Gibraltar

Gibraltar has appeared in the news twice this month: the first when a Spanish vessel crossed the border without consent and again when English officials were asked to open a ‘diplomatic pouch’ on crossing the border. This shows that there is a lot of tension between the two areas and international relations are deteriorating.

Here are some facts about Gibraltar:

• ·         The main landmark of the region is ‘The Rock of Gibraltar’ which is over 426m high and is famous because it is the habitat of roughly 250 Barbary Macaques.
• ·         Another tourist attraction is the Tower of Homage which lies at the top of the Moorish castle. The moors occupied Gibraltar and much of southern Spain for 710 years and their influence can still be found.
• ·         The name Gibraltar is derived from the Arabic, Jebel Tariq (جبل طارق), which means the ‘mountain of Tariq’ (based on the large rock).
• ·         Since it shares a 1.2km border with Spain, their climates are very similar, with July being the hottest season with the average high temperature of 29^oC.
• ·         Due to this hot weather, there is a mass of wildlife. Approximately 40% of Gibraltar’s land is a nature reserve (most of this is on the upper Rock, which is inhabitable for humans). However the main animals are the Barbary Macaques and the Barbary Partridges and the most uncommon plants are the Chickweed and Gibraltar candytuft.

         But what does this have to do with language? Because of its diverse history, and especially due to the Moors, Gibraltar is incredibly diverse. Although the official language is English, the majority of people are also able to speak Spanish because of their close proximity to mainland Spain. However, there are many minorities, such as the Moroccan community speaking Arabic.

What interested me most about this territory however was that they have created a new dialect called ‘Llanito’, which is completely unique to Gibraltar. The identification of the language is unclear as some define it as a creole, with others calling it a unique language.  Llanito consists largely of Andalusian Spanish but it includes a lot of code switching with English as many words are borrowed. But Llanito also includes words from Hebrew and Jewish. Although Llanito is rarely written, a Llanito dictionary was published in 1978 by Manuel Cavilla.

Llanito: Sí, pero at the end of the day...

Spanish: Sí, pero a fin de cuentas...

English: Yes, but at the end of the day...*

If you are interested in this ‘dialect’ I recommend that you watch "People of the Rock: The Llanitos of Gibraltar" (2011) as it is a documentary film with great reviews as it discusses Llanito speech characteristics, history and culture.

Picture sourced from http://www.libdemvoice.org/gibraltar-graham-watson-35780.html

*Example sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanito