Here along the border it is extremely common to hear conversations which jump from Spanish to English and back, although English is the official and commercial language in the majority of neighborhoods. I believe the Hispanic population, depending on "how Hispanic" you count, is much higher than 13%, and of course it is around here, and through southern Texas, but I have heard larger figures being used nationwide.

But English has always drawn of Spanish and French for its vocabulary and I don't believe it is going through any more fundamental shifts as a result of demographic shifts than it always has.

What bothers me is the uniform mindless version that has blanketed the nation as a result of large-scale media and commercial interests throwing the change process out of kilter. Traditional language changes grow from experience in small areas and work their way out and up -- terms get adopted tot he degree they are found useful, no matter where they come from, such as 'rodeo', 'calaboose', 'tete-a-tete', or even weltanschaung (whatever!)...

With the advent of mass media, this process reverses and invented cultural icons are handed down from the top, which divorces them from real-world experience and local color, and places them more in the realm of commercial mind-control tokens, a real perversion of context in my NSHO. "Big Mac attacK", "Fries with that?", and scores of other more recent examples are probably available -- linguistic constructs grounded in commercial message, like a position statement from Bush, rather than deriving from human experience. Baaaad news in the long run, you ask me.

A