I understand your point, the reason why its not common to hear in Mexico

‘hablo castellano’ is b/c we all know we speak Castellano, its the only dialectin Mexico

actually its politically correct to call all the Spanish in the Americas Castellano,

who was the Monarchs who sent the conquistadors Isabel de Castilla. Just because people speak the language differently doesnt mean its different. I think you interpret the term Castellano as the accent from Spain, this is false. Enrique Iglesias and Vicente Fernandez both speak Castellano just as an example. I have many docuements, ie the census of mexicowhere it states people speak castellano in Mexico, I can send it to you if you like.

> To: general@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
> From: mnavarrovillalobos@yahoo.com.mx
> Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 14:13:51 -0700
> Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] ¡me canso manito que hay español mexicano!
>
> I’ve lived in Mexico for decades and I still have not met any Mexican who claims to speak Castellano, that term is mainy used n Spain because it is politically incorrect to call the language Spanish since there are other “Spanish languages” as catalán, gallego and vasco. We speak español, yet the Spanish we speak is different to the one spoken in other countries like Argentina and Spain, and even when they are making fun of us they use words and phrases typical of Mexico.
> And yes, there is a Mexican Spanish, not accordng to me, but to many scholars that have written about it:

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First of all, I would like to say that I have enjoyed all of the discussion (and banter?) on the Mejico vs. Mexico debate.

Daniel, you write:
“I agree with Eduardo, Mexico wasnt Mexico until around the time of the Revolution. When New Spain declared independence, Mexico was just a pure thought. It wouldnt be until the Mexican Revolution that would unite Mexico socailly and politically, even though it somewhat still isnt. Can anyone comment on this part? I was told no one really used the nationality Mejicano?”

There certainly was an ethnic identity of being mexicano long before independence. The Mexica were one of the three (and principal) ethnic groups that formed the triple alliance of the Aztec empire. The term Aztec is an ex-post academic invention precisely to differentiate the Mexican empire (pre-colonization), its culture, society, etc. from that related to the modern concept of Mexico (which includes many additional territories and lacks some such as El Salvador). There are plenty of colonial documents that refer to “la nacion mexicana” and even more to the “lengua mexicana” including official colonial legal documents written in “la lengua mexicana” as this was the lingua franca of New Spain for quite some time after the conauest.

I have even run across documents where tlaxcaltec colonizers adamantly declare that they are NOT mexicanos (I would imagine that this was because the Mexica were their historic enemies and they had helped the Spaniards defeat them).

Whn I said Mejicanos I meant the Spanish colonists and their descendants Los Criollos

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Hi! I know that castellano and español do indeed refer to the same language known as Spanish. However, pretty much everybody I know in Mexico calls the language español rather than castellano. That term is kind of an archaism in Mexico. In all Mexican primary schools, whether they are private or public, everybody has to use same the free textbooks provided by the government, and those regardng the language are named “Español”. So, I’ll dare to say thay in current Mexican Spanish, “castellano” is “español”.

For me it is kind of funny that due to political correctness the only place were Spanish should not be called Spanish but Castillian is Spain. Yet, the Castillian language authorities in Spain are members of the “Real Academia de la Lengua Española”.

Current Mexican Census questionnaires refer to the language as español rather than castellano, they actually assume everybody speaks Spanish, they only ask you if you speak “español” if you said you speak a native language:
http://www.inegi.org.mx/est/contenidos/espanol/cuestionarios/censos/C_conteo_2005.pdf
Makes you wonder, the yesteryear census workers wrote Castellano in their documents. Was the question, “do you speak Castillian?” and the answer yes; or was it “what language do you speak?” and whether they answered español or castellano they would write the latter?
Regards,
VN