The Anglicization of LGBTQ+ Slang in Spanish : Typology and Pragmatic Motivations

Andrés Muñoz García; José A. Sánchez Fajardo

doi:10.18172/jes.6863

Authors

Andrés Muñoz García University of Alicante https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3494-5407
José A. Sánchez Fajardo University of Alicante https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6136-0582

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.6863

Keywords:

LGBTQ slang, anglicisms, morphopragmatics, pragmatic functions, corpus, Spanish

Abstract

This study analyzes the typology and pragmatic functions of anglicisms found in Spanish LGBTQ+ slang using language data from a self-created corpus, Queer_ES_Anglicisms, extracted from the Spanish queer magazines Shangay and Togayther. The anglicisms are first classified according to Pulcini et al.’s typology and then arranged and examined in terms of their semantic fields and their morphopragmatic features. Furthermore, the paper includes a case study of the lemmas queer, drag, and gay as well as an analysis of the ideational and expressive pragmatic functions of the anglicisms to unravel the motivations behind their use in the context of Spanish LGBTQ+ slang.

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Author Biographies

Andrés Muñoz García, University of Alicante

Andrés graduated in English studies at the University of Alicante, where he also completed a Master’s in Advanced English Studies, focusing on Linguistics. In November 2024, he began his PhD, which explores queer slang in English and Spanish from a morphopragmatic and semantic perspective. His research looks at how form, meaning, and context shape non-normative language use. He has presented the early stages of his work at two conferences: one at the University of Alicante and another organized by ASYRAS at the University of Murcia. His main interests include morphology, pragmatics, and semantics, especially concerning contemporary English and cross-linguistic analysis.

José A. Sánchez Fajardo, University of Alicante

José A. Sánchez Fajardo is a full professor in the Department of English Philology at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Alicante (UA). He holds a degree in English Philology from the University of Havana (2005) and a PhD in the same subject from the University of Alicante (2016). He is also a member of the Lexicology and Lexicography research group at the UA, focusing on research into the lexicon from different approaches.
He has been a member of the Lexicology and Lexicography research group since 2014, conducting research on the lexicon from various perspectives. His research interests include the morphological and lexicological levels of language, with a particular focus on pragmatics and sociolinguistics. Much of his work has been published in high-impact journals such as English Today, American Speech, Lingua, and Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie. In 2017, he was awarded the Margaret Fuller Fellowship (AEDEAN-Franklin Institute), and in 2018, he received the Generalitat Valenciana BEST grant for postdoctoral research.

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