History of Language Wars in USA

[YAUTIAPR]

This seems to be the right place for a favorite theme of discussion in the USA and in PR.

Let the discussion begin with a little history re. this issue which seems to be coming back, at least "por estos Lares."

Language Wars in the USA

In 1868 the “Peace Commission” was created embodied in the report of their investigation was the condition of Indian tribes and the commissions views on the problem they presented to US society and their views on the subject, James Crawford in his book Language Loyalties, makes the following extracts:

“The white and Indian must mingle together and jointly occupy the country, or one of them must abandon it….What prevented their living together?…. The difference in language, which in a great measure barred intercourse and a proper understanding each of the other’s motives and intentions. Now, by educating the children of these tribes in the English language these differences would have disappeared, and civilization would have followed at once. Nothing then would have been left but the antipathy of race, and that, too is always softened in the beams of a higher civilization….Through sameness of language is produced sameness of sentiment, and thought; customs and habits are moulded and assimilated in the same way, and thus in process of time the differences producing trouble would have been gradually obliterated. By civilizing one tribe others would have followed. Indians of different tribes associate with each other on terms of equality; they have not the Bible, but their religion, which we call superstition, teaches them that the Great Spirit made us all. In the difference of language to=day lies two-thirds of our trouble….Schools should be established, which children should be required to attend; their barbarous dialects should be blotted out and the English language substituted….The object of greatest solicitude should be break down the prejudices of tribe among the Indians; to blot out the boundary lines which divide them into distinct nations, and fuse them into one homogeneous mass. Uniformity of language will do this-nothing else will.
(Crawford, Language Loyalties, The University of Chicago Press, 1992, p.48)

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Sincerely,

YautiaPR

[YAUTIAPR]

[quote]Originally posted by YAUTIAPR
[b]This seems to be the right place for a favorite theme of discussion in the USA and in PR.

Let the discussion begin with a little history re. this issue which seems to be coming back, at least "por estos Lares."

Language Wars in the USA

In 1868 the “Peace Commission” was created embodied in the report of their investigation was the condition of Indian tribes and the commissions views on the problem they presented to US society and their views on the subject, James Crawford in his book Language Loyalties, makes the following extracts:

“The white and Indian must mingle together and jointly occupy the country, or one of them must abandon it….What prevented their living together?…. The difference in language, which in a great measure barred intercourse and a proper understanding each of the other’s motives and intentions. Now, by educating the children of these tribes in the English language these differences would have disappeared, and civilization would have followed at once. Nothing then would have been left but the antipathy of race, and that, too is always softened in the beams of a higher civilization….Through sameness of language is produced sameness of sentiment, and thought; customs and habits are moulded and assimilated in the same way, and thus in process of time the differences producing trouble would have been gradually obliterated. By civilizing one tribe others would have followed. Indians of different tribes associate with each other on terms of equality; they have not the Bible, but their religion, which we call superstition, teaches them that the Great Spirit made us all. In the difference of language to=day lies two-thirds of our trouble….Schools should be established, which children should be required to attend; their barbarous dialects should be blotted out and the English language substituted….The object of greatest solicitude should be break down the prejudices of tribe among the Indians; to blot out the boundary lines which divide them into distinct nations, and fuse them into one homogeneous mass. Uniformity of language will do this-nothing else will.
(Crawford James, Language Loyalties, The University of Chicago Press, 1992, p.48)

Now there are some critical issues in the news about National Origin Minorities in the USA. Migrants and undocumented workers are themes very popular these days (see CNNs' Lou Dobbs). California is a bell weather for the issues of Hispanics in the USA just because of their sheer numbers.

History of Spanish Language Rights in California: Constitutional Debates

By the time California's first constitution was drafted in 1849, the Gold Rush had already transformed the state's Spanish speakers into a minority. Without opposition, however, delegates to the constitutional convention approved an important recognition of Spanish language rights: "All laws, decres, regulations, and provisions emanating from any of the three supreme powers of this State, whcih from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish." To some this step seemed legally required by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), in which Mexico had "ceded" nearly half its territory to the US. Although the treaty made no explicit reference to language rights, Article IX guaranteed, among other things, that Mexicans who chose to remain on the conquered lands would enjoy "all the rights of citizens of the US...and in the mean time shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and prosperity, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction."

By 1878, however, when California met to revise their state constitution, support for minority language rights had waned. Not a single delegate to the convention came from a Spanish-language bacground. Moreover, the assemply was domnated by the nativist Workingmen's Party, which pushed through a number of draconian measures aimed at Chinese immigrants. In this climate the delegates not only eliminated the 1849 guarantee for Spanish language publications, but also limited all official proceedings to English (a restriction that remained in effect until 1966), making California de nation's first "English only" state.
(excerpted from Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the State of California 1878-1879) James Crawford, op.cit. p.52

Language Wars to be continued.