English, the Official Language in the U. S.

The researcher stated that English is now the official language in the United States. There are documents that discuss the importance of an official language in America, which supports this statement. In this research there are further details about English as the Official Language in the U. S. and how language can unite people in society, it can be universal as a language, and it also shows that it has the tendency be a challenge, for other cultures to learn as a second language. There should be a way for everyone to co-exist and to function as one nation under God in America.

Language is the substance for people to communicate with one another and to co-exist freely. It can be quite difficult to communicate with people from other cultures that do not speak the English language, but the founding fathers set an example to blend English speakers with non-English speakers casually. In the Oxford Handbook on Language and Law by Peter Tiersma, stated, the founding fathers were almost all native speakers of English (Tiersma, P. ) European Languages in Early America (pg. 6).

But, at that time, they had not yet deemed English as the official language in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) comments on prior period efforts on English-only laws that reduced the privileges of non-English speakers, which usually made existence intricate for huge groups of non-English speaking populations. One example cited in Dade County, Florida, where, after a 1980 English-only law was passed, Spanish signs on public transportation were removed. Mount, S. (2010). There were many native speakers from many different countries, who came to the U. S. , and even though most of the founding fathers were native speakers of English, during the early American times, there was no need to consider English as the official language. During this day and age, the government, corporate world, media, and the entertaining industry use English as the customary language for communication. This does not exclude other cultures from using their native languages, but if they want to communicate with society, they may need to learn English as a second language that they may be able to cope.

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According to research the U. S. English tongue is a nationalized, independent, non-profit populace assembly, whose assignment is to safeguard the role of the English verbal communication in the United States and erect it to be the representative dialect of the administration, consequently encouraging immigrants to study English (U. S. English). There was a large number of immigrates that came to this country within a ten year p, who spoke the Spanish language and millions came from Asia and Central America.

There have been several attempts to make English the official language, although none of the bills were passed in Congress. Recipients of Official English policies, as they are limited and to the point, dispute that English have been the prevailing speech for the superior element of this century and ought to be made the official language in array to make things easier for government processes. In other language contact research, Bond et al. (2006) demonstrated the influence of Russian on Latvian vowels, and Guion (2003) the interaction of Quichua and Spanish on the vowels of bilinguals.

In some research on vowels, Bullock and her social group discovered that French spoken in Frenchville, PA, most of the vowels reviewed proved a continuous course of action of meeting through the English vowel structure (Bullock, Dalola, & Gerfen, 2006; Bullock & Gerfen, 2004a, 2004b, 2005. Also see Hualde, 2004 for a response to Bullock & Gerfen). Sometimes it may be a challenge for other cultures to learn English as a second language. Recently English became the official language in the United States. Twenty-seven states have enacted laws proclaiming English their official language,” (Macmillan, C. Michael, Tatalovich, Raymond), American Review of Canadian Studies, 02722011, Summer2003, Vol. 33, Issue 2. For other states such as California and Georgia, Official English statutes that are more restrictive, i. e. , mandating that all state employees conduct official business solely in English as well as doing away with bilingual state forms is being considered (Torres 1996. ) English-only proposers like U. S. English oppose that English-only laws commonly have exceptions for community safety and health requirements. They note that the English-only laws aid the government in saving money by allowing publication of certified papers in one language, saving money by not having to translate and on printing costs, and that English-only laws support the education of the English language by non-English speakers. One example is of Canada, who has two official languages, which is English and French.

The government of Canadian has addressed this issue, documenting in 1996 – 1997; there was a sum of 260 million Canadian dollars that was spent on bilingual services. According to U. S. English, the so named states currently have authorized language laws in their books: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.

A few of them date back as many as a few decades, i. e. , Louisiana (1811) and Nebraska (1920), though most official verbal communication statutes were approved since the 1970's. The most recent attempts to endorse English as the administrative language has become more of the immigration from Spanish-speakers and people from the East (such as China and Vietnam) has brought an flood of foreigners to the U. S. According to the 1990 Census, 13. 8 percent of U. S. people speak some language other than the English language at home.

There is a 2. 9 percent, or 6. 7 million of the people that did not speak any English what so ever, or they just could not speak it all that well. The ACLU, who is affiliated with and are in a group has opposed to establishing a nationwide authorized tongue, published a paper about reasons that such a shift ought to be challenged. It starts by acknowledging the exertion by John Adams, in the year of 1780, to institute an administrative academy that would be devoted to English, a move that was cast off at that time as undemocratic.

The ACLU notes prior attempts on the English-only laws that limited the rights of non-English communicators or which in general made life complicated for a large group of non-English talking populations. This example is cited in Dade County, Florida, in a place that after a 1980 law was passed for English-only, Spanish signs on public transportation were removed Mount, S. (2010). It is the belief of the ACLU that the law for English-only has the ability to violate the protection of the U.

S. Constitution of its due process (more so in courts where the service for translation would not be offered) also equality in protection (for example, where the English-only ballots would be utilized instead of the bilingual ones, when they were made available in the past). In conclusion, it has been determined that English is the official language of the United States. English has been valuable for the government to make it easier to communicate the processes to the people.

The research shows that making English the official language has been very beneficial to the government. It helped the government by the English-only laws that did aid the government in saving money by allowing publication of certified documents in one tongue. It saved money by not having to translate and it saved money on the printing costs. Also, the English-only laws support the education of the English language by non-English speakers who in turn finance education through learning English.

Though in the early American days, it was a challenge to pass the law to make English the official language, it stood the test of time and has proven to be the language that America would choose to be its representative as the language for the United States. All may not agree that it is necessary for English to be the official language in the U. S. because of the great numbers of non-English speakers that has immigrated here. Nevertheless, it has been decided, that America has an official language that will aid the government in many ways, and English has been established to do America that honor in aiding the government and the communities.

References

American Psychological Association (http://www. apa. org/) Czubaj, C. (1995). English as a second language--are educators doing a disservice to students? Education, 116(1), 109. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Greenhouse, L. (1996). Supreme Court to Review Law Making State Employees Speak English. New York Times News Service. Available: http://www. latino. com/news/0325sup. html Hellegaard, J. (1996). Official-English Laws Boost Discrimination, Says UF Law Professor. Macmillan, C. , & Tatalovich, R. (2003). Judicial Activism vs. Restraint: The Role of the Highest Courts if Official Language Policy in Canada and the United States.

American Review of Canadian Studies, 33(2), 239. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Major, R.. (2010). First language attrition in foreign accent perception. The International Journal of Bilingualism, 14(2), 163-183,275. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID: 2072928711). Mount, S. (2010). Constitutional topic: due process. Retrieved February 23, 2011 from http://www. usconstitution. net/consttop_duep. html "The Constitution of the United States," Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5. "The Constitution of the United States," Amendment 5. http://www. us-english. org/

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