Sociolinguistics and Language Education.pdf

408 Part 5: Language and Identity
language, Spanish and English are commonly perceived as separate languages.
There are several varieties of Spanish, however, and the tensions
and hierarchies created among them can be quite fi erce (Zentella, 2004).
Because the use of Spanish and English varieties often plays important
roles in the construction of ethnicity within Latino communities, research
in this area is often centered on issues of bilingualism and codeswitching,
which is the alternation between two (or more) language varieties in interaction
(see Kamwangamalu, this volume). Certainly not all Latinos speak
Spanish: while immigrant and second generation Latinos are often bilingual,
it is not uncommon to fi nd monolingual English-speaking Latinos in
third and later generations (Fought, 2003). Whether Latinos speak Spanish
or not, there are also other available resources for constructing ethnic
identity, including Latino English varieties, such as Chicano English, and
other ethnic varieties, including AAE.
Attitudes toward Spanish, bilingualism, codeswitching and Latino
English varieties can be quite complex among Latino groups. While many
Latinos view speaking Spanish as important – if not essential – to Latino
ethnicity (Zentella, 1997), there are others who feel confl icted about the
role of Spanish in their lives. This is not surprising given the overall negative
attitudes toward Spanish and Spanish speakers in the United States.
In the face of institutionalized discrimination ranging from mass media
discourses that associate Spanish with being poor and uneducated to
educational policies like Proposition 227, which essentially dismantled
bilingual education in California in 1998, Latinos can hardly be blamed for
shifting to English. Codeswitching between Spanish and English (often
referred to as ‘Spanglish’) is still common among bilingual Latinos; and
while embraced by Latino youth in particular, there is also a keen awareness
that codeswitching is negatively viewed in institutions, such as
schools (Urciuoli, 1996). The use of Latino English varieties also becomes
important in the construction of ethnic identity for both bilingual and
monolingual English-speaking Latinos. Chicano English, the most extensively
studied Latino English variety, is spoken primarily by Mexican
Americans in the Southwest (Fought, 2003). It initially emerged from language
contact between Spanish and English varieties, but is now an ethnic
dialect of English since it is learned as a native language (cf. pidgins and
creoles, Siegel, this volume). Because Chicano English features can sound
Spanish, Chicano English speakers are often mistakenly viewed as Spanish
speakers who are learning English, even if they are monolingual English
speakers (Fought, 2006).
Native Americans
In contrast to Latinos, who are united by a common linguistic heritage
through Spanish, Indigenous tribal communities in the United States