ABSTRACT
Latest fi gures and statistics show that we can certainly speak of a hispanization or latinization of the U.S.A. in the Third Millennium. According to the newest U.S. Census survey fi ndings of the over 296.4 million people who resided in the U.S.A. as of July 1, 2005, more than 14.4 percent are Hispanics.2 This makes people of Hispanic origin, also called U.S. Latinos/ as, the largest ethnic/race minority in the U.S.A. The revenue generated by the 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses rose by 19 percent to $222 billion in 2002 while the rate of growth of Hispanic-owned businesses inbetween 1997 and 2002 is 31 percent and hence triple the average rate.3 More than 65 percent of the U.S. Latinos/as today are Mexican-Americans or Chicanos/as, the rest trace their origin to Central and South America (14 percent), Puerto Rico (12 percent) and Cuba (4 percent). With 31 million U.S. household residents who speak Spanish at home, Spanish speakers constitute a ratio of more than 1-in-10 U.S. household residents. Among all those who speak Spanish at home, more than one-half say they speak English very well. Code switching as well as language mixtures-such as Spanglish, Chicano English, and Chicano Spanish, are also very common among Mexican-Americans. Then there are dialects and street languages like Caló as well as a renewed interest in Pre-Columbian native languages such as the Aztec Nahuatl.4 Last but not least, latest population estimates expect the projected Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2050 to be about 102.6 million in other words, U.S. Latinos/as would constitute about 24 percent of the nation’s total population on that date.5
