The mesolect

Within the study of language it is easy to find words that are not so common and that describe a specific type of idea or circumstance, a variety or specialty or specialization. And such is the case of the mesolect, although as we shall see, it is quite simple.

Hybridization of the tongue

The mesolect usually occurs when there are two languages ​​in contact, from which something like a “third” language emerges, since the economic, social and political relations cause a bilingualism class to be presented, understood as a mixture or confusion of the two systems. It is not about the coexistence of several languages ​​but about the contamination of both, with dominance of the one whose economic support is greater, since it is these relationships that make up this linguistic category.

In other words, it is a kind of hybridization in which the two original languages ​​continue to exist, but a kind of third language is generated with elements of both original languages. An example of this is what some call “Spanglish”, a kind of hybridization between Spanish and English. However, another meaning no less important refers to the language spoken by the middle classes, a midpoint between the acrolect (cultured language) and the basilecto (popular language).

HERNÁNDEZ G, Fernando; ALVAREZ H, Luís Eduardo.
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