Linguistic Diversity and Plurality in North America

Abstract

Linguistic diversity and plurality in contemporary North America is shaped by the continent's history of colonization by Britain, France, and Spain, European settlement, the genocide and forced assimilation of indigenous populations resulting in the decimation of the vast diversity of Native North American languages, and involuntary and voluntary migration of peoples from across global contexts. The majority language of contemporary North America is English, spoken either monolingually, or in addition to French, Spanish, or other minority languages. But despite English's hegemony, linguistic diversity persists in the range of languages spoken as well as regional and ethnic variation present within language groups. Language use in North America is shaped by the tensions between nationalist ideologies of linguistic homogeneity and laws and practices that foster plurality in the form of linguistic and cultural self‐determination and preservation for indigenous peoples, immigrant groups, and regional and ethnic minority groups.