Term Paper on "Language in the United States"

Term Paper 7 pages (2418 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

NRC Language in the United States

Language diversity is a hot-button issue in today's modern political climate. English-only proponents have a variety of reasons for suggesting that English become the single official language of the United States. Some of these reasons are legitimate, such as ensuring that all Americans have an unfettered ability to communicate with one another, while some of them seem to disproportionately impact brown-skinned immigrant groups, and should be examined for any underlying racist motivation. Regardless of the legitimacy of English-only policies, multi-lingualism is completely supported by American traditions. The United States does not have, and has never had an official language, but has always been a multicultural and multi-lingual country. The United States' official policies have either been hands-off with regard to native languages, or protective of those languages. Furthermore, language diversity is a part of historical and present United States.

English is the de facto language of the United States, simply because it is spoken in more homes than any other language. However, attempts to make English the official language of the United States have been unsuccessful for over 200 years. The result is that, while English may be the de facto language of the United States, and the unofficial language of U.S. business and government, the United States has no official language.

While some consider the fact that the United States has no official language to be unusual and perhaps a detriment to the country, the reality is that the United States' rich and vibrant cultural history is linked with it being a multilingual country. The United States would be a different place if only English were spoken here, and so many words that people consider a part of American English actually trace their origins to different ethnic groups. One must keep in mind that the United States always has been multilingual. While many Americans like to think of American history as beginning with European settlement that ethnocentric view ignores the fact that the United States had a vibrant and successful population long before European settlement. Those Native Americans spoke a wide variety of different languages, and did not share a common tongue. Moreover, early European settlers spoke a wide variety of languages when they came to the United States. Not only were many of the English-speakers also able to speak other languages, but many early colonists did not speak English as a primary language. In fact, being multilingual was historically commonplace throughout much of the United States. Many of the Founding Fathers were known for their abilities to speak multiple languages, which one might expect to find in the upper social classes. However, it is critical to realize that being multilingual was not limited to the upper classes. In fact, "bilingualism, and often trilingualism, seem to have been equally common at the other end of the social scale -- for example, among slaves and indentured servants, both black and white. Advertisements for runaways placed in mid-18th century newspapers made frequent reference to their proficiencies in German, French, Spanish, Irish and Dutch" (Crawford, 1990). The portrait those words paint is an early America that celebrated the diversity of language.

Furthermore, while people tend to think of European settlers as English speakers, the reality is that Spanish-speaking Europeans were actively colonizing America and even parts of what is now the modern United States long before English-speakers began to do so. These early Spanish colonizers were followed by French colonizers, and only after those colonists began inhabiting the United States did English colonizers make their first enduring colonies in the Americas. In fact, while those three nations had the biggest influence on the emerging United States, most European nations had a colonial presence in the United States. Much of the Northwest was settled by German and Dutch settlers, and even modern day locations retain the influence of those ethnic groups who settled in the area hundreds of years ago. The result of all this diversity was that in 1776, it was not "uncommon to hear up to 20 different languages spoken in daily life" (Schultz, 2011). It is important to note that this diversity did not prevent the formation of the United States and may have made critical contributions to that unique spirit that is associated with being American.

In fact, English was not the dominant language in much of the present-day United States until relatively recently. English has been spoken in public in much of the mainstream United States since colonial times. However, many people did not do business outside of their own smaller ethnic communities, so that even legal paperwork may have been in different languages up until common times. Furthermore, because many immigrants settled in ethnic communities, where they could speak their native languages, the country retained diversity even once ethnic groups had otherwise assimilated into the melting pot. Therefore, in many communities the primary language one would hear would be something other than English, though there would probably be several English speakers in the community who could facilitate communication with an English-only speaker. English may have been the primary language for interacting with other groups, but they spoke other languages in their homes and in their social groups. This diversity has to do with the fact that the United States not only has a history of immigration, but was also settled by so many different ethnic groups. Much of the present-day United States did not belong to the United States until well-after the United States was formed, and had been settled by Spanish-speaking or French-speaking Europeans. Furthermore, though the United States may have technically owned lands that had once been settled by the French or the Spanish, the influences of those other cultures lingered in those areas. For example, one can hardly imagine a New Orleans without the influence of Cajun or Creole culture, and San Antonio would be unrecognizable if one stripped away its Spanish and Mexican influences. It is impossible to imagine a homogenous modern United States, and lingual diversity has helped contribute to its modern diversity. The beauty of the United States as a country depends partially on the fact that groups as diverse as the modern day Pennsylvania Dutch and the Cajuns in New Orleans can live dramatically different lifestyles, while relying on a common set of government guarantees and protections. The language diversity contributed to the cultural diversity that provides so much strength to the United States.

Rather than reject this multi-lingual approach, the U.S. government has recognized the importance of multiculturalism and been very accommodating of the right to speak different languages in the United States. It already has been mentioned that the U.S. Constitution contained no designation of an official language. The failure to list an official language was not an oversight on the part of the Founding Fathers; the Continental Congress had discussed the idea of an official language, but that idea was not embraced in the Constitution. In fact, the Founding Fathers did not seem to take the suggestion seriously, as it is not even discussed in the Federalist Papers or the Anti-Federalist papers, unlike other important issues of the day. Perhaps this fact is not surprising, since many of the Founding Fathers were multilingual, and they were dealing with foreign nations where English was certainly not the dominant language.

Furthermore, "In 1780, John Adams proposed to the Continental Congress that English should be declared the official language of the United States. His proposal was deemed "undemocratic and a threat to individual liberty" (Schultz, 2011). The connection between native language and individual liberty is one that the United States government has embraced since that time, because the federal government has resisted all attempts to establish an English-only policy. Despite the fact that "almost every session of Congress, an amendment to the Constitution is proposed in Congress to adopt English as the official language of the United States," or to change the "U.S. Code to make English the official language," none of these legislative changes has ever been successful (Walenta, 2010). In fact, the first official United States policy involving English-speaking did not come about until 1906, when speaking English became a requirement for citizenship (Crawford, 1990). To date, the only federal law that mandates English as the language choice for civilians remains the requirement that citizens have the ability to speak English; there is no mandate requiring that citizens actually speak English.

On the contrary, the federal legislation that has discussed language has been protective of the right to speak languages other than English. While United States policies toward Native American groups have not been notable for their tolerance, official policies have always been protective of Native American indigenous languages. An 1824 treaty with the Cherokee Nation protected the right to speak the Cherokee language, and this right remained protected even after the infamous Trail of Tears that stripped Cherokee's of so many of their other rights (Crawford, 1990). Furthermore, the Cherokee language is not only Native Language to have received legal protections.… READ MORE

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