Isleño Spanish
Isleño Spanish (Spanish: español isleño, French: espagnol islingue) is a dialect of Canarian Spanish spoken by the descendants of immigrant Canary Islanders who settled in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States, during the late 18th century. It has been greatly influenced by adjacent language communities as well as immigration from peninsular Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries. Moreover, the dialect spoken by the Isleños who settled along Bayou Lafourche is differentiated as Brule Spanish.
Isleño Spanish | |
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español isleño | |
Pronunciation | [espaˈɲol isˈleɲo] |
Native to | United States |
Region | Louisiana (St. Bernard Parish, Plaquemines Parish, Ascension Parish, Assumption Parish, New Orleans) |
Ethnicity | Isleño |
Native speakers | More than 50 in St. Bernard Parish (2020) |
Indo-European
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Early forms | Old Latin
|
Writing system | Latin alphabet (Spanish alphabet) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | loui1241 Isleño Spanishbrul1240 Brule Spanish |
In the present day, Isleño Spanish is approaching complete extinction. Throughout the 20th century, modernization and urbanization came to disrupt greatly the transmission of Spanish, coupled with the hardships of natural disasters. The remaining Spanish speakers of the community tend to be elderly individuals from fishing communities of eastern St. Bernard Parish.