Orality in Literature: Cuban-American Spanish in La vida es un special 1.50. 75 by Roberto G. Fernández

Abstract

At this point in history, the Hispanic population in the United States constitutes the country’s largest minority¹ and Spanish is its second most-spoken language, only after English itself. Among the differ- ent groups that make up this growing population, Cuban-Americans, although not the most numerous,² are highly influential, especially in South Florida, where their importance and political power are widely recognized. One contemporary author who has written about the expe- rience of his fellow Cub an-Americans in Miami is Roberto G. Fernandez (b.1951). Focusing on such literary work can help us gain invaluable insights into the way a particular writer manages to convey the impres- sion of a specific language variety. Also, it has been the case that linguis- tic analyses of literary works in Spanish are in general not as abundant as those of works written in English. Moreover, since, as Azevedo (1995: Abstract) states, “literary representation of dialectal speech can be a source of relevant linguistic information,” this type of analysis can also be helpful in exploring the particular linguistic characteristics of Cuban Spanish and the extent to which it has been affected by its close contact with English.