5.2: Integration and Adaptation
- Page ID
- 206990
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Integration and adaptation Patterns
Spanish Language Usage among Latin@s in the United States
According to studies on language maintenance across generations in the United States, immigrants (especially those who have migrated as adults) continue to speak their ethnic language mostly in public and private social spheres. The second generation (children of immigrants) maintain an active grasp of their ethnic language and tend to speak it in private social spheres (at home and with relatives) and speak English in public social spheres (at school and with friends). The third generation tends to experience significant loss of the ethnic language and may speak it more symbolically than actively. (Fishman, 1966; Michnowicz et al, 2023)
According to a Pew Center survey, Latin@s in the U.S., in general, tend to follow this generational language shift pattern found by Joshua Fishman. For instance, 57% of U.S.-born Latin@s reported that they are able to converse in Spanish compared to 93% of their foreign-born counterparts. This also follows along generational lines. While 69% of children of immigrants (2nd generation) say they are able to converse in Spanish, only 34% of their third generation or higher were able to do so. Compared to other groups, such as Asian Americans, Latin@ tend to have higher rates of language maintenance into the 2nd and 3rd generations. Lopez, focusing on specifically on Southern California, attributed this difference to Latin@s having a shared language (Spanish), that Spanish is ubiquitous and has become the lingua franca of the working class in Southern California, and more contact between second and third generation Latin@s and Spanish-speaking relatives due to a combination of cultural and socioeconomic circumstances. (Lopez, 1996)
Geography has also been found to either increase or limit Spanish language maintenance over generations. For example, Villa & Rivera-Mills (2009) found that a certain region of the country becomes a Spanish heartland “where those of Spanish-speaking origin have a historic presence, form a democratic majority in many areas and move back and forth across national and international political borders, thus creating a bilingual dynamic in which Spanish is lost or maintained in relation to its affective and instrumental values.” (p. 29) Conversely, geography may limit the maintenance of Spanish over generations and lead to an accelerated language shift towards English. Michnowicz et al (2023) found that among Latin@s living in North Carolina, the shift to English typically found in the 3rd generation has occurred in the 2nd generation (among children of immigrants). They concluded that the “newly developing Latino communities in the Southeast [U.S.] may lack the critical mass of Spanish-speakers necessary to preserve the language long term, and the absence of a well-established, focused bilingual community, as in NYC, Chicago, or the Southwest [U.S.], points toward a fairly rapid language shift in North Carolina…”