Hakuta question sheet
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California State University, Fresno *
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147
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Linguistics
Date
Jan 9, 2024
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Valerie Lopez
LING 147
Hakuta (1986) Bilingualism in Society
A.
Bilingualism in the United States
1. What can you say about the rate of decline of non-English languages in the United States? Why has English become dominant in this country? Give at least four different reasons.
I feel that it’s sad that non-English languages are declining given that our country is made of a large mixture of cultures. English has become dominant in this country because of language suppression and the tendency for monolingualism.
English is almost enforced as the dominant language because there is a connection between a person’s financial success in our society and their ability to speak English. There has also been suppression of non-English languages that resulted from wars such as World War 1 and the prejudice against Japanese-Americans. Another reason is that educators and education
psychologists were wrongly reinforcing the ideas that non-English languages should be abandoned. The last reason is that native language skills tend to dwindle as the generations of our families grow; it’s important to reinforce those language skills if we want them to survive.
2. What is Richard Rodriguez’s position toward bilingualism? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Richard Rodriguez feels that bilingualism should be more open and there shouldn’t be a boundary of speaking languages according to public and private personas. I absolutely agree with his position because I have had similar experiences as an English/Spanish bilingual speaker.
I am encouraged to do well in the public English world, but it only gives me the opportunity to practice Spanish at home. My Spanish skills are then criticized because I handle a Spanish conversation as good as an English conversation.
3. In his famous 1943 study, Irvin Child found three types of reactions to the conflict between different linguistic and ethnic identities. What were they called? What were the characteristics of each?
The first of the three reactions is called the Rebel Reaction, which is where speakers seek acceptance of the group of their non-native language. The second reaction is called the In-
group Reaction which means that speakers wanted to maintain ties with their native language community. The last reaction is called the Apathetic Reaction which is when speakers had an avoidance of situations that created conflict between their native and non-native languages.
4. Taylor’s 1980 study views the conflict between the use of the majority language and the minority language in terms of different stages. Describe the stages. The first stage is when the immigrant group relates their disadvantages to their characteristics of motivation, intelligence, abilities, and social status of their current language. The second stage is when people of the immigrant group show social improvement by identifying with the new group. The speakers are more motivated to use the new language over the native language so they compete. The third stage is called “consciousness raising,” where the immigrant group becomes aware that they are still different from the Native speakers of the language they are trying to learn. The immigrant group begins to see their own native language as a skill.
Valerie Lopez
LING 147
B.
Some other bilingual communities 5. What facts about the culture of the Northwest Amazon make the linguistic situation so interesting? What does the author mean when he says the situation is “founded on an egalitarian basis”?
The Northwest Amazon has multilingualism. This situation is “founded on an egalitarian basis” because the people of this area that are conversing change their language according to what’s most convenient to the group.
6. What historical events caused the shift from Hungarian to German in Oberwart? Is everyone in this community bilingual? Who speaks Hungarian? Who speaks German? How do
the bilingual speakers decide which language to use?
The historical events that caused the language shift in Oberwart were the Turkish Invasion in the 1500s, the influx of German speakers during the 1800s, and the two World Wars. Only farmers spoke Hungarian then changed to German as Oberwart became a commercial and railroad center.
Not everyone in the community is bilingual, upper-class Oberwarts are monolingual in German whereas lower-class Oberwarts are Hungarian speakers. The bilingual speakers determine which language to speak depending on the value system they identify with.
7. Fishman’s influential 1971 study described the choice between Spanish and English in the Puerto Rican community in Jersey City in terms of five domains. What were the domains and how did Fishman find they affected language choice?
The five domains are family, friendship, religion, employment, and education. Fishman found that Spanish (the native language) was associated with home and religion, whereas English (the new language) was associated with work.
8. Lieberson’s 1970 study found that in Canada, there were differences in bilingualism between men and women. What were those differences? Why did they exit? If the study were done over today, do you think we would still find the same differences? Why or why not?
In this study, the male group had greater bilingualism than the female group because men dominated the work force during the time (in 1961). If the study were done over, I think we would find less of a gap between the two groups because woman are now in the workforce, but I still think there would be a considerable difference.
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