Little to No Language Indigenous Latin American Children in New
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Little to No Language Indigenous Latin American Children in New Jersey July 14, 2012 Version 2 Aggie Sung Tang, producer and host of a public access television show called Education Round Table, based out of Princeton Community TV of Princeton, NJ. [email protected] 609-802-8788 1 Statement Many different LDTCs, Bilingual, ESL and preschool teachers in New Jersey state they have come across Latino children described as having “Little to No Language.” Educators stated that these children were assessed in Spanish and not English. These children are as young as 3, who have been admitted to either Abbot school districts’ preschool programs or Special Education preschool programs. Others are in elementary school up to age 8. These children are more likely to be placed in Special Education, because they are assessed to have “Little to No Language.” The three top reasons from educators that explain this phenomenon are the following: 1. Latino parents of these children have to work multiple jobs, so they do not have time to speak to their children. 2. Latino parents have so little education that there is no language to pass onto their children. 3. These Latino children have learning disabilities. 2 Analysis for reasons to “Little to No Language” Getting a better understanding of where New Jersey’s Latino population originate may lend a better understanding to this “Little to No Language” description. The passenger traffic data from the New York New Jersey Port Authority, who runs all the airports in the area including Newark, JFK and Laguardia, indicate that the majority of the passenger traffic (arrivals and departures) involve 2 market groups: 1. Bermuda and Caribbean 2. Latin American (Central and South America). Figure 1 - JFK International Airport Passenger Traffic by Market Group (Arrivals and Departures) and by Year (see Appendix Table 3) 4,500,000 4,000,000 3,500,000 Puerto Rico 3,000,000 Bermuda and Caribbean 2,500,000 Mexico 2,000,000 Latin America 1,500,000 Canada 1,000,000 500,000 0 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 3 Figure 2 - Newark International Airport Passenger Traffic by Market Group (Arrivals and Departures) and by Year (data from New York and New Jersey Port Authority see Appendix Table 4) 1,600,000 1,400,000 1,200,000 1,000,000 Puerto Rico 800,000 Bermuda and Caribbean 600,000 Mexico 400,000 Latin America 200,000 Canada 0 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 4 Figure 3 - Laguardia Airport Passenger Traffic (Arrivals and Departures) by Market Group and by Year (data from New York and New Jersey Port Authority see Appendix Table 5) 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 Puerto Rico Bermuda and 600000 Caribbean Mexico 400000 Latin America Canada 200000 0 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 5 There is evidence that the phenomenon of Latinos with “Little to No Language” can be explained that there are indigenous speakers from the Caribbean and Latin America living in New Jersey. Throughout Mexico, Central and South America, there are over 500 indigenous languages and over 2,000 tongues (language and dialects). From 2000 to 2010, there are more Latinos who self-identify as American Indians or some other race1. A comparison of the 2000 and 2010 U.S. Census shows there is a approximately 35% increase in the number of Latinos who identify as Asian and approximately a 35% increase in the number of Latinos who identify themselves as Hawiian or Pacific Islander. In addition, there is about 18% increase the number of Latinos who identify as Native American and Alaskan Native. There is growing usage of the term Amerindian to describe all the indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. Figure 4 - US Census Bureau Latino Population's Race Identification (See Appendix Table 1) Percentage Change 2000 to 2010 250,000,000 223,553,265 211,460,626 40.00% 36.60% 35.40% 200,000,000 35.00% 32.00% 30.00% 24.40% 150,000,000 25.00% 20.00% 18.40% 15.00% 12.30% 100,000,000 10.00% 5.70% 5.00% 38,929,319 50,000,000 34,658,190 0.00% 19,107,368 15,359,073 14,674,252 10,242,998 2,932,348 2,475,956 540,013 398,835 0 2000 2010 1 “More Hispanics in U.S. Calling Themselves Indian,” New York Times, July 3, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/nyregion/more-hispanics-in-us-calling-themselves- indian.html 6 Specific to New Jersey, according the Census Bureau, in 2010 New Jersey has a Latino population of 8,791,8942. 18.1% or 1,555,144 were Hispanic.3 Latinos in New Jersey have already been identified as speaking various languages. In a single classroom in Trenton, NJ, two children have been identified as indigenous speakers. In the NJ Department of Education database containing language data, 172 languages are listed (see Appendix List 1), and some of them are indigenous languages: Zapotec (indigenous pre-Columbian language largely found in Oaxaca, Mexico), Quechua (Peruvian indigenous language), Nahuatl (indigenous Mesoamerican languages that belong to the Uto-Aztecan language family that is largely spoken in Central Mexico, but originate in South Western United States), and Central American Indian. In Cumberland County, students have been identified to speak Zapotec and what the DOE terms Central American Indian. In Ocean County, there are 40 identified students who speak one of the Nahuatl langauges, which indicate a large number of Mexicans from Oaxaca.4 The 28+ variations of Nahuatl are spoken by an estimated 1.5 million Nahua people, most of whom live in Central Mexico. 40 36.54 35 30 25 20 15 10 2.99 5 0.8 0 Ocean County SOUTHERN TOMS RIVER Vocational REGIONAL REGIONAL Technical Schools Figure 5 – Number of school children in Ocean County’s school districts speaking a Nahuatl language Data compiled from NJ DOE 2010-2011 RC11 datacase, Language table and NCLB Reports 2 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34000.html 3 http://www.census.gov/popest/data/state/asrh/2011/SC-EST2011-03.html 4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahuatl 7 The Census Bureau tabulated results of languages spoken across the nation and by individual states. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are just a few hundred Mayan and Arawakian (aka Arawakan) speakers and speakers of unknown languages. However, we know that the numbers presented by the Census Bureau are most likely underestimated, because undocumented Latinos in New Jersey would probably not fill out a census form. While Mayan languages are predominantly in Mexico and Guatemala, Arawakian languages are indigenous to Guatemala and the Caribbean. Figure 6 –2006- 2008 U.S. Census on Estimates on New Jersey Language (see Appendix Table 2) 600 500 400 Margin of Error Number of Speakers 300 200 100 0 Mayan languages Arawakian 8 Taking a closer look at the different groupings of Latinos in New Jersey, there are Caribbeans, Mexicans, Central Americans and South Americans. The following sections will dive into each grouping. Of particular interest is specifically the country of Guatemala in Central America, because there is evidence suggesting the bulk of the “Little to No Language” phenomenon may be attributed to the percentage of indigenous speakers from Guatemala. CARIBBEAN While the Caribbeans are mostly Spanish speakers, there are French, Spanish creole, and indigenous speaking immigrants. Three of the indigenous languages are Arawakian languages: Arawak, Garifuna (which is also found in Guatemala) and Taino. The original form of Taino is currently being revitalized, and the creole TRIBES IN THE CARIBBEAN5 Geographic Locations LANGUAGE Number of speakers bullet point denotes individual language, slash denotes alternative names. parenthesis denotes dialects of an individual language Arawak Indian Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, and Venezuela Lokono/Arawak 2,500 in Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, and Arawakan language Venezuela speakers Caquetio Caquetio (extinct) Carib Indian Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana, and Carib 10,000 in Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana, and Brazil Cariban language speakers Brazil Garifuna Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize Garifuna 100,000 speakers in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize Arawakian language speakers Inyeri Indian Inyeri (extinct) Island Carib Kalipuna (extinct) Shebayo Indian Shebayo (extinct) Taino Indian Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Taino (original, and Spanish-Taino creole) No statistics available Arawakian language Bahamas speakers form of Taino utilizes Spanish grammar and Taino vocabulary. Statistically, the probability of a child speaking one of these languages in New Jersey is very small. However, the Caribbean population may be contributing significantly to the Arawakian language speakers noted by the U.S. Census Bureau. 5 Data compiled from Native Languages (http://www.native-languages.org/guatemala.htm) and Ethnologue (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=gt) 9 MEXICO Oaxaca has over 50 tongues, and Mexico overall has over 300 tongues (see Appendix List 2) spoken by over 6.25 million6 out of 115 million7 people in Mexico. The Uto-Aztecan language family includes the 27 or so Nahuatl languages, which has been captured as a language by the NJ DOE. It is spoken by 1.5 million people who are Nuhua. They primarily live in Central Mexico. The map from Ethnalogue.org displays where the major language families are being spoken in Mexico. 6 Data compiled from Ethnalaogue.org http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MX 7 Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html 10 CENTRAL AMERICA As the data from the New York New Jersey Port Authority indicated, there are many Central Americans in New Jersey.