Llanito or Yanito (pronounced [ʎaˈnito]) is an Andalusian Spanish based creole spoken in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.[1] It consists of an eclectic mix of Andalusian Spanish and British English, marked by a great deal of code switching and loanwords from many other Mediterranean languages.

Gibraltarians also call themselves Llanitos.

Language

Andalusian Spanish is the main constituent of Llanito, but is also heavily influenced by British English. However, it borrows words and expressions of many other languages, with over 500 words of Genoese (Ligurian) and Hebrew origin.[2] Its other main language constituents are Maltese and Portuguese. It often also involves code-switching to English. Some Llanito words are also widely used in the neighbouring Spanish town of La Línea de la Concepción (due to the influx of people from La Línea working in Gibraltar over many years).[3]

To some outsiders who only speak either English or Spanish, Llanito may sound incomprehensible, as speakers appear to switch languages in mid-sentence, but to people who are bilingual in both languages, it can sound interesting and unique. One feature of the language is the pronunciation of English words with an Andalusian flavour. For example, bacon is pronounced beki; cake, keki; battery, batteria; and a policeman is known as un bobi, (from "bobby"), porridge is called kuecaro (a Spanish-sounding version of the brand Quaker Oats) and Happy Birthday is Hapi Berfday. Most Gibraltarians, especially those with higher education, speak standard Spanish of both Andalusian and Castilian dialects and standard English of the British English variety[4].

Llanito has significant arabic influence, because of a long standing Arab rule on the Iberian Peninsula. They introduced words and expressions from Darija, a largely-extinct Arabic-Spanish language spoken by the Berber people of Northern Morocco, such as Tetuan and Tangiers and the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa.

Even though Llanito is seldom written, a Llanito dictionary, Diccionario Yanito was published in 1978 by Manuel Cavilla and in 2001 Tito Vallejo published The Yanito Dictionary. Including Place Names and Yanito Anecdotes.[5]

Broadcasting

The Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation has also aired some programmes in Llanito including Talk About Town - a discussion series in which three presenters discuss local affairs, from the need to replace a street sign to important political affairs.

Pepe's Pot was a cookery programme which also used Llanito

Demonym

The official demonym of Gibraltar is Gibraltarians. However, the people of Gibraltar may also be referred to as Llanitos (female Llanitas). This term is commonly used in the neighbouring towns of La Línea, San Roque, Algeciras and the rest of the Campo de Gibraltar, as well as in Gibraltar itself. When speaking in English, the people of Gibraltar tend to use the word Gibraltarians to refer to themselves but when speaking in Spanish they prefer to use the word Llanitos rather than the Spanish name for their official demonym, Gibraltareños.

The truncated term Llanis is also used by the people of Gibraltar, where it can be heard all around the territory and proudly chanted in songs during the annual Gibraltar National Day.

Etymology

The etymology of the term Llanito is ambiguous. In Spanish, Llanito means "little flatland" and has been interpreted as "people of the flatlands". It is thought that the inhabitants of La Línea with important social and economic ties with Gibraltar, were actually the first to be referred to as Llanitos since La Línea lies in the plain and marsh land surrounding The Rock. An alternative theory for the origin of the word is that it is a diminutive of the name Gianni. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the majority of the male civilian population of Gibraltar came from Genoa and Gianni was a common Italian forename.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanito