms, etc. because the health system in Gibraltar is British and in the earlier days was administered by people sent over from the UK. Now it is locally administered but the institutional language is English.

There was also a class distinction - better off families tended to speak more English at home, while working class families, often with mothers from Spain who didn't speak any English at all, only spoke Spanish at home and the children would enter the education system at 4 or 5 without knowing much English.

It's difficult to define how it works grammatically - a lot of code-switching with Spanish as the basis peppered with words in English and the other languages mentioned. Usually nouns, but also less familiar verbs. Unlike Spanglish speakers in the Americas they don't convert verbs like 'to print' into Spanish as 'printear' but use the structure 'hacer printing'.

A lot of Yanito speakers are "alingual" and struggle to maintain a conversation when speaking to someone who only speaks Spanish or English. Others speak perfectly good English but will switch to Yanito in certain situations. It is rarer to find Gibraltarians who speak good Spanish, unless they studied it at university or had a well-educated Spanish parent.

Needless to say Spanish as a language can and will hold its own and the same holds true for English which is a Lingua Franca too thus making it harder for this form of communication like Yanito that derived from other languages to survive unless the spoken population base is maintained or increases.


-MP.
As the El Pais article points out, Spanish and Yanito are fading from use in Gibraltar as English becomes more predominant in home and informal life. It hasn't disappeared completely, though. Walking around the streets and hearing snatches of Yanito conversation is quite the experience and one of my favourite things about being in Gibraltar.
 

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
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@ Chiri


This is where really understanding linguistic / language definitions come into play. There is no way I can put every detail in a post but for you and anyone reading this can at least go off in the right direction if you would like to explore deeper into the subject at hand.

I have not heard Yanito spoken but based on the examples given in the articles in the thread, the video and what you confirmed to answer my own question and maybe expand upon what the local linguist has commented about Yanito being a language, the following needs to be considered:

The language hierarchy needs to be used. Assess what category it fits into. This means consider Yanito as a form of communication from the point of view of:

a) dialect/ patois
b) hybrid
c) pidgeon
d) creole

note some would say creole then pidgeon and even a and b maybe switched but usually it is a similar sequence as above .


This is why when most people use the word dialect to refer to Spanish spoken the DR I often wonder if they really mean that. Although I know what they are referring to and basically, it is the local vernacular speech but to say dialect then a true example of a dialect in Spanish is cibaeño and not just the local DR speech.

Understand carefully the definition of the categories I mentioned above to determine if Yanito is and can be considered a language is one step but the first level I think that needs to happen if it were to be presented is:

Does Yanito have its own grammar system? If it does not then it is going to be hard to move forward. If Yanito uses English and Spanish grammar patterns and rules to form phrases then to say it’s a language is going to be difficult in the eyes of the governing bodies and language academies as such.

Maybe you can think of a better example but consider Catalan as one. It has its own grammar, rules, structure and that is the basis for it to be considered a language (which occurred) and then processes follow from there.

Correct me if I am wrong but I think Yanito is at the hybrid level. It may need to become a creole at least before it is even considered a language and that may never happen. It may go as far as creole status but the language components and requirements need to be in place to be declared as such. Dale G, the local linguist in the video does not come across as strong in his quest or linguistic knowledge in my opinion or maybe he was just keeping the video light and casual.

Just looking at the Caribbean alone there are many creoles. For example, Haitian creole, which is also understood in Dominica and French Guiana (that is what I have been told). There are Dutch-based creoles i.e. Papimiento spoken in Aruba and Papiamentu in Curaçao.

I think it is interesting how people that speak a creole still learn a pure language (per se) like English, Spanish or Dutch. That is a lot of sorting out in the brain but doable as many people around world possess such linguistic variety.

The preservation of Yanito will depend on the local populous. If it is spoken it will maintain its status as a recognized local form of communication. However, if English is increasingly becoming the language of choice and keep in mind a globalized language that English is, Yanito will be eventually recorded in the history books. It will take time still but the process is already in progress according to the sources posted in this thread.


-MP.