Language Allegiances and Bilingualism in the US

Edited by Prof. M. Rafael Salaberry

Publication date:

18 June 2009

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781847691781

This book analyses the concept of language allegiances, and, more broadly, language-based identities in a multilingual society such as the US. The guiding theme of the chapters that comprise this volume is the identification of specific beliefs and attitudes towards language, and how these lead to particular actions in the spheres of language ideology, legal litigation, educational agendas, political strategies and cultural identities. The authors share the idea that, whether it is based on reality or a perception of reality, there is a privileged connection between language and identity.

Chapter 1: Language Allegiances - Rafael Salaberry

Chapter 2: Language Attitudes and Linguistic Outcomes in Reading, Pennsylvania - Jacqueline Toribio

Chapter 3: A Sociolinguistic View of Speech Sciences - Nancy Niedzielski

Chapter 4: Linguistic Profiling: The Linguistic Point of View - Dennis R. Preston

Chapter 5: The Bilingual’s Hoarse Voice: Losing Rights in Two Languages - Sandra Del Valle

Chapter 6: Problems with the ‘Language-as-resource’ Discourse in the Promotion of Heritage Languages in the USA - Thomas Ricento

Chapter 7: English Hegemony and the Politics of Ethno-Linguistic Justice in the United States - Ronald Schmidt

Chapter 8: Livin' and Teachin' la lengua loca: Glocalizing US Spanish Ideologies and Practices - Ofelia García

Chapter 9: Bilingual Education: Assimilation, Segregation and Integration - Rafael Salaberry

This book offers a well-made selection of illuminating perspectives on the relation between language and identity in the United States. The contributors - an all-star cast - study the conditions under which beliefs and attitudes towards language are produced and survey the roles they play and effects they have within the fields of culture, education, and politics. With this volume, the sociology of language takes a step forward in its long-standing effort to produce a coherent articulation of language and politics as an object of research.