How much of what you believe about language is actually true? (Part 1)
We all have beliefs about language: how it should be spoken, what good language symbolizes, and more. But how much truth do these beliefs hold?
All of us speak language, and all of us are constantly surrounded by language. So, it isn’t shocking that all of us have certain ideas about language, ranging from how it’s learned to which languages sound better.
But what if I told you that much of what you believe about language is not based on concrete, research-backed facts, but rather on ideologies, myths that you have been told so many times that you believe them to be true.
The truth is hard to disentangle from the myth, as myths exist in popular culture, in conversations with friends, in politics. However, in this newsletter, I’m going to focus on a single myth: the U.S. is an English speaking country. And I’m going to show how something that is often repeated as factual and innocuous hides a whole other story underneath the surface.
Part 1 will give historical and present examples of languages which exist in the U.S. (which we often ignore when we call it “an English-speaking country.”) Part 2 will go into the ways this seemingly innocuous belief has manifested itself in political movements, both historically and presently.
The Present: U.S. Context
I have a number of polls1 about the present and historical context of the U.S. These aren’t trivia questions, or questions to see how much you know about languages and statistics, but rather to show what topics aren’t talked about when we focus all of our energy on talking about how the U.S. is an English-speaking country.
So we’re all on the same page for this next poll, I’m defining one generation as a situation in which the speaker no longer speaks their “native” language, two generations as a situation in which the U.S. born children no longer speak their parent’s language, and three generations as a situation in which the U.S. born grandchildren no longer speak their grandparent’s language. I’m defining death as the language no longer being spoken or understood at home.
*Spoiler alert* (Here’s the answer key to part 1)
There’s an estimated 350-430 languages spoken in the U.S. The top five languages spoken in the U.S. (2010) are: 1.) English, 2.) Spanish, 3.) Chinese (Mandarin), 4.) Hindi, 5.) Filipino.
The U.S. has 41 million “native” Spanish speakers. The only countries with more “native” speakers of Spanish are Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Spain.
Spanish has been spoken in parts of present-day U.S. for more than four centuries. In fact, Spanish was spoken in present-day U.S. before English ever was.
The answer is within three generations. Even in places, like Miami, in which 66.7% of the population speaks only Spanish at home, Spanish is actually dying cross-generationally. The numbers are so high because (im)migration is high.
Time to go back in time.
The Historical: U.S. Context
*Spoiler alert* (Here’s the answer key to part 2)
There were hundreds of languages in present-day U.S. before English. In fact, when the colonizers first arrived, there were an estimated 250-300 Indigenous languages.
Today, there are about 115 Indigenous languages, 99% of which are endangered. The key reasons why will be discussed in part 2.
Why does this all matter?
Myths are mysterious, in that they hide stories so well that we don’t realize that they’re hidden. Myths aren’t real, but when asked to describe them, most people can.
Lippi-Green uses this metaphor: most people can draw a unicorn and talk about a unicorn. They don’t know when or how they learned about unicorns, but they’re sure about what a unicorn looks like.
The problem is that—just like myths which can be described in detail—unicorns don’t exist. When we describe them, we’re merely repeating information that has cultural significance. In other words, since unicorns don’t exist, we don’t actually know if what we’re saying is true. That is the danger of language myths.
The U.S. is statistically one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. In fact, there are only four countries more linguistically diverse than the U.S. And yet, the U.S. is often regarded as an English-speaking country.
While it’s true that English is the dominant language in the U.S, it’s also true—as the above polls show—that English has always co-existed with hundreds of other languages. And it’s not that recent (im)migration trends have caused this influx of languages. No, some languages, like Spanish, have been spoken in parts of the present-day U.S. since before English.
Thus, the idea that the U.S. is an English-speaking country is, at the very least, highly incomplete.
Conclusion
The U.S. being viewed as an English-speaking country has real-world consequences. While there’s technically no official language, the U.S. is a country in which English has the most power—it’s the language of most jobs, universities, and government forms. For that reasons, most migrants are bilingual English speakers. And most of their future generations will only speak English (if we’re talking about one generation, then most will speak their “native” language. If we’re talking over three generations, then almost all will speak only English).
Next week, we’re going to discuss how these beliefs have led to political movements to promote the use of only English in the U.S. Specifically, we’re going to discuss why 99% of Indigenous languages are endangered, and why languages, like Spanish, are dying cross-generationally.
Discussion
How many languages are spoken where you’re from? Are they all official languages?
The polls are open for one week. If you’re reading this article after August 23, 2022, then you’ll need to answer the polls in your head (or on a sheet of paper).