A Closer Look At The New 'Language' Born From Culture, Community, And Language Blending

Language is always evolving, and those changes often reflect the communities and histories behind them. That’s the case in South Florida, where a distinct way of speaking English has been developing for years.

Linguists say this shift shows how people shape language in response to social and cultural influences, not the other way around. It’s an important reminder that self-worth should never be measured against trends or ideas about what “correct” language is supposed to sound like.

Researchers at Florida International University in Miami have spent more than a decade studying how English is spoken in Latinx-majority neighborhoods across South Florida.

Professor Phillip M. Carter, who directs the university’s Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment, explains that this variety of English has its own features, though they remain quite small in the grand scheme of things.

According to him, people raised in these communities share a set of pronunciations, grammar choices, and expressions that reflect the strong and long-standing influence of Spanish in the region.

One of the most striking characteristics is the use of calque expressions taken directly from Spanish and translated word-for-word into English. Instead of adapting the phrase to standard American English, the speaker preserves the original Spanish structure.

A common example comes from the Spanish phrase bajar del carro, which in many other English-speaking areas would become “get out of the car.” In Miami English, however, it often turns into “get down from the car,” mirroring the Spanish pattern exactly.

Spanish-influenced phrases now come naturally to Miami-born English speakers.

What makes this development especially interesting to linguists is that it isn’t limited to bilingual speakers or recent arrivals. These expressions have spread to people who grew up speaking English as their first language.

Carter notes that many second-generation children who learned English from birth also use these translated phrases naturally in their everyday speech. This shows the depth of Spanish influence in Miami’s cultural landscape and the way languages blend within community life.

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In 2022, Carter and fellow linguist Kristen D’Allessandro Merii conducted a study to better document these Spanish-origin calques. Their research involved 33 Miami residents, including first- and second-generation Cuban Americans as well as participants with roots in other Hispanic backgrounds.

Each person was given more than 50 sentences that showcased Miami’s unique expressions. They were then asked to evaluate each sentence and decide whether it sounded “perfect,” “okay,” “awkward,” or “horrible.”

Miami locals hear normal speech, while outsiders hear a dialect that sounds completely unfamiliar.

The results revealed a strong split in perception. For Miami residents, most of the sentences sounded entirely normal. For people from outside the region, however, many of the same phrases felt unfamiliar or even incorrect.

This contrast highlights how dialects emerge: small shifts accumulate within a community until the speech patterns form a recognizable system. To an outsider, those differences may seem unusual, but for the people within the community, they represent everyday communication.

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Carter emphasizes that language varieties like Miami English deserve respect rather than judgment. Dialects shaped by marginalized communities are often viewed as less legitimate, even though they are fully formed linguistic systems with their own internal rules. He argues that these forms of English are deeply tied to identity.

They are the languages people grow up hearing at home, use with friends, and associate with major life experiences. Treating those forms as inferior sends a message that the identities attached to them are inferior as well.

As Miami English evolves, researchers hope people grow more welcoming toward it and toward every dialect. The way we speak is shaped by identity, culture, and change, and it’s always in motion.

No one should feel pushed to give up their natural voice just to match someone else’s idea of correctness. Everyone deserves the space to speak in a way that reflects who they are.