Spanish Cinema Terminology: From the Silver Screen to the Street Scene

Abstract

In this paper we examine the role of television and cinema in the cultural contact and linguistic exchange between speakers of contemporary peninsular Spanish and American English. To illustrate the importance of these two channels of transmission, we shall enumerate over one hundred lexical items borrowed from American English and analyze eight specific terms directly related to the small and silver screens. The study of these AmE loanwords may cast light not only on the process of lexical borrowing itself, but also on the degree of influence exerted by the television and motion picture industry in the transfer of North American culture to peninsular Spanish society.