“Should the U.S. Make English The Official Language?” published on Splice Today

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Nic Subtirelu — Leave a comment

The online magazine Splice Today is running an article I wrote titled “Should the U.S. Make English The Official Language?” Here’s a preview:

Debates over immigration policy quickly devolve into arguments over the degree to which immigrants’ presence within our society is “deserved.” One frequently mentioned criterion is language. For example, in his State of the Union address, President Obama outlined a path to “earned citizenship” that included a requirement that applicants would have to learn English.

It isn’t surprising that, in the wake of the Congressional back-and-forth over immigration reform, discussions to make English the official language at the state level in Wisconsin have arisen. If recent history is any indication, we will also likely see more push for official English policies at the federal level (from groups like U.S. English) as Congress continues the debate. …

Continue reading the full article here.

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Posted in Human migration, Linguistic diversity

Linguistic diversity in the classroom (part 1): African American English and academic writing

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Nic Subtirelu — 2 Comments

Summer is coming to an end. Many teachers in the US are preparing for a new school year (and some have already started). As I get ready myself to head back into the classroom, I’ve been thinking about the ideas of linguistic diversity and language privilege and how teachers can deal with them in the classroom.

Specifically, I’ve been thinking about how we balance two competing ideas. Read more ›

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Posted in Language and education, Linguistic diversity, Prescriptivism and language prejudice

English speaker, ‘oppressed’ by the presence of Spanish, sues Pima Community College

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Nic Subtirelu — Leave a comment

Higher education in the United States has been struggling to deal with issues of linguistic diversity for many years. On the one hand, the majority of US citizens are English speakers, and most of this majority are monolingual (having forgotten the bits and pieces of a foreign language they learned in high school). The vast majority of White, middle-/upper-class college or university students fit this category. On the other hand, there are also sizable minorities living in the US (either as residents or as citizens) who speak another language, especially Spanish, as their dominant language. In addition, US colleges and universities have invested a great deal in attracting large numbers of international students from all over the world, most of whom do not speak English as their dominant language. Read more ›

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Posted in Human migration, Linguistic diversity

On the many meanings of the word “racism”: A prejudice primer

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Nic Subtirelu — Leave a comment

Monitoring public response to the Zimmerman trial, I’ve been struck by the obvious racial divide between (a) those who think the case was about race, generally people of color, especially Black people, for example Eugene Robinson or Russell Moore (but also many White antiracism activists, for example, Bree Picower), and (b) the mainly White crowd, who believe as Juror B37 put it, “race did not play a role” in the case.

As someone interested in language, I was interested in the many ways people use the term “racism” and in how the different meanings that the word takes on contribute to miscommunication (often perhaps willful miscommunication). President Obama has recently noted that the national discussion on race following the George Zimmerman trial has not been productive. I believe that productive discussions on race that cross racial boundaries in the United States (and perhaps also other countries, although I’ll be using the present and past US as my example) are not  possible unless we unpack what we mean by “racism”.

Read more ›

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Posted in Language and race

Reflections on the public response to Rachel Jeantel’s language

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Nic Subtirelu — 2 Comments

Over the past few weeks, the George Zimmerman trial has been in the news. If you’re unfamiliar with it, I recommend checking out the extensive Wikipedia page on the case.

To provide a brief summary, George Zimmerman is accused of murdering Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old African American boy in a housing community in Sanford, Florida. The details of exactly what happened the night of the shooting are quite unclear. What does seem clear is that Zimmerman, a volunteer with the local neighborhood watch, saw Martin walking through his community and called 911 to report Martin as a suspicious character. He followed Martin. A fight broke out between the two. The details of who started the fight are a major point of contention in the case. Zimmerman claims Martin attacked him when he got out of his car. Witnesses such as Rachel Jeantel have claimed that Zimmerman approached Martin in an aggressive manner. The fight ended when Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest, killing him, an act he claims was self-defense. Read more ›

Posted in Language and race, Linguistic diversity, Prescriptivism and language prejudice

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