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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:. LINGUISTIC SITUATION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. Language situation in the USA. The United States has no official language. English is the language of government, international relations and the main language of the media, education and public life.

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

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  1. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: LINGUISTIC SITUATION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

  2. Language situation in the USA • The United States has no official language. • English is the language of government, international relations and the main language of the media, education and public life. • Some states declared English as their sole official language because of an increasing threat from minority language groups.

  3. Historical Background • How did Spanish get into USA? • Many years of immigration and settlement of people from all over the world. • Although English is the first and only language of the majority of the population, there is a great ethnic and linguistic variety within the United States.

  4. Interesting facts • In 1990,14 percent of the population of US residents reported speaking a language other than English at home. • After English, Spanish was the language most spoken. • In 1995 close to one in 10 of the population were of Hispanic origin. In 1994, immigration accounted for 30% of the increase in the US population.

  5. Spanish speakers in the US

  6. “Thosewhodon'tspeakSpanishmaybeleftbehind”. (By Deborah Sharp, USA TODAY) • “Withthe surge overthepastdecade in theHispanicpopulation in theUnitedStates, speakingSpanishisbecoming more of a necessitythan a choice in manyparts of the country”. • “Americans are scramblingtolearn a languagethatisnowspokenbymany of the 35.3 millionHispanics in theUnitedStates”.

  7. “Hardto ignore” • “It'sincreasinglydifficultto ignore the spread of Spanish in theUnitedStates. Bank ATMsofferinstructions in Spanish. TheYellowPages in manycitiesadds a Spanish-languageinsert. And Spanishisworkingitswayintoeveryday use”. • From magazines tomusic, Spanish-language media haveexploded. Radio stations more thandoubled in thelastdecade, Broadcast TV stationsjumped 70%, accordingtoindustryestimates. • Even so, parents are increasinglyurgingtheirchildrentostudySpanish. Spanishclasssign-ups havesoared more than 90% sincethe 1970s.

  8. Doesthisshiftalsoafect Paraguay somehow? • Paraguay isalsoreceiving a lot of cultural exchangewith USA. • Media, bigfoodenterprises, music. • Technology: easilyhaveaccesstomeetingpeoplewithdifferentculture.

  9. Reflectivepoint • Languageistheonlyphenomenonthatconcernstoeveryperson and isconstantlychangingformanydifferentreasons. • Languagechangeafectseveryaspect of people’slife: culture, politics, merchandising, social relations… • Positive attitudetowardtheconstantchanges in language .

  10. References • BRAVENET.COM (En línea) BilingualEducation: http://www2.uni-wuppertal.de/FB4/anglistik/multhaup/bilingual_teaching_canada_usa/html/usa1.html • DEBORAH SHARP (En línea)Thosewhodon'tspeakSpanishmaybeleftbehind: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-05-09-spanish-usat.htm#more • YOUTUBE (En línea) TheUnitedStates of HispanicAmerica:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzdyfuaEb2I&feature=related

  11. Thanksforyourattention!!

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