Caló: A Dictionary of Spanish Barrio and Border Slang (review)

This dictionary first appeared as El Libro de Caló: Pachuco Slang Dictionary (Atticus Press, 1983), with a revised second edition in 1986, El Libro de Caló: The Dictionary of Chicano Slang (with Malcolm Lambert: Floricanto Press). This most recent edition, Caló: A Dictionary of Spanish Barrio and Border Slang (1002 entries), reflects social and linguistic changes “of the past few decades” (10), and “differs from its predecessors” (11) in that entries have been added and deleted, and idiomatic expressions have been included, some “stemming from specific subcultures” such as “the puto (homosexual) experience, tecatos (drug users), and curanderismo (folk healing)” (11). The introduction explains that terms in this edition are limited by the number of informants willing to talk to outsiders. The editors focused primarily on usage in Southern California, and attempted to capture gender and age differences in the language “as it is actually spoken” (13). The dictionary contains a short introduction, a list of abbreviations, the dictionary entries, and a subject index listing all terms relating to particular topics, for example coinage/money/monetary value. Each entry contains the part of speech, a standard meaning, if there is one, and a nonstandard meaning; many contain sample sentences illustrating common usage, along with a translation. Some terms—for example, Aztlán (23), chicano (44), empacho (55), mal ojo (79)—are accompanied by more detailed explanations of their historical and current cultural/political meanings.

The introduction states that this dictionary will provide a “clearer understanding of the complexities of today’s barrio Caló” (14). This is true to a certain extent, but in future editions, a more in-depth introduction with a review of more recent studies on Caló than those currently included in the references might prove beneficial in further clarifying this complexity. The most recent reference cited is from 1977, but much has been written since the 1990s about the pachuco youth culture of the southwestern United States from the historical, sociological, and anthropological viewpoints. Studies have been carried out examining the woman’s role in the Chicano speech community, female usage of Caló, and attitudes toward the language. Discussion of these studies is relevant given the editors’ stated desire to “capture gender innuendo” (13). The linguistic features and patterns of Caló, including its morphosyntax, its phonology, and phonotactics; the use of loans and calques; verbal play and rhyming; its idiosyncratic variation and creativity; and its sociolinguistic functions have also been studied and elucidated in a number of scholarly publications. An introduction that includes a thorough discussion of recent developments in the study of Chicano Caló might complement the insights the dictionary currently offers, and help the nonlinguist reader better understand the social, cultural, historical, and linguistic underpinnings of this language variety.

The editors discuss how they went about identifying informants who could provide them with the most useful insights on how Caló is actually spoken. It might also be useful if they discussed the criteria used to establish provenance, as well as standard and nonstandard meaning as described in the individual entries. For example, ay te huacho ‘see you later’ is described as coming “from the false cognate huachar, to watch” (23). It might be argued that huachar, rather than a false cognate, is a phonologically and morphologically adapted loanword. Many of the proverbs and sayings are listed as having only a nonstandard meaning (nsm), when, in effect, they have a standard meaning (sm) in most varieties of Spanish (e.g., “De tal palo, tal astilla (phrase) sm: None. nsm: Like father, like son. The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree” [53]). The same is true of a number of words (e.g., “Palabrota (f.n.) sm. None. nsm: Erudite word; ‘big’ word (¡Qué palabrotas usa ese niño! What big words that kid uses!” [90]). The Diccionario de la Real Academia Española lists palabrota with a standard meaning: Dicho ofensivo, indecente o grosero ‘offensive, indecent or vulgar saying’. Many of the entries are...