Language Assimilation Today: Bilingualism Persists More Than in the Past, But English Still Dominates

1
Language Assimilation TodayBilingualism
Persists More Than in the Past, But English
Still Dominates Richard Alba, The University
at Albany, SUNY



Background
Data US Census data from 1990 and 2000
Analysis
The Huntington thesis The U.S. is in danger of
dividing into two linguistic subsocieties, one
based on Spanish, the other on English. One
hypothesis high immigration is reducing the
incentive for linguistic assimilation, i.e., the
mastery of English, even among U.S.-born
generations. (Samuel Huntington, Who Are We The
Challenges to Americas National Identity, 2004)
We examine the languages spoken at home by Asian
and Hispanic school-age children, as well as
their reported competence in English, at the
beginning and end of the 1990s. The languages
children speak are a good guide to their adult
language competencies because few people
Key variables ethnic/racial origin, generation,
and languages spoken Ethnic/racial origin is
established from census race and Hispanic-origin
questions.
Language data come from two questions that are
typically completed by a parent 1. the
language spoken by the child at
home 2. a rating of proficiency in
English in the event the child
speaks another language.
Generationfirst, second, thirdis established
from childrens and parents birthplaces the
second generation is the first to be U.S. born.
speak fluently a language learned in school or as
an adult. The analysis is restricted to Asians
and Hispanics because these are the populations
where non-English-speaking immigrants are
concentrated.
By definition, a bilingual child speaks English
well and speaks another language also.
Fact The immigration totals for the 1990s were
the highest of any decade in US history
(according to the Urban Institute).
Findings
Finding 4 A decade of very high immigration
brought little change to the pattern of
linguistic assimilation Percent of children
who speak only English by generation and group,
1990 and 2000
T
hough this comparison can only be made for a
small number of groups, it indicates clearly that
there was very little meaningful shift in
linguistic assimilation during the 1990s.
Mexicans are by far the largest immigrant group
and experienced heavy immigration during the
1990s, but their rate of English monolingualism
was higher by the 3rd generation in 2000.
Finding 1 Among U.S.-born children (the 2nd
and 3rd generations), the great majority speak
English well Even in the
2nd generation, made up of children growing up in
homes with at least one immigrant parent, only 8
percent of Hispanic children and 4 percent of
Asian children do not speak English well.
Finding 2 Bilingualism is common in the 2nd
generation, but English monolingualism is
prevalent by the 3rd T
he historic pattern among European immigrant
groups was also one of bilingualism in the 2nd
generation and English monolingualism in the 3rd.
There may be more bilingualism in the
contemporary 3rd generation, especially among
Spanish speakers but it is a minority
patternthe majority is English dominant.
Finding 3 The generational pattern of
linguistic assimilation is not different in the
metropolitan regions of immigrant
concentration The acid test
is linguistic assimilation among Hispanic
children. Of the 10 regions of greatest Hispanic
immigrant concentration, only New York and Miami
are notably different from the nation. However,
the conversion to English monolingualism is much
lower in the regions along the U.S.-Mexican
border, especially in Texas, where the roots of
Spanish are historically deep.
Language assimilation in 10 metro regions with
largest numbers of Hispanic children Speaking
only English by generation, 2000
Percent of children with limited proficiency in
English by generation and group, 2000
Percent of children who speak only English by
generation and group, 2000
This research was funded by NICHD data work was
conducted by Karen Marotz and Jacob Stowell. The
full report is available at Lewis Mumford Center
(http//www.albany.edu/mumford)