I think that the confusion could unravel if you called US nationals, US
nationals': estadounidenses (in spanish) without referring to their
'American' root. The linguistic 'confussion' was made some time ago by the
Monroe's doctrine 'America for the Americans' so no european nation would be
able to enter their area of 'influence' .
The division between north, south, central is very arbitrary: i.e. half of
south america is actualy in north america or north of the equatorial line.
South american people like to divide the continent into two main areas
indoamerica or latinamerica and anglo america. This is also arbitrary too.
Andean people in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela
(the former Inka empire_ are not 'latin' as such. Paraguayan people speak
Guarani, and people in Peru speak 300 differen languiages 3 of which are
considered official with 'spanish'. So their definition of latinamerican do
not corespond to the language they speak.
To be save call the US nationals, US nationals, and the problem disappears.
Best, Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "John H Noble Jr" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 12:14 AM
Subject: Re: language
> Hazel,
> I think distinguishing between the nations in North, Central, and
> South America would make clear residency in the most unambiguous manner.
> We
> are, after all, residents of specific nations. "Norteamericanos," includes
> the USA, Mexico, and Canada. BUT, according to my Franklin Electronic
> Dictionary, "Norteamericanos" refers only to the USA. Therefore, I
> conclude,
> the distinction between, "Centroamericanos," "Sudamericanos," and
> "Norteamericanos" is ambiguous unless specified by nation.
> --JHN
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hazel Frost
> Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 3:33 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: language
>
> Here's a question that I hope someone out there might be able to
> answer...
>
> I'm trying to figure out how to differentiate between a resident of the
> USA versus a resident of "the Americas". In Spanish there are two very
> different words so it is easy. I've tried to see how it would be done
> by the media in the UK or the USA except they seem to use "American"
> for both. This might mean that the media from the UK and the USA
> haven't quite realised that there are actually a whole bunch of
> countries in the continent :) Apart from the linguistic colonialism,
> it just makes it very clumsy if I'm trying to write comparisons
> involving both the USA and the continent as a whole (which "Americans"
> am I talking about?) So I'm wondering how I would talk about it if I
> was Canadian? Or if anyone can tell me if there is a standard
> convention for making those kind of comparisons in English?
>
> Thanks very much
> Hazel
>
> ________________End of message________________
>
> This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for
> Disability Studies at the University of Leeds
> (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
> Enquiries about list administration should be sent to
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Archives and tools are located at:
> www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
> You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web
> page.
>
> ________________End of message________________
>
> This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for
> Disability Studies at the University of Leeds
> (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
> Enquiries about list administration should be sent to
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Archives and tools are located at:
> www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
> You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web
> page.
>
________________End of message________________
This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
Enquiries about list administration should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page.
|