Discussion Details
| Title: | Cultural Identity and Language |
| Submitter: | Stan Anonby |
| Description: | I've been following the scuttlebut about English only and the translation
of the "Star Spangled Banner". I'm here in the States teaching in a summer session in North Dakota, and the subject of identity and language has come up. I'd like to throw out an observation made by a student from California. Her comment was that the Hispanics in Fresno are divided into three groups: The first group is formed by people directly from Mexico. They speak English poorly, but "are the most American". She said you can tell who they are because they all have American flags hanging from their windows. The second group is formed by their children. They're just living life, are bilingual, and don't think or talk about who they are much. The third group is the third generation. These people don't speak Spanish, only English. However, they're the ones who are most vocal about language rights and being Mexican. They are the ones who hang Mexican flags in their windows, and say, "Viva la raza!" Another student commented on a similar situation in southern Manitoba. She said her grandmother's generation lives the Mennonite lifestyle, speaks Plautdeutch, but seldom talk about their identity. She said people in their 20's were much more proud and vocal about being Mennonite. Yet they do not speak Plautdeutch. I myself am not American or Mennonite, so I can't vouch for any of this. It does ring more or less true to me, though. I've seen similar phenomena among Indigenous peoples in Brazil and Canada. I'm not sure if this tendency is the norm, the exception, or even accurate. Any comments? Stan Anonby |
| Date Posted: | 12-Jul-2006 |
| Linguistic Field(s): |
Sociolinguistics
Anthropological Linguistics |
| LL Issue: | 17.2042 |
| Posted: | 12-Jul-2006 |
