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The U.S. presence in the Canal Zone during the 20th century, along with the worldwide influence in the 21st, has significantly influenced Panamanian Spanish. As a result, many English expressions have been incorporated into everyday speech, sometimes adopting different meanings that differ from the originals. This research investigates these anglicisms, both new and old ones identifying the categories in which they predominate and classifying their use accordingto the generation that make use of them the most. It also examines some of the semantic changes that have occureed because of their adoption in common speech. The research was based on a corpus of 150 terms gathered through semi-structured interviews with 100 university students. Every word was classified by thematic field, the generational group that uses it (youth, middle-aged adults, or all ages), and its semantic variations in the Panamanian context. The results indicates that the majority of these anglicisms are found in the areas of technology, media, and gastronomy, with young people being the group that uses them the most. Examples of semantic expansion phenomena are included, such as using vanity to refer to a dresser with a mirror; data to mean mobile internet data; and jet set to designate exclusive restaurants or places. These findings provide valuable insight into language contact in Panama and help understand how generational differences and globalization influence the semantic development of these borrowed words incorporated into the local Spanish.
