A common currency:
McCarthy, Abigail
OF SEVERAL HINDS Abigail McCarthy A COMMON CURRENCY THE GIFT OF A SINGLE TONGUE For those of us long addicted to public television, the face of Alistair Cooke is more familiar than that of many a...
...The trend to bilingualism, argues Alistair Cooke, reverses the main American movement, over two centuries old, to meld many peoples into one...
...We know that ethnic division based on language groups afflicts countries as disparate as Belgium and Indonesia and often leads to violence...
...Print everything in two languages...
...But not any more...
...There was some argument for making German the official language of the new country...
...But custom prevailed, and has prevailed, until recently...
...As a letter writer to the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner put it, "The Declaration, the Bill of Rights...
...As long as they pay taxes and obey the laws, say the leaders of the new ethnic blocs, why should they...
...That English is not our official language comes as a surprise to many Americans...
...It was a moving experience...
...If the common use of English is threatened now, it may be the time to affirm it as official, if not by constitutional amendment (as U.S...
...Such fears aside, most of us will agree that our two centuries and more of using English as our dominant language has been a practical way of knitting together a nation of diverse peoples...
...Briton become American, he evokes what was most civilized in the country of his birth and his adopted one...
...That was probably how the framers of the Constitution saw it since they did not include a clause establishing an official language...
...The drive has been largely fueled by the perceived needs of the Spanish-speaking immigrants, both legal and illegal, who have poured into the country from Central and South America...
...OF SEVERAL HINDS Abigail McCarthy A COMMON CURRENCY THE GIFT OF A SINGLE TONGUE For those of us long addicted to public television, the face of Alistair Cooke is more familiar than that of many a relative...
...Hispanic community leaders, joined by some from other ethnic groups, have chosen to resist the use of English as the common language...
...by a federal law...
...He and the organization for which he is spokesman, U.S...
...English proposes), then by a federal law...
...And it has not necessarily meant that they have thereby lost their roots, their folkways, or their festivals...
...and on and on) are in English...
...English, wanted to enlist my help in making English the official language of the United States...
...Yet we are told that even in their time there was some dispute over language...
...In a world torn by ethnic division the answer seems obvious...
...To our north, Canada has never quite settled matters between its Francophone citizens and those who are Anglophone...
...De facto, without most Americans realizing it, English is no longer necessarily the language of the citizen of this country...
...Evidently proponents of bilingualism intend to go further...
...They have claimed perhaps with some justice that to require English as a qualification for voting, or for being licensed to drive, or to enter certain occupations, is oppressive and discriminatory...
...It gave me a new appreciation of the foresight of the Founding Fathers in impressing on every American coin: 'EPluribus Unwm' Out of many, one...
...It is rising as the Soviet Union crumbles and it is stirring in the newly free lands of Eastern Europe...
...I read it and found myself agreeing with Alistair...
...jurisdictions to provide ballots for voting printed in other languages...
...Are these not clear enough [examples] as to our official language...
...And the voice and manner are with us once again those of a confiding, avuncular, informative but never patronizing friend...
...English was the language of the citizens of the United States...
...Language is unifying...
...So, although the letter bearing his name was obviously apiece of promotional mail, I did not consign it to the wastebasket...
...Let them, in time, also learn English.'" On further reading of material provided by U.S...
...Only hear his name and the well-known face is there in the mind's eye aristocratic, slightly horsy, with blue eyes a little protuberant a very English face...
...In many jurisdictions special voter registration drives are conducted at taxpayer expense for those who wish to vote in their native language...
...The imposition of English (so viewed) is seen as a forced betrayal of ancestral culture, custom, and values...
...Until ten or fifteen years ago, there was never any doubt about it," writes Cooke...
...There are those who do not want to learn English, do not want to assimilate...
...It was perhaps inspired by a post-revolutionary desire to separate from England in every way and, in part, because there were large German-speaking groups in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland...
...Not exclusively...
...The dream of "one nation, indivisible" could turn into a nightmare, a nightmare, Cooke warns, he has witnessed in countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East where nations struggle "to be united against the friction of competing languages...
...As I write, once again Quebec is threatening to secede if the Meech Lake Accord (giving it special status) is not ratified, and New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Newfoundland threaten to do so if it is...
...But today we see cities and communities, with bewildered immigrant families, saying, 'Wouldn't it be simpler to let people stay with their native tongue...
...They were without exception men for whom English was their native tongue and from colonies ruled by the English-speaking...
...It may not be too nightmarish to envision a time when a Spanish-speaking California or Florida threatens to secede from our union...
...Cooke recalls that shortly after he himself came here as an immigrant, he visited a night class where immigrant parents of first-generation Americans were learning English...
...English, the above seems a very temperate way of describing the highly politicized drive for bilingualism in significant sectors of the U.S...
...As a result of their pressure the federal government requires 375 U.S...
...Most of us have simply assumed that it was...
Vol. 117 • May 1990 • No. 9
