U.S. Mexican Spanish West of the Mississippi

Book excerpt: U.S. Mexican Spanish West of the Mississippi proposes a macro-dialect of the most widely spoken Spanish variety in the western United States from a number of social and linguistic angles. This book is unique in its focus on this one variety of Spanish, which allows for a closer investigation of the social context and linguistic features through a number of different topics. Comprised of 13 chapters divided into two sections, this textbook provides insight into the history, demographics, migration, and social issues of US Mexican Spanish in the first section and its lexicography, phonology, and structure in the second. Useful for scholars interested in Spanish in the United States, dialectology, and sociolinguistics, this is also an ideal resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of Spanish.