1. Language Assimilation Today: Bilingualism Persists More Than in the Past, But English Still Dominates Richard Alba, The University at Albany, SUNY Background The Huntington thesis: The U.S. is in danger of dividing into two linguistic subsocieties, one based on Spanish, the other on English. One hypothesis: high immigration is reducing the incentive for linguistic assimilation, i.e., the mastery of English, even among U.S.-born generations. (Samuel Huntington, Who Are We: The Challenges to America’s National Identity, 2004) Findings We examine the languages spoken at home by Asian and Hispanic school-age children, as well as their reported competence in English, at the beginning and end of the 1990s. The languages children speak are a good guide to their adult language competencies because few people Language data come from two questions that are typically completed by a parent: 1. the language spoken by the child at home 2. a rating of proficiency in English in the event the child speaks another language. Finding #1: Among U.S.-born children (the 2nd and 3rd generations), the great majority speak English well Even in the 2nd generation, made up of children growing up in homes with at least one immigrant parent, only 8 percent of Hispanic children and 4 percent of Asian children do not speak English well. Key variables: ethnic/racial origin, generation, and languages spoken Ethnic/racial origin is established from census race and Hispanic-origin questions. Data: US Census data from 1990 and 2000 Analysis Finding #2: Bilingualism is common in the 2nd generation, but English monolingualism is prevalent by the 3 rd The historic pattern among European immigrant groups was also one of bilingualism in the 2nd generation and English monolingualism in the 3rd. There may be more bilingualism in the contemporary 3rd generation, especially among Spanish speakers; but it is a minority pattern—the majority is English dominant. Finding #3: The generational pattern of linguistic assimilation is not different in the metropolitan regions of immigrant concentration The acid test is linguistic assimilation among Hispanic children. Of the 10 regions of greatest Hispanic immigrant concentration, only New York and Miami are notably different from the nation. However, the conversion to English monolingualism is much lower in the regions along the U.S.- Mexican border, especially in Texas, where the roots of Spanish are historically deep. Finding #4: A decade of very high immigration brought little change to the pattern of linguistic assimilation Percent of children who speak only English by generation and group, 1990 and 2000 Though this comparison can only be made for a small number of groups, it indicates clearly that there was very little meaningful shift in linguistic assimilation during the 1990s. Mexicans are by far the largest immigrant group and experienced heavy immigration during the 1990s, but their rate of English monolingualism was higher by the 3rd generation in 2000. This research was funded by NICHD; data work was conducted by Karen Marotz and Jacob Stowell. The full report is available at Lewis Mumford Center (http://www.albany.edu/mumford) Fact: The immigration totals for the 1990s were the highest of any decade in US history (according to the Urban Institute). Generation—first, second, third—is established from children’s and parents’ birthplaces; the second generation is the first to be U.S. born. speak fluently a language learned in school or as an adult. The analysis is restricted to Asians and Hispanics because these are the populations where non-English-speaking immigrants are concentrated. By definition, a bilingual child speaks English well and speaks another language also. Percent of children with limited proficiency in English by generation and group, 2000 Percent of children who speak only English by generation and group, 2000 Language assimilation in 10 metro regions with largest numbers of Hispanic children: Speaking only English by generation, 2000