I live in Florida where Spanish is widely spoken. What I have found is the first generation speaks only Spanish or accented English. The second generation speaks this "ethnolect." They usually lose it by the third generation and speak standard American English. Spanish speakers are not the only group who do this, but they are more likely to speak ethno-English. An example in Florida with the second generation Spanish is "put on the light" (turn on the light), "put my phone on the charger" (charge my phone or plug the charger in...), but eventually Standard English becomes the normal. However, if you go to South Louisianna, French has influenced for generations the way they speak English. In Pennsylvania you will hear German expressions and words from people whose families have been here for generations. If you go to parts of New Mexico, where it was settled in colonial times by Spanish from Spain, you will hear the Spanish of Cervantes still spoken. These ethno pockets add charm and color to our immigrant society, but sooner or later Standard American is the norm and spoken everywhere, so try not to sound too ethnic if you want to advance in career, education, etc.

1. That's not a usage that I am familiar with in "standard" American English. 2. Same. 3. I have never heard "hyena" for this meaning. But UrbanDictionary.com defines "hyna" as hispanic slang for a hispanic woman. 4. "Not even" is recognizable to me as slang for "that's not true." It has sort of a Valley-girl, 1980's feel to it, to a person like me who grew up in the 1980s. Example: Valley Girl 1: "Oh my god, Heather, that rad dude is so smoking'! Valley Girl 2: "Not even. I mean, like, gag me with a spoon, he's like totally not hot."

Hi Su.Ki., I just added this question in the Discussion section. We'll see what we get.

This a fascinating subject. I'm sure that a lot of people will have plenty to say about bilingualism and ethnolects. Why don't you repost in the Discussions section to keep the conversation going and involve more contributors?

***I would like to make a few things clear. First, I don't think not using standard English all of the time is wrong. Every language, dialect, variant, etc. is equally valid and good. However, I would like to know if the examples (my observations) above are also considered mainstream American English. Thank you.