Recent Research on Latinos in the USA and Canada, Part 1: Language Maintenance and Shift and English Varieties¹

Abstract

This article examines two of the main areas of sociolinguistic research on Latinos in the USA and Canada, language maintenance and shift and Latino varieties of English, with emphasis on work that has been accomplished in the past decade. Despite the considerable amount of foundational research that has been accomplished in recent years, we suggest that a great deal remains to be done, particularly on maintenance and shift in emerging Latino communities in the USA and Canada and on Latino varieties of English.

Demographic Categories in Sociolinguistic Studies of US Latino Communities

“…By the third generation, more than two‐thirds of respondents identify English as their primary language and fewer than a third claim to be bilingual. These data, along with many other reports (see Bayley and Bonnici for a review), provide evidence that the children of Hispanic immigrants are in greater danger of losing Spanish than they are of not acquiring English. Table illustrates the diversity of the ten largest national origin Hispanic communities and includes a number of characteristics that need to be taken into account in sociolinguistic studies.…”

Recent Research on Latinos in the USA and Canada, Part 2: Spanish Varieties1

“…Additionally, in the past Spanish speakers from different nations settled different regions in the USA (Klee and Lynch 2009), most notably Mexicans in California and the Southwest and Puerto Ricans in New York. Today, however, transnational Latino communities are on the rise and, whereas in the past, especially in the northeast, Latinos settled primarily in urban areas, more and more Latino communities are emerging in non‐traditional and rural areas (Bayley and Bonnici 2009).…”

“…In the southern USA, particularly in states such as Georgia and North Carolina, the Latino population, primarily of Mexican origin, has increased dramatically (Bayley 2007). Although younger speakers who were born in the USA may speak fluent English and adopt (or resist) regional features (Wolfram et al 2004), according to Kochhar et al (2005:ii), Latinos in the South are more likely than Latinos in other regions to be young recent immigrants with relatively little formal education or ability to speak English.…”

“…Variation between null and overt SPPs has long been a subject of investigation and debate in Spanish sociolinguistics and many studies have focused on US Spanish (see, e.g. Poplack 1980;Silva-Corvalán 1982;Hochberg 1986;Bayley and Pease-Alvarez 1997;Cameron and Flores-Ferrán 2003;Flores-Ferrán 2004, 2007aTravis 2007). 6 SPPs are optional in Spanish, and thus are of particular interest to US Spanish researchers because of the opportunity to examine whether contact with English, which requires overt SPP realization, or with Spanish varieties with high SPP rates, leads US Spanish speakers to use overt SPPs at higher rates than Spanish speakers in other nations.…”

“…2 2 This paper is the second of a set of articles on sociolinguistic research on Latinos in the USA and Canada. See Bayley and Bonnici (2009) for a discussion of varieties of Latino English and language maintenance and shift. …”