Unlike many countries, the United States of America has no formally established official language. In 2000, the census bureau printed the standard census questionnaires in six languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.
American English, inherited from British colonization and spoken by the vast majority of the population, serves as the de facto official language, for instance as that in which government business is carried out. The English Only movement seeks to establish English as the only official language of the nation.
The second most common language in the country is Spanish, spoken by about 27.8 million people (or 10.5% of the population) in 2000. The United States is the fifth country in the world in Spanish-speaking population, outnumbered only by Mexico, Spain, Argentina, and Colombia. The Spanish language has been in North America since 1565, when the Spaniards founded St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest, continuously occupied European city in the actual continental territory of United States. Really, Spanish has been spoken in the country (singularly, in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana) since 1803, when Louisiana was sold to the USA and Spanish settlers turned into citizens of a new country. After Mexican-American War, many of the territories in the north of Mexico were lost to the United States. As a consecuence of that conquest, both English and Spanish are official languages in New Mexico and Spanish has been spoken continuously from the 19th centuryin the northern New Mexico/southern Colorado area and in the Mexican border. The rise of Spanish in the USA is a consequence of the Spanish-American War, too: Today, Puerto Ricans are native U.S. citizens and Spanish is the native language of Puerto Rico. Also, there has a strong immigration from Mexico, Cuba and other Latin American countries in the 20th century. Some critics have referred to the rise of the Spanish language in the USA, especially in the southern areas bordering Mexico, as the "Amexica" effect. This term blends "America" and "Mexico". Similarly, on the East Coast, they speak of "Nuyorican", blending "New York" and "Puerto Rican".
The USA has long been the destination of many immigrants. From the mid 19th century on, the nation had large numbers of residents who spoke little or no English, throughout the country there have been towns and neighborhoods of cities where business, schools, and newspapers were in languages such as German, Italian, Czech, Polish, Chinese, Yiddish, etc. Nowadays, a vast number of languages are spoken in various immigrant communities but are not considered indigenous. Asian languages account for the majority of these: Korean, various Chinese languages, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.
Many African-American activists insist that Ebonics, also known as African-American Vernacular English, the dialect of English spoken in many African-American sections of American urban areas, is not simply a dialect, but an entirely different language, and are urging that their language be accepted as an equal to American English. Gullah, an English-African creole is spoken on the Sea Islands of South Carolina.
The various Native American languages of course predated the European settlement of the New World, and in a few parts of the USA continue to be spoken. Most of these languages, however, are moribund, despite efforts by native peoples to revive them. Exceptions to this include Navajo, with over 100,000 native speakers, Lakota, Hopi and several others. Native languages played an important role in World War I and World War II, when they were spoken by native peoples as codes. In some cases, the languages were spoken outright over the radio, while in other cases, such as Navajo, codes were developed, using the language as a basis. With fewer than thirty people outside the United States able to speak the language, the code remained unbroken.
The Amish mostly speak a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania Dutch. Benjamin Franklin advocated the use of German as the official language of the United States, marking a break from the language spoken by Great Britain, against which the newly-formed United States had recently rebelled.
Cajun, a variant of French, is spoken in some parts of Louisiana. There are French Canadian settlers in parts of northern New England, as well.
See also:
External Links
- Bilingualism in the United States
- Spanish in the USA, by Ian Mackenzie