DOCUMENT RESUME ED 295 485 FL 017 429 AUTHOR Veltman, Calvin TITLE The Future of the Spanish Language in the United States. INSTITUTION Hispanic Policy Development Project, Inc., New York, NY. PUB DATE 88 NOTE 156p. PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC07 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Demography; Employment; *English (Second Language); Ethnic Groups; *Futures (of Society); Geographic Distribution; Hispanic Americans; Immigrants; Language Attitudes; Language Maintenance; *Language Planning; Language Proficiency; *Language Role; Language Usage; Population Growth; Public Policy; Research Methodology; *Spanish; *Spanish Speaking ABSTRACT A broad-bases study of the ways in which Hispanics in the United States are dealing with the English language is presented. The report analyzes the latest reliable language data collected by the U.S. census, including the 1980 national census, and finds a steady shift in language usage from Spanish to English among immigrants and native-born Hispanics. Chapters address these topics: (1) theory and method in the analysis of language shift; (2) the size of the Spanish origin group; (3) the structure of the Spanish origin group; (4) a nativity profile of the Spanish origin group; (5) language shift among immigrants; (6) language shift among the native-born; (7) regional aspects of language shift; (8) the urbanization of the Spanish language population; (9) ethnic origins of this population; (10) modeling population growth in this group; and (11) projections of its size and composition. Appencied materials include notes on interpreting the 1980 census data, technical data, and a comparison of the University of Quebec at Montreal and U.S. Census Bureau models. (MSE) ********.c**********f*************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * **********************A************************************************ The Future of 21' The Spanish Language In the United States U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and improvement "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) ethis document NIS been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it C Minot changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of inew Of opinions .irated m MIS dOcu meet do not necet.sarliy represent official TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES OE RI position or poicy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) By Ca!vin Veltman Published by Hispanic Policy Development Project New York City and Washington, D.C. 1988 BES1 COPY AVAILABLE Copyright 0 1988 by Hispanic Policy Development Project, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including plickicopying, recording, and any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from din publisher. Produced in the United States of America. Publisher: Hispanic Policy Development Project, Inc. 250 Park Avenue South Suite 5000A New York, New York 10003 (212) 529-9323 1001 Connecticut Avenue NW &lite 310 Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 822-8414 Co-Editors: Carol Oppenheimer Stine Santiestevan This book was produced on a Macintosh Plus and a Macintosh SE computer, and was reproduced from a muter copy created on an Apple LaserWriter Plus, a gift from Apple Computer, Inc. 3 The Veltman Report: What It Says What It Means The assumptions in the national media, reflecting the belief of many Americans that Hispanics are reluctant to learn English or to acknowledge its central place in oureconomy, are unwarranted and unfounded. Hispanics accept English as the primary language of the nation and recognize that its acquisition is of critical importance to their success in the United States. Moreover, virtually all Hispanic parentsare staunch supporters of solid English instruction. The Veltman Report should reassure the nation that its Hispanic residents and citizens are learning English and using English. They are fulfilling the terms of the immigrants' unwritten social contractthey are adaptingto the language and customs of their adopted land. Like all other immigrants before them, they are moving through a language shiftprocess which spans three generations. The generation of immigrants generally continues to speak Spanish, although most people also speak English on a regular basis. Most of their children generally speak English, although they continue to speak Spanish as a second language. Most of their grandchildren will not speak Spanish on any regular basis, if at all. Yet the myth that Hispanics do not (will not) speak English persists and is driving an ever-widening wedge be- tween Hispanic and non-Hispanic citizens and residents. Moreover, broad dissemination of the myth is promoting the i very suspicions and ethnic tensions that obstruct the adapta- tion process of Hispanic immigrants, and reduce the opportu- nities of native-born Hispanics to participate fully in the economic, political, and social lives of their communities. The perpetuation of the myth spawns misconceptions that send a message of rejection to Hispanics: "We don't trust youwe don't like youwe are threatened by youwe don't think you can fit inyou are too differentand there seem to be far too many of you." Almost every wave of immigrants that washed over our shores met with similar rejection. The clear evidence of the solid adaptation of Italians, Irish, Polish, Hungarian, Ukrain- ian, Asian, and Jewish peopleall initially deemed hope- lessly, indeed dangerously unsuitable for citizenshipdoes not diminish the high levels of stress and threat mazy Ameri- cans continue to experience whenever a significant number of newcomers appear upon the scene. We at the Hispanic Policy Development Project choose to believe that most of those who were troubled by past immigrant waves and are disturbed today about Hispanics were and are expressing sincere concern, not mindless preju- dice. We believe that their concern and the negative conclu- sions they draw reflect, more often than not, a lack of informa- tion or, in some cases, an inadequate understanding of the significance of the information available to them. In many instances, individuals' misconceptions are based on personal experiences that limit their views to narrow slivers of a large and complicated reality. Sporadic keyhole glimpses generally do not illuminate the big picture. The Veltman Report was commissioned by HPDP to focus a wide angle lens on the big picture of how Hispanics in the United States are dealing with the English language. What's happening? Those of us who live and work in the Hispanic communities have first-hand and personal know- ledge of the steady shift from Spanish to English, but our experiences cannot be accepted as more than informed opin- ion or anecdotal evidence. HPDP commissioned The Veltman Report to back up informed opinion with a scien- tific analysis of how Hispanics are learning and using the English language. The report analyzes the latest reliable lan- guage data collected by the U.S. Census, including the 1980 national census. Population projections are, however, based on data derived from the 1976 Survey of Income and Educa- tion because it contains the best available language data for ii both mother tongue and current language use. The population model used by Dr. Veltman is similar to that prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau but adds language practice and language mobility factors. About Hispanic Immigrants Hispanic immigrants are learning and using English very rapidly after their an tval in the United States. Dr. Veltman has previously suggested in his book, Language Shift in the United States (1981), that Hispanic immigrants are assimilat- ing English more rapidly than previous waves of immigrants. In this study he shows that how fast individuals learn Eng- lish and how much English they speak at any given time is related to (1) how long they have been in the United States and (2) how old they were when they arrived. The Report tells us that by the time they have been in the country for 15 years, some 75 percent of ail Hispanic immi- grants are speaking English on a regula daily basis. Belying the popular belief that the presence of large concentrations of Hispanics in one place will delay acquisi- tion of English, the data show that Hispanics in urban centers learn English more rapidly than do those who live in rural environments. This may well reflect the need for greater verbal skills in many urban jobs; language the worldover historically has been tied to utility and trade. First-generation Hispanic immigrants do not, however, become English monolinguals. Language is not something that can be thrown or bleached away. Almost all Hispanic immigrants remain lifetime bilinguals. They use different lan- guages in different situations with different people in different settings. However, more than half the immigrants who arrived in the United States before they were 14 have made English their usual everyday language, relegating Spanish to the status of a second language. A small number, in fact, no longer speak it at al!. About Native-born Hispanics The children of fir-generation immigrant parents be- come fluent English speakers. Most of them have some knowledge of their parent.f native language as well, because they heard it early in their lives in their homes and in their iii neighborhoods. Nonetheless, seven out of 10 chiidren