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Llanito (IPA: ) or Yanito is an Andalusian Spanish based creole spoken in the British dependent territory of Gibraltar. It is heavily influenced by English and it also has vocabulary which is used neither in Spain nor Britain. Gibraltarians may also call themselves Llanitos (female Llanitas). The colloquial term los Llanis is also used in La Línea, Algeciras and other surrounding Andalusian towns as well as in Gibraltar itself. Llanito and its plural form Llanitos literally means a person or people of the flats. It is thought that the inhabitants of La Línea de la Concepción, a neighboring village with important social and economic ties with Gibraltar, were actually referred to as llanitos since la linea lies in the plain and marsh land surrounding the rock. To many outsiders, Llanito sounds incomprehensible, as speakers appear to switch languages in mid-sentence, but to people who can understand both English and Spanish, it sounds surprising and unique. One feature of the language is the pronunciation of English words with an Andalusian flavour. For example, bacon is pronounced beki; cake, quequi; battery, batteria; and a policeman is known as un bobi, (from "bobby"), porridge is called cuecaro (a Spanish-sounding version of the brand Quaker Oats). However, this is more common with the older population as the younger generation have a different slang, for example la palma for 'the police'. Gibraltarians, especially those with higher education, speak standard Spanish of both Andalusian and Castilian dialects and standard English of the British English variety.
Etymology In contention. Some attribute it to llano ('plain'), a reference to the isthmus between Gibraltar and Spain, or to Gianni + -ito or equivalently John + -ito. See also | ||||||||
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