Asian Immigrant Communities' Civic Participation in Cultivating Bilingualism and Biliteracy in the United States

2022 ◽  
pp. 66-80
Author(s):  
Kwangok Song
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Asian Immigrant ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Heritage Language Schools ◽  
Children's Literacy ◽  
Language Schools

This chapter discusses how Asian immigrant communities in the United States cultivate Asian immigrant children's literacy learning in their heritage languages. Although the United States has historically been a linguistically diverse country, bilingualism has not always been valued and acknowledged. Strong social and institutional expectations for immigrants to acquire the socially dominant language have resulted in language shifts among immigrants. Concerned about their descendants' heritage language loss, Asian immigrant communities make organized efforts to establish community-based heritage language schools. Heritage language schools play an important role in immigrant children's learning of their heritage language and culturally appropriate ways of behaving and communicating. It has also been noted that heritage language schools encounter several challenges in motivating heritage language learners. Heritage language schools should be considered as complementary education for immigrant students because they take critical responsibilities to support immigrant students' language and literacy development in their heritage languages.

Asian Immigrant Communities' Civic Participation in Cultivating Bilingualism and Biliteracy in the United States

2019 ◽  
pp. 157-171
Author(s):  
Kwangok Song
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Asian Immigrant ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Heritage Language Schools ◽  
Children's Literacy ◽  
Language Schools

This chapter discusses how Asian immigrant communities in the United States cultivate Asian immigrant children's literacy learning in their heritage languages. Although the United States has historically been a linguistically diverse country, bilingualism has not always been valued and acknowledged. Strong social and institutional expectations for immigrants to acquire the socially dominant language have resulted in language shifts among immigrants. Concerned about their descendants' heritage language loss, Asian immigrant communities make organized efforts to establish community-based heritage language schools. Heritage language schools play an important role in immigrant children's learning of their heritage language and culturally appropriate ways of behaving and communicating. It has also been noted that heritage language schools encounter several challenges in motivating heritage language learners. Heritage language schools should be considered as complementary education for immigrant students because they take critical responsibilities to support immigrant students' language and literacy development in their heritage languages.

Can German Remain a Vital Heritage Language in the United States?

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-315
Author(s):  
Renate Ludanyi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
German Language ◽  
Language Schools ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Culture And Language

The demise of German as a pervasive language for 300 years in the United States is due to historical and demographic reasons. Creating an awareness of Germany as an important country and strengthening the role of German teaching has gained advocates in educational and political circles in Germany as well as in the United States. Less understood and supported is the situation of German as a heritage language,despite a multitude of native German speakers who reside in the United States, in part due to global economic needs and who continue to be attracted to German as a language of use. This article describes the work of private German language schools to develop language proficiency, opportunities to use German, and a desire to speak it,and pleads for more research on German as a heritage language and interest in German language conservation.Although Austria and Switzerland also contribute to the preservation of their culture and language abroad by maintaining schools, cultural forums, etc., this article will focus primarily on Germany’s efforts to develop German language instruction in the U.S.

“It is the hardest to keep”: Kurdish as a heritage language in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (237) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaffer Sheyholislami ◽  
Amir Sharifi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
The Us ◽  
First And Second Generation

AbstractThis article situates the Kurdish language within the diasporic context of the United States, and explores the roles that the language plays for the community. This is investigated through a mixed method encompassing literature and media reviews, interviews with community members and leaders, and a survey conducted among the Kurds in Southern California. The findings show that both first and second generation Kurds see their language not only as a symbol of their cultural identity and survival but a means of building and maintaining relations with each other, with other Kurds in the US, with relatives in the homeland, and also with their heritage. Nevertheless, members of the second generation think that language constitutes one of the most challenging cultural heritage elements to keep for many linguistic, socio-economic, cultural, and political reasons. The article concludes that there are no easy ways of maintaining minority languages like Kurdish much less transmitting them to future generations. The prospect for a promising future seems highly unlikely as long as heritage languages in the US are perceived as personal choices only, and the state does not assume responsibility for their maintenance let alone their transmission to future generations of newer immigrants.

Transnationalism and language maintenance: Czech and Slovak as heritage languages in the Southeastern United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (238) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta McCabe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
The Past ◽  
Maintenance Goals

AbstractThis qualitative study examines heritage language maintenance goals, motivation, and strategies in eleven Czech and Slovak immigrant families in the Southeastern United States. The goals of this article are threefold. First, this article outlines the changes in Czech and Slovak immigration patterns over time, documenting that while Czech immigrants used to settle mainly in Texas and the Midwest in the past, they generally opt for the East and West Coast today. Second, this article describes language practices of current Czech and Slovak immigrants in the Southeast and finds that the most successful factors of heritage language (HL) retention include: (a) expectations that children will need the language in the future; (b) consistent HL use by both parents; (c) annual lengthy trips overseas; and (d) parental ability to use additional strategies, such as involving grandparents or employing Slavic au pairs. Third, this article compares today’s HL maintenance with the classical period of immigration. In the past, Czech and Slovak children in the United States learned and used their native languages within ethnic communities. Today, the necessity to learn and use Czech or Slovak in the context of the United States has largely disappeared. Instead, it is the transnational context that is vital for HL retention.

Domestic Violence Victimization among South Asian Immigrant Men and Women in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110152
Author(s):  
Abha Rai ◽  
Y. Joon Choi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
South Asian ◽  
South Asians ◽  
The United States ◽  
Asian Immigrant ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Violence Victimization ◽  
Immigrant Men ◽  
South Asian Immigrant

Domestic violence is a pernicious social problem in the United States and a cause of national concern. The South Asian culture disempowers individuals experiencing domestic violence from recognizing and reporting victimization. Structural inequities may also discourage reporting victimization. These issues have led to inconsistent findings of domestic violence prevalence rates. Additionally, domestic violence studies with South Asians in the United States have predominantly focused on women, omitting men from this purview of research. The purpose of this study was to examine domestic violence victimization rates as well as their correlates among South Asian immigrant men and women. The sample for this cross-sectional study included 468 South Asians across the 50 U.S. states. Descriptive statistics were used to establish rates of domestic violence victimization. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to examine the correlates of domestic violence victimization. All of the sociodemographic information was added in step 1, and acculturation and gender-role attitudes were added as covariates in step 2. The most prevalent type of domestic violence victimization was physical violence (48%), followed by emotional (38%), economic (35%), verbal (27%), immigration-related (26%), in-laws related (19%), and ultimately sexual abuse (11%). Prevalence rates were higher for women than for men in each type of violence. According to the logistic regression results, education, generational position, family type, and employment were significant correlates of domestic violence victimization. Prior to development of prevention programs by community agencies, it is essential to understand the nature and prevalence of domestic violence experiences among South Asians. The victimization of men in addition to women adds to the novelty of this research study and paves the way for practitioners and scholars to engage in conversations about providing both male and female victims of domestic violence with the needed resources and support. The article will discuss implications for research, practice, and policy.

Labor Unions and Undocumented Immigrants: Local Perspectives on Transversal Solidarity During DACA and DAPA

2020 ◽  
pp. 089692052098012
Author(s):  
Els de Graauw ◽  
Shannon Gleeson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
Undocumented Immigrants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Immigrant Rights ◽  
Deferred Action ◽  
Immigrant Organizations ◽  
Local Perspectives

National labor unions in the United States have formally supported undocumented immigrants since 2000. However, drawing on 69 interviews conducted between 2012 and 2016 with union and immigrant rights leaders, this article offers a locally grounded account of how union solidarity with undocumented immigrants has varied notably across the country. We explore how unions in San Francisco and Houston have engaged with Obama-era immigration initiatives that provided historic relief to some undocumented immigrants. We find that San Francisco’s progressive political context and dense infrastructure of immigrant organizations have enabled the city’s historically powerful unions to build deep institutional solidarity with immigrant communities during the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA [2012]) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA [2014]) programs. Meanwhile, Houston’s politically divided context and much sparser infrastructure of immigrant organizations made it necessary for the city’s historically weaker unions to build solidarity with immigrant communities through more disparate channels.

Phonological Complexity: Bernese Swiss German in Ohio and Misiones

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Robert Klosinski ◽  
Andrew D. Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Language Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Swiss German ◽  
Local Contact ◽  
Additional Reference ◽  
Phonological Complexity

Abstract This article investigates the notion of complexity as it applies to two phonological characteristics of Heritage Bernese Swiss German, namely /l/-vocalization and /nd/-velarization. We survey literature on the role of complexity in language change generally, as well as how it applies to heritage languages specifically. We then present findings from our study of two groups of Heritage Bernese speakers, one in the United States and one in Argentina, with additional reference to the local contact languages. Our findings suggest that the loss of /nd/-velarization in Misiones, Argentina is most likely the result of an internally-driven reduction of complexity. For both the Ohio and Misiones communities, however, /l/-vocalization has been maintained. We conclude by discussing the importance of research into language dyads beyond those in the United States as well as pursuing research on lesser-studied heritage languages.

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