English as a National Language: Overview

Introduction

Sometimes people are surprised to discover that the United States has no official language. It is, in fact, one of the few countries in the world without an official language, despite the present dominance of English. Many people think the United States should finally and definitively establish English as its official language in order to unify what they perceive to be an increasingly divided country. Another opinion is that a diverse society should be able to accommodate multiple cultures and languages. Therefore, official English may be viewed as discrimination against non-English-speaking citizens.

In general, supporters of establishing English as the country’s official language are not opposed to private use of other languages, but think that all people who live in the United States ought to be able to speak a common language. They believe that requiring the government to be proficient in several languages makes managing the country inefficient, while requiring all citizens to speak a common language promotes unity and nationalism. Furthermore, they tend to think that allowing multilingualism without requiring a common language causes segregation between speakers of different languages. Having an official language, they say, would promote equality and community between Americans.

Conversely, opponents tend to see the idea of establishing an official language as being discriminatory toward Americans whose native tongue is not English. They believe such a policy reflects assimilationist views where immigrants are supposed to adopt the language, culture, and norms of the majority society. In contrast to the assimilationist view, opponents of English as an official language support a multicultural or culturally pluralistic model of society where many cultures are tolerated and supported under a secular government. Instead of associating the government with one language or cultural group, which then grants that group more power within the society, they believe that the government should reflect and serve the diversity of cultural groups that comprise the American culture. Furthermore, they believe that the proposal to make English an official language is partly a xenophobic response to the large influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants in the 1990s and 2000s.

Understanding the Discussion

Bilingualism: As applied to a person, bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages. As applied to a country, state, city, or territory, bilingualism is the official recognition and accommodation of two languages. The United States currently has three bilingual states. As applied to education, bilingualism is equivalent instruction in two languages.

Multilingualism: As applied to a person, multilingualism is the ability to speak three or more languages. As applied to a country, state, city, or territory, multilingualism is the official recognition and accommodation of multiple languages, such as in Switzerland, where four languages have official status.

National Language: A national language is generally accepted as the most prevalent language in a country, and it may or may not be the official language of the country. In May 2006, the US Senate voted in favor of making English the country’s national language, which many saw as a merely symbolic gesture.

Official Language: An official language is established by law as the language of the government. In countries with an official language, one must be able to conduct government and business dealings in a particular language without hindrance, so that, for example, one may write a letter to a government official in the language and expect to receive a response in the same language. All government documents must be reproduced in the official language or languages, and government officials are required to either speak, or have interpreters who speak, in all official languages, and all public signage should include any and all official languages.

History

Since America’s founding, the question over whether English should be the predominant language of the country has recurred several times. In the 1750s, German immigrants successfully had many of the street signs in Pennsylvania changed to include both German and English, causing Benjamin Franklin to rail against this apparent opposition to speaking and writing in English. Benjamin Rush, on the other hand, proposed a bilingual college that would allow Germans to learn English so they could be assimilated into American society.

The German influence in the United States during the late eighteenth century was so strong that Congress debated a resolution to distribute sets of laws in both German and English. The resolution was sponsored by a group of German-Americans, but despite a lively debate in the House of Representatives, it never came to a vote. A similar bill eventually resulted in the passage of a resolution that all current and future federal laws would be published only in English. The German language movement persisted in the US until World War I, when global backlash against Germany caused widespread rejection of the language throughout the United States, even resulting in the banning of German-language books.

In 1803, the United States purchased French-owned property on the American continent via the Louisiana Purchase. This purchase added a large number of French-speaking people to the US population. Nevertheless, it was not until 1847 that Louisiana approved bilingual education in the state’s schools. Similarly, the Mexican-American War brought 75,000 Spanish speakers into the United States’ expanded borders.

The first proposed legislation regarding the United States’ national language was a bill, drafted in 1923 by Congressman Washington J. McCormick, that would have designated “American” as the national language. This bill was intended to differentiate the United States’ language from England’s and, as McCormick put it, to bring about “mental emancipation” from any vestiges of British imperialism. The bill gained significant support, especially from Irish immigrants, who were generally resentful of British influence, but it did not pass in Congress. The proposal did, however, eventually become part of the state constitution of Illinois.

The issue of a national language was then largely ignored until 1981, when Senator S.I. Hayakawa (R-California) proposed an amendment that would both establish English as the national language and prohibit official use of other languages, notably Spanish, which had been given limited bilingual status. None of Hayakawa’s peers apparently felt that the English Language Amendment was even worth voting on, and the motion quietly died in Congress. Hayakawa was not swayed from his campaign, however, continuing it after his retirement by becoming the public face of a newly-founded group called US English. The movement attracted the attention of the media, particularly right-wing pundits, and, ironically, of the post-Hayakawa Congress.

By 1990, due in large part to the influence of lobbying by US English, seventeen states had officially declared English their official language. Over the next fifteen years, more than half of the US states enacted legislation to make English their official language. Among the group’s aims has been the abolishment of bilingual voter ballots and a reduction in bilingual education. The official position of US English is not the outright elimination of bilingualism or multilingualism, but rather the reaffirmation of English as the predominant language, and the recognition that the United States is a country where knowledge of other languages is encouraged, but knowledge of English is compulsory.

Nevertheless, the group’s critics believe that US English is racist and, specifically, anti-Hispanic. Asserting the legal and official dominance of any majority group, they say, only serves to further that group’s dominance over emerging groups. US English claims that Spanish speakers are the only group that has failed, en masse, to integrate into the English-speaking country, and the only group that has attempted to have its mother tongue given secondary official status. In this way, they claim, Spanish speakers are different from other groups, and thus singling them out is warranted.

English as a National Language Today

Amid the resurgence of the immigration debate during the spring of 2006, the Senate added to the immigration measure under review a proposal that would make English the national language of the United States. Republican sponsors of the proposal likened the establishment of a national language to similar symbolic gestures, such as establishing a national anthem or motto. Also voted on during this time was a similar measure that would have made English the “common and unifying” language of the country.

The more restrictive proposal, even though it stopped short of requiring all government publications to be in English, essentially said that no one has the fundamental right to conduct business with the United States government in a language other than English. Both resolutions passed, leaving the exact official status of English uncertain.

During the 2006 midterm elections, Arizona voters passed proposition 103, which made it the twenty-eighth state to adopt English as its official language. Three states have designated dual official languages: Louisiana (English and French), Hawaii (English and Hawaiian), and New Mexico (English and Spanish). Though not actually a state, the US territory of Puerto Rico also has two official languages (English and Spanish).

Representative Steve King of Iowa introduced legislation to declare English as America’s national language in February 2009. A legislative effort was also undertaken by Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma in May 2009. Each proposal was referred to committee and no major vote has occurred on the matter since 2006.

These essays and any opinions, information or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.

Ariza, Eileen N. Whelan. Not for ESOL Teachers: What Every Classroom Teacher Needs to Know about the Linguistically, Culturally, and Ethnically Diverse Student. Allyn, 2005.

Bass, S. “Multiculturalism, American Style: The Politics of Multiculturalism in the United States.” International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, vol. 7, no. 6, 2008, pp. 133–42.

Borden, Rebecca S. “The English-Only Movement: Revisiting Cultural Hegemony.” Multicultural Perspectives, vol. 16, no. 4, 2014, pp. 229–33.

Garcia, Carlos, and Loretta E. Bass. “American Identity and Attitudes toward English Language Policy Initiatives.” Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, vol. 34, no. 1, 2007, pp. 63–82. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fcs&AN=18684456&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Kaplan, Robert B. “Multilingualism Vs. Monolingualism: The View from the USA and Its Interaction with Language Issues around the World.” Current Issues in Language Planning, vol. 16, no. 1–2, 2015, pp. 149–162. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1052195&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Lio, Shoon, Scott Melzer, and Ellen Reese. “Constructing Threat and Appropriating ‘Civil Rights’: Rhetorical Strategies of Gun Rights and English Only Leaders.” Symbolic Interaction, vol. 31, no. 1, Winter 2008, pp. 5–31. EBSCOhost, doi.org/10.1525/si.2008.31.1.5. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Menken, Kate. “Restrictive Language Education Policies and Emergent Bilingual Youth: A Perfect Storm with Imperfect Outcomes.” Theory into Practice, vol. 52, no. 3, 2013, pp. 160–68. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsh&AN=89432530&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Miguel, Guadalupe San, Jr. Contested Policy: The Rise and Fall of Federal Bilingual Education in the United States, 1960–2001. U of North Texas P, 2004.

Pac, Teresa. “The English-Only Movement in the US and the World in the Twenty-First Century.” Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, vol. 11, no. 1, 2012, pp. 192–210. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cph&AN=73162184&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Rodriguez, Cristina M. “Language Diversity in the Workplace.” Northwestern University Law Review, vol. 100, no. 4, 2006, pp. 1689–1773. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=23317092&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Spolsky, Bernard. Language Policy. Cambridge UP, 2004.

Tatalovich, Raymond. Nativism Reborn? The Official English Language Movement and the American States. UP of Kentucky, 2015.

Tenorio-Trillo, Mauricio. “On Monolingual Fears.” Public Culture, vol. 19, no. 3, Fall 2007, pp. 425–432. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hus&AN=509867398&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Thompson, Sherry. “English-Only Movement.” English-Only Movement—Research Starters Education, 2015, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e0h&AN=29964443&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 23 May 2024.