Languages in America: A Pluralist View (Bilingual Education & Bilingualism)

In the United States today, an intense discourse is taking place on what the future of the nation will be. Alarmists point to the most recent wave of immigrants, mostly from non-European countries, as the source of current societal malaise. In particular, they consider the diversity of language that these immigrants bring with them to be an inherent threat to the American way of life. Languages in America: A Pluralist View is a vigorous response to this perspective by a sociolinguist and teacher, Susan J. Dicker. Drawing on knowledge from the fields of linguistics, history and sociology, Dicker presents a cogent argument for language diversity in the United States. She explores the importance of native language. She debunks the mythology of the melting pot image of America. She tackles common misconceptions about second-language learning, reveals the nativist roots of the official-English movement, and describes how other countries have dealt with language pluralism. Finally, Dicker asks her readers to imagine America as an open, pluralistic society in which language diversity plays an important part.