Spanish Learning and its Influence on English Vocabulary

Authors

Solana Messerly, Brigham Young University
Dr. Jeffrey Turley, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Spanish learning, English vocabulary, native English speakers, passive vocabulary

College

Humanities

Department

Spanish and Portuguese

Abstract

The Spanish and English languages share many cognates because Latin greatly influenced both of them. Spanish is a neo-Latin language; although English is a Germanic language, many of its words have Latin origins. As a result, there are thousands of Latinate words in both languages, but their use is much less frequent in English than in Spanish. English Latinate words are so uncommon that speakers unconsciously use them to sound more intelligent and elegant. English Latinate words tend to have Spanish cognates. It is fascinating that although these cognates share the same meaning, they share neither the same frequency nor the same social register. Many everyday Spanish words have uncommon, formal English cognates that “may even be absent from some speakers’ lexicons.”

Recommended Citation

Messerly, Solana and Turley, Dr. Jeffrey (2013) "Spanish Learning and its Influence on English Vocabulary," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 981.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/981