english language
Brian McCluskey
“Emblematic of the period, Theodore Roosevelt asserted in 1919:’We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns out people as Americans and now as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house’ (Daniels,8). The question that has been around for hundreds of years: “Should English be declared the official language of the United States?” is still the controversy – refighting the same old sociolinguistic issue of the 1970s. Yes, English should be the sole language of the US, because of increased concern with different languages, importance of America adopting English as official language, and the debate regarding immigrants. The Increased concern with different languages was obviously related to the World War but also to the major shift in the quantity of immigrants to America. For centuries, the United States of America has been considered the ultimate country where dreams are made and a place where everyone wants to migrate to for better living standards. It is argued that dialectally diverse nations need a standard language to permit mutual understanding in a global society, for instance, it is the whole world that can benefit from a national language. French as well as Latin once took on this role as international medium of communication as in this era, as well as the future years, English is and should be the global force. Three episodes are worth examining in order to highlight the importance of America adopting English as the official language. How do immigrants affect the United States? What does it mean to make English the official language? And what are the advantages of making English the answer to unity? Although English and immigrants from all over the world are different means of reasoning, these issues reveal that they could be used for similar purposes in justifying this research. The debate regarding immigrants has been around for over one hundred and fifty years
“Emblematic of the period, Theodore Roosevelt asserted in 1919:’We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns out people as Americans and now as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house’ (Daniels,8). The question that has been around for hundreds of years: “Should English be declared the official language of the United States?” is still the controversy – refighting the same old sociolinguistic issue of the 1970s. Yes, English should be the sole language of the US, because of increased concern with different languages, importance of America adopting English as official language, and the debate regarding immigrants. The Increased concern with different languages was obviously related to the World War but also to the major shift in the quantity of immigrants to America. For centuries, the United States of America has been considered the ultimate country where dreams are made and a place where everyone wants to migrate to for better living standards. It is argued that dialectally diverse nations need a standard language to permit mutual understanding in a global society, for instance, it is the whole world that can benefit from a national language. French as well as Latin once took on this role as international medium of communication as in this era, as well as the future years, English is and should be the global force. Three episodes are worth examining in order to highlight the importance of America adopting English as the official language. How do immigrants affect the United States? What does it mean to make English the official language? And what are the advantages of making English the answer to unity? Although English and immigrants from all over the world are different means of reasoning, these issues reveal that they could be used for similar purposes in justifying this research. The debate regarding immigrants has been around for over one hundred and fifty years
Cited: Aleinikoff, T. Alexander. A multicultural nationalism? “The American Prospect 36 (1998): Web. Daniels, Harvey. Not Only English: Affirming America’s Multilingual Heritage. Illinois: Urbana. 1990 Mujica, Mauro. “Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language.” World and I. 2003. Web 15 April 2012. Vall, Sandra Del. Language Rights and the Laws in the United States. NY: Tonowanda, 2003. Print.