Growing up as a first-generation Cuban American in Miami, Ismael Llano never thought twice about the way he spoke. “It’s one of those things where if everybody speaks the same way, then it’s not odd,” ...

“He made a party to celebrate his son’s birthday.” These phrases might sound off to the ears of most English-speaking Americans. In Miami, however, they’ve become part of the local parlance. According ...

A man I know recently spent several weeks visiting his native South Africa. Upon his return to the United States, he found himself one day passing through a certain section of Oakland. Everyone on the ...

A new book on American English in the Midwest makes Chicago seem exotic. It’s certainly not the title: “Language Variation and Change in the American Midland: A New Look at `Heartland’ English” (John ...

A new dialect, born of mingling between English and Spanish speakers has been heard in some parts of Miami recently. The Cuban revolution in 1959 saw thousands of Spanish speakers arrive on the shores ...

Students studying for exams, competing against each other in areas involving language, and in general, should learn to distinguish between a language and its dialects. While the words are frequently ...