Chicano English, which is also referred to as Mexican-American English, is an American-English dialect primarily used in the Southwestern region of the United States by Chicanos or Mexican-Americans. Not to be confused with Spanglish, Chicano English is not a mixture of English and Spanish or an inter-language but rather a native and fully formed English dialect spoken in some cases by people who have little knowledge of Spanish (Reitmeier).

Nevertheless, Chicano English does have significant influences and features of Spanish, particularly in relation to its phonology and consonant sounds. Unlike other forms of European-American English, Chicano English has a significant variety of consonant cluster reductions. Indeed, although there are some other forms of English such as African-American vernacular English that may also present with similar consonant cluster reduction, this phonological characteristic is more distinct in Chicano English than other forms of vernacular English (Reitmeier).

Chicano English, as noted, exhibits word-final consonant cluster reduction such that words like /maind/ is pronounced as /main/, while the word /left/ is pronounced as /lef/ (Reitmeier). Another example of word-final consonant cluster reduction is the phrase ‘It’s kind of bad’, which in Chicano English may become ‘is kana ba’. The [ts] consonant cluster, which is located at the end of ‘it’s’ in this Chicano English reduction is reduced and becomes [s]. In addition, the end of ‘kind’ has the consonant [d], which is reduced in Chicano English to merge with the succeeding word which is ‘of’. Further, in the word bad, [d], which is the last consonant, is eliminated. Therefore, each consonant cluster in the sentence ‘it’s kind of bad’ is reduced with the subsequent formation of entirely different pronunciations (Reitmeier). Further, the /z/ in European-American English is devoiced in every environment, for example, with ‘was’ becoming [wʌs] and ‘easy’ becoming [isi].

Moreover, the consonant /v/ as used in European-American English is devoiced following a word’s last vowel with the word ‘love’, for instance, becoming [lʌf], while the word ‘wives’ becomes [waɪfs] and the word ‘have’ becomes [hæf] (Bayley & Holland 400). Speakers of Chicano English might also realize the consonant /v/ as an approximant or fricative [β] or even in form of a stop [b]; in which case the world ‘very’ would be pronounced in the form [ˈβɛɹi] or [ˈbɛɹi] respectively. Furthermore, Chicano English also involves change in the pronunciation of dental fricatives with the word ‘think’, for example, being pronounced as [ˈsiŋk], [ˈfiŋk], or [ˈtiŋk]. As with majority of dialects in Latin American Spanish including Mexican Spanish, Chicano English’s dialect also adopted the seseo feature, where the consonant /s/ is merged with / θ/. Additionally, the consonant sounds / dʒ/ and /j/ could also merge to form [dʒ]. In this case, the word ‘yes’ becomes ‘jes’, while the word ‘job’ may also become ‘yob’ (Bayley & Holland 400).

Furthermore, the nasal consonants /ŋ, n, m/ in Chicano English are also combined and form a single sound as part of the syllable coda (Bayley & Holland 400). Thus, in relation to phonetics, the pronunciation of these nasal consonants varies and could be the velar [ŋ] or the alveolar form [n]. In Chicano English, unlike European-American English, /ʃ/ tends to be merged with /tʃ/, which results in similarities with regard to the pronunciation of words like cheat and sheet. However, this merger has varying outcomes, in which case the outcome may either be an affricate in the form [tʃ] where the words sheet and cheat may be pronounced as cheat. On the other hand, the outcome may be a fricative [ʃ], where both the words sheet and cheat are pronounced as sheet (Bayley & Holland 400). Finally, the consonant /r/ in Chicano English is realized in the form of a flap, which results in the pronunciation of ready as [ſɛdi].