The role of suppressive language policies in language shift and language loss

The Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson analysis of linguistic human rights is used as a basis for understanding language replacement phenomena in the United States. Use of Spanish in Chicano communities is shifting rapidly to English despite the huge numbers of recent immigrants who are dominant in Span...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Hernández Chávez, Eduardo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:1989
País:México
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur
Repositorio:Repositorio Institucional de la UABCS
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorioinstitucional.uabc.mx:20.500.12930/6792
Acceso en línea:https://ref.uabc.mx/ojs/index.php/ref/article/view/447
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Linguicism
minority cultures
acculturation
border
Language Arts
language
Language acquisition
Anthropology
Ethnology
Culture and cultural processes
Social sciences
Sociology
culture
migrants
International relations
International cultural relations
Descripción
Sumario:The Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson analysis of linguistic human rights is used as a basis for understanding language replacement phenomena in the United States. Use of Spanish in Chicano communities is shifting rapidly to English despite the huge numbers of recent immigrants who are dominant in Spanish. Accompanying this shift is a precipitous loss of proficiency by Spanish speakers. Such replacement of a language does not depend on personal choices made by speakers, but on the socio-political conditions within the country. Political goals of profits, exploitation, and hegemony drive classist, racist and ethnicist policies whose purpose is to neutralize resistance to the status quo. These are couched in liberal-sounding myths that justify linguicism, which strives to suppress minority cultures and to acculturate their members in order to pacify perceived ethnic group conflict. The Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson Linguicism Continuumn is used to demonstrate the degree of linguistic repression in selected U.S. institutions.