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Living near Bernalillo, Spanish is commonly spoken among long-time locals and not just by senior citizens. I suspect that there is a blending of old and new dialects. My own college version of Spanish is coming back after 50 years and I surprise myself at what I understand and can speak, albeit stunted and broken. My daughter worked in South Valley (s. of ABQ) and took a few informal Spanish lessons from a lady raised in Oaxaca but it was a different dialect from the local version.
I also hear Pueblo languages on occasion in fast food restaurants but we have several pueblos nearby and they don't use the same languages so I never have a clue what I'm hearing.
My grandson in law's family can trace their family back to the 1600s and they were originally from Spain living in the northern part of NM. He grandparents still live in Las Vegas, NM. I have no idea what type of Spanish they originally spoke. It would be interesting for Paul to try and question his grandparents about this. Of course they may not know either as for generations I am relatively sure they have spoken English.
Cobos's book is great. People with an interest in this topic should also check out The Spanish Language of New Mexico and Southern Colorado, a very thorough academic overview of New Mexico Spanish recently published by UNM Press. It includes lots of maps, discussions of distinct dialects of NM Spanish, and a consideration of the language's current status in New Mexico, a perennial topic of discussion on this forum.
Cobos's book is great. People with an interest in this topic should also check out The Spanish Language of New Mexico and Southern Colorado, a very thorough academic overview of New Mexico Spanish recently published by UNM Press. It includes lots of maps, discussions of distinct dialects of NM Spanish, and a consideration of the language's current status in New Mexico, a perennial topic of discussion on this forum.
Thanks, I forgot about this book (and I know one of the authors!).
My sense is that there are also socioeconomic differences reflected in the Spanish spoken among native Hispanos in NM, some with more awareness of standard varieties outside the state, which filter in through music and Spanish language TV. One of my friends who was a native speaker of NM Spanish from ABQ's North Valley was hooked on "Juana Iris" and other telenovelas in the 1980s-90s and his use of the language was influenced by that.
There was a Spanish language newspaper in Albuquerque that circulated from 1966-2011, El Hispano News, I used to enjoy reading it. Sorry it's gone.
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