In total, we analyzed 243 signs and social media posts containing Spanish: 143 in Savannah and 100 in Statesboro.
In Savannah, there were 66 signs found in person (46%) and 77 social media posts (54%). In Statesboro, there were 75 signs in person (75%) and 25 social media posts (25%).
In Savannah, most of the signs and social media posts we observed were from local businesses, whereas in Statesboro they primarily belonged to larger companies.
Within the commercial domain, most signs and social media posts in both cities were related to the services sector.
In terms of language prominence in each city, the following pattern emerged:
Savannah: only in Spanish > more prominent in English > more prominent in Spanish
Statesboro: only in Spanish = more prominent in English > more prominent in Spanish
With respect to language prominence across both cities, we found the following:
Only in Spanish > more prominent in English > more prominent in Spanish
Forms of address:
“Tú” and “usted” (both translated as ‘you’) were the most frequently used forms of address in our data.
Generally speaking, in Spanish, “tú” is preferred when addressing close acquaintances, such as a friend or family member, whereas “usted” is used for someone more distant, in a formal context. It is important to note, however, that this distinction varies across the Spanish-speaking world.
Interestingly, we also found cases where both “tú” and “usted” were used in the same sign/social media post.
In both Savannah and Statesboro, the majority of signs and social media posts served an informative purpose.
The most frequent errors in signs and social media posts were:
Lack of accent marks > capitalization > punctuation > misspelling > inaccurate/partial translation
Regarding the influence of English, 61% consisted of English words inserted into Spanish phrases or sentences, 34% were borrowings, and 5% were calques.