At home in the mix.

It was only following World War II that English became the country’s main language. During the war, the British trained troops in Gibraltar, causing civilians to leave the countryside. As a result, they were exposed to English more frequently. After the war ended, the British also established a school system in Gibraltar, and people came to realize they would need to speak English in the future if they wanted to succeed here. For a time, Spanish remained the home language in many households; today, it’s the language of the neighbors across the border. The Yanitos speak Spanish when they travel to Spain to shop or go on holiday.

Flexible border regions.

“Contact across national borders is part of everyday life for the people of Gibraltar,” says Marta Rodríguez García. She is researching languages in Gibraltar for her dissertation project. She compares the situation there to that of Basel in the three-country region: People from Germany and the Alsace region of France work in Switzerland, while many residents of Basel do their shopping in neighboring countries. As a result, people from different regions come in contact with one another. “You can sense that multiculturalism. It impacts people’s daily lives and even influences their personalities. People’s lives and experiences in this city also inspire my research,” says Rodríguez García. She is particularly interested in how Yanito is currently being used by younger people between the ages of 16 and 35. “There is more linguistic flexibility in border regions. This repertoire of languages is a resource that people can play with,” remarks Rodríguez García. She draws on the example of Basel’s French suburb to the north, which is more frequently referred to as “Huningue” rather than “Hüningen.”

This political situation underscores Gibraltar’s unique status as a country. “The people here are proud to be part of the UK, but they also know that they’re different from other British citizens. They have a Mediterranean culture and they are close to Spain, yet they aren’t Spanish themselves,” says Rodríguez García.

Language as unique identity.

Gibraltar’s language is an expression of its position between two distinct worlds. It gives the Yanitos something of their own that they can use to – quite literally – give voice to their unique status in the world. “I can use language to define the boundaries of my identity and demarcate the worlds to which I belong. Young people in particular are very proud of this unique quality,” says Marta Rodríguez García.

The way they use Yanito depends on numerous factors, and social context plays a major role. For that reason, Rodríguez García worked with focus groups – including teenagers at schools and youth centers, people who had studied in England, and families – to get an idea of how they used Yanito.

“People who speak both languages can play with combining English and Spanish. This is very creative.” It’s like the way German speakers in Switzerland use Swiss German and High German interchangeably. The variety someone speaks at any given moment depends both on the situation and on whom they are speaking to. Mixed forms are also common and give way to some very imaginative turns of phrase.

People who are not bilingual copy expressions they hear others using without understanding exactly how the phrases came about. “This leads to certain patterns of speech that become common. And I identified these patterns in each of my focus groups,” says Rodríguez García. Here, she noted that introduced Spanish terms or phrases frequently function as so-called discourse markers. For example, “bueno” (good) can be used to usher in or highlight a change of topic or speaker. “Venga” (come on!) and “Qué pasa” (what’s up) are also common examples. “The remarkable thing is that these linguistic elements become so commonplace. Their usage is different in Yanito than it is in the language of origin, and they don’t simply replace English phrases, either.”

That’s another reason why it can be difficult to clearly demarcate where Yanito begins and where it ends. “Yanito eludes the kind of simple definition that is required in science. My main takeaway is that Yanito is extraordinarily flexible and works on different levels.” The boundaries between Spanish and English are fluid, and the language here is an expression of the region’s dynamic discourse that transcends national borders. On the other hand, Yanito is also key to the shared identity of Gibraltar’s populace, which doesn’t quite fit in anywhere else in the world. “In the course of my research, I’ve noticed that Yanito is particularly fascinating on an interactive level and from a conversational perspective. That’s what I’d like to continue to focus on,” says Marta Rodríguez García. So, finally, to answer the question, “qué pasa?”: Quite a lot, actually!