Wednesday, February 24, 2021 - 11:44

by KARIM SCHEMBRI
As the years go by and generations develop, there is always the question that our Llanito (Yanito) dialect is being lost through the years or is it that it our unique language is just evolving to a new breed of Llanito. In this article I shall be looking at various generations and monumental changes which I believe have shaped Gibraltar into evolving to this level of Llanito which I’m sure will end up changing over time as the years go by.

The first generation I want to looks at are senior citizens. The first things you will notice is those over the age of 80 have been through the Second World War which had an underlying effect on their education and upbringing when they were younger. Despite many Gibraltarians being evacuated to London; English was never the main language in Gibraltarians homes. Maybe, you had a very high standard of education or you came from an English born family and even still the probability of you speaking more Spanish than English was higher.