Resumen de El español de tierras altas y tierras bajas: sus reflejos en el español de Los Ángeles
Starting in the 1980s, Salvadorian and Guatemalan workers escaping political and economic instability in their respective countries have migrated in big waves to Los Angeles, California. This fact has originated a situation of dialects of Spanish in contact among the working class population, given that individuals coming from different geographical zones co-exist in the same area and share the same socioeconomic level. This article proposes to adopt the classification “Highland Spanish” and “Lowland Spanish” as a typology in order to analyze the changes that occur in the dialects of Spanish in contact. Speech samples were used from 120 first —and second— generation informants originally from high and low lands, and who participated in sociolinguistic interviews. These samples indicated that Mexican-based Highland Spanish is dominant in Los Angeles.
