Spanish language in California

The Constitution of California was written in both Spanish (left) and English (right) in 1849.

The Spanish language is the most commonly spoken language in California after the English language, spoken by 28.18 percent (10,434,308) of the population (in 2021).[1] Californian Spanish (español californiano) is a set of varieties of Spanish spoken in California,[2][3][4][5] including the historical variety known as Californio Spanish (español californio).[6][7][8]

Spanish was first introduced to California in 1542 and has since become deeply entwined with California's cultural landscape and history.[9][10][11] Spanish was the official administrative language in California through the Spanish and Mexican periods until 1848, when Alta California was ceded from Mexico to the United States following the U.S. Conquest of California. Early American governments in California protected the rights of Spanish speakers in the 1849 Constitution of California, but those constitutional protections were removed in 1879.[12]

  1. ^ "American Community Survey: LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME BY ABILITY TO SPEAK ENGLISH FOR THE POPULATION 5 YEARS AND OVER". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  2. ^ Valdés, Guadalupe; Fishman, Joshua A.; Chávez, Rebecca; Pérez, William (2006). "Chapter 3: The Spanish Language in California". Developing Minority Language Resources: The Case of Spanish in California. Multilingual Matters. pp. 24–53. doi:10.21832/9781853598999-005. ISBN 9781853598999. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  3. ^ Gubitosi, Patricia (2010). "Passive Expressions As Isogloss Between New Mexican And Californian Spanish Dialect Areas". Spanish of the U.S. Southwest. Vervuert Verlagsgesellschaft. doi:10.31819/9783865278692-013. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  4. ^ Cardenas, Daniel N. (June 1970). "Dominant Spanish Dialects Spoken in the United States". Education Resources Information Center of the U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  5. ^ Moreno de Alba, José G.; Perissinotto, Giorgio P. (2010). "Observaciones sobre el español en Santa Barbara, California". Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica. 36 (1): 171–201. doi:10.24201/nrfh.v36i1.671. JSTOR 40300754.
  6. ^ Covadonga Lamar Prieto (6 June 2014). "Rasgos Característicos del Español Californio (Features of Historical Californian Spanish or Californio Spanish)" (PDF). Cuadernos de la Asociación de Lingüística y Filología de América Latina (ALFAL). doi:10.31819/9783865278692-013. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  7. ^ Covadonga Lamar Prieto (September 2014). "The (Pre)History of Literary Spanglish: Testimonies of the Californio Dialect". Hispania. 97 (3). Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  8. ^ Covadonga Lamar Prieto (2023). "El español californio en la correspondencia personal (1853-1897) (Californio Spanish in personal correspondence (1853-1897))". Cuadernos de la Asociación de Lingüística y Filología de América Latina (ALFAL). 15 (1). Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  9. ^ The Linguistic Isolation of Hispanic Students in California’s Public Schools - Spanish Speakers in California: A Historical Overview (Bernard R. Gifford and Guadalupe Valdés)
  10. ^ Zócalo Public Square - Is California Losing Its Ability to Hablar Español?
  11. ^ "Spanish is deeply intertwined in our society" - SFgate - 10.4 million people speak Spanish in California–here's how you can learn, too
  12. ^ Covadonga Lamar Prieto (2014). "The Silencing of the Californios: Tracing the Beginnings of Linguistic Repression in 19th Century California". University of California, Los Angeles - Department of Spanish & Portuguese. 2 (1). Retrieved 26 September 2023.