Juan Garcia

Mexican American Immigration Stories

and the English Language

            In class, we discussed the aspects of assimilation and the mixed status of the Mexican American immigrants.[1]  The large groups of Mexican Americans that became part of the United States through the acquisition of Mexican lands created pockets of Mexican culture throughout newly American southwest territories.  Linguistically, this provided an option for immigrating Mexican citizens, establish themselves in a Spanish–speaking barrio or live within the dominant, English speaking neighborhoods.  Language is a core aspect of culture and adoption of the dominant language (English) is one of the benchmarks of cultural assimilation.  Being a second generation immigrant, I’ve seen firsthand how important language is to getting ahead.  The question is, how has this demand to linguistically assimilate affected the Mexican American immigration experience? 

            Initial research in to the effects of language and assimilation revolved around studies that reflected the connection between immigrant culture and native language.[2]  Woolard’s Language Ideology supports these connections and expands them to political and social structures as well (55-56).  She discusses how language is “symbolic of self and community” and sometimes indicative of the assimilating culture’s beliefs about the incorporated community (61-62).  Ultimately, the language of the immigrant forms part of their original identity, as well as becoming part of the cultures contribution to the host nation.  Ebaugh and Chafetz further expand this connection to the immigrant culture’s original religious affiliations.  They’re research has shown that religion’s use of “symbols, stories, traditional music, cultural rituals, and often native language…is used by immigrants as a primary vehicle for passing on ethnic identity to second and subsequent  generations”(432).  Thus, language becomes a part of passing on not only cultural values, but religious values as well.  Language becomes a bridge to become part of a new culture, as well as a barrier to the resumption of old ethnic and social mores.  Learning English means, becoming American, with all the cultural, religious, and social structures associated.

            This represents a point of decision for Mexican Americans that immigrate to the United States.  They can choose to become part of the predominant culture by learning the English language, or they can be socially, politically, and culturally marginalized by maintaining their native language. Research by Tseng and Fuligni on the subject of multigenerational integration has shown a compromise in the case of Mexican Americans. Their studies have shown that initial immigrants will learn basic levels of English, enough to obtain employment.  The second generation will often learn the English language quickly, as well as retaining the native language, becoming go-betweens for the original immigrants and the American society (465).  This has a side effect however, as a study of Rumbaut, Massey, and Bean has shown.  By the third generation of immigrant relocation, the native tongue is predominantly gone.  Statistics show a loss of language of over 90% (455-456).  It could be argued, based on this projection, that by the third generation the cultural influences have also begun to atrophy.  This loss is probably further pronounced in cultural elements that have been traditionally passed on orally, such as songs, heritage stories, and cultural religious beliefs and rituals (Santeria).

            Initial investigation has supported the belief that language is both a cultural pillar, and a vehicle for its continued survival.  As the immigrant learns the new language and becomes part of American society, he or she passes on the new culture, not the old.  Each successive generation dilutes the original culture until the language is gone, and the ability to return to their cultural roots becomes difficult.  The next step in this research should follow up on the effects of the loss of language on the literature of Mexican Americans.  At what point does the immigrant descendant begin utilizing the English language for protest literature, instead of Spanish?[3][4]

Bibliography

Ebaugh, Helen Rose and Saltzman, Janet Chafetz.  “Dilemmas of Language in Immigrant Congregations: The Tie That Binds or the Tower of Babel?” Review of Religious Research, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Jun., 2000), pp. 432-452 3512314 < Accessed 2010 March 21 JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3512314>

Rumbaut, Ruben G., Massey, Douglas S., Bean, Frank D.  “Linguistic Life Expectancies: Immigrant Language Retention in Southern California” Population and Development Review, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Sep., 2006), pp. 447-460 <Accessed 2010 March 19 JSTOR: URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20058899>

Tseng, Vivian and Fuligni, Andrew J. “Parent-Adolescent Language Use and Relationships among Immigrant Families with East Asian, Filipino, and Latin American Backgrounds.”  Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 62, No. 2 (May, 2000), pp. 465-476 < Accessed 2010 March 19 JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566752>

Woolard, Kathryn A. ;Schieffelin, Bambi B.. “Language Ideology“ Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 23, (1994), pp. 55-82 < Accessed 2010 March 19 JSTOR:  URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2156006>