Rhetorical Analysis of Daniel Hernandez’s
Spanglish Moves Into Mainstream
Daniel Hernandez is a news assistant in the Mexico City bureau of the Los Angeles Times and writes for the World Now news blog as well as for the news and arts print editions. His interest lies in the fusion and mixing of all cultures, countries and borders. The following article originally appeared on Boston.com in January 2004. In “Spanglish Moves Into Mainstream,” Hernandez observes how Spanglish has entered the mainstream, arguing that the language isn’t just a corruption of English or Spanish words. It also involves complex code- switching. More importantly, it serves as a vehicle through which young American-born urban Hispanics can bridge two cultures: the culture of their parents’ predominantly Spanish-speaking world and the culture of the Anglophone world of their peers.
The purpose of this article is to give people an idea of how Spanish English has gradually become a special language in Los Angeles and the nature of Spanish English. Part of society considers Spanish English to be slang rather than a language, and Daniel Hernandez believes that without the language there is no way to describe life in a particular area.
In the article, the formation and reasons of Spanish English are stated. Due to the peculiar pattern of immigration in the United States “traditionally immigration movements are accompanied by a mixture of 15 mother tongues with newly acquired languages, and within a generation or two, the old countries—whether Polish, Chinese, or Italian—often will subside.” Thus reflecting the rise of Spanish English largely accounts for the demographic changes of California and other Hispanic populations as well as numerous states.
The author uses metaphorical rhetorical techniques. Comparing a language to a tongue, although only one tongue can appear on some occasions, it cannot be denied that there are many tongues, and one cannot close one’s mind. The example in the article is “Stavans said “In school, people told him that you shouldn’t mix languages. The University plans to hold its first Spanish- language conference in April. There used to be a way that if you used a broken tongue, you would have a broken tongue. It’s not about tongues that are closed, it’s about different tongues, and they’re right. I think you’ll see more languages like this. “Support your point of view by providing evidence.
Daniel Hernandez sets the stage by describing the language of life with the Francisco Duenas family. This is a way to use actual examples to prove your point of view. Spanglish is especially popular today among young American-born Latinos who, like Francisco Duenas, grew up in South Gate, California, and lived in downtown Los Angeles nearby, working in an office south of Los Angeles. It is proposed that Spanish has become the mainstream of bilingual life.
Slowly with the development of the times, Spanish English has also moved from the Hispanic community to the United States.
At the end of the article “Spanglish Moves Into Mainstream,” Daniel Hernandez is a news assistant in the Mexico City bureau of the Los Angeles Times, and he likes to study the fusion of cultures, countries. Daniel Hernandez offers not only positive arguments but also others. According to Jim Boulet Jr, executive director of Enalish First, an advocacy group against bilingual education, “the boom is a shift in flow. His and her critics see Spanglish as slang.” form, not a new language.”
As mentioned in the article, Daniel Hernandez believes that Spanish English is a fusion of nations and countries, and that Spanish English is a language, although it is difficult, it is also established.


