Analysis of the presence of Anglicisms in a Spanish internet forum: some terms from the fields of fashion, beauty and leisure

Abstract

The pervasive presence of English in Spain is unquestionable; indeed, a vast volume of literature has provided evidence of this fact. In this article, the remarkable presence of Anglicisms in a particular type of social media will be examined, namely the Spanish Internet forum enfemenino. The analysis covers three specific domains: beauty, fashion and leisure. The study focuses on a sample of English borrowings used in news articles published in this forum over the last 2 years (from January 2015 to March 2017). The findings reveal an increasing use of pure Anglicisms in the forum, whereas adapted Anglicisms, along with pseudo-Anglicisms, are not so common. These Anglicisms seem to be used for different reasons: the values of modernity and prestige associated with English, the lack of Spanish equivalents in some cases, the emergence of new concepts and innovations and, last but not least, the increasing influence that the Anglo-American culture is exerting on Spain. This raises the question of the extent to which these factors affect our sense of identity in Spain.