The passive legitimization of Spanish. A macrosociolinguistic study of a quasi-border: Tucson, Arizona

• Autores: June A. Jaramillo
• Localización: International journal of the sociology of language, ISSN 0165-2516, Nº. 114, 1995, págs. 67-92
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This paper contributes to the sociolinguistic study of Arizonan Spanish by exploring the issues of Spanish language use and maintenance in the Mexican-American Community of Greater Tucson. Findings show that macrosociolinguistic factors contributing to a low-medium ethnolinguistic vitality rating of Spanish and, possibly, to the initial stages of a reversal in Spanish language shift include distance of Greater Tucson from a nationstate (Mexico) where Spanish is the common or de facto official language ofits citizenry and the continual influx ofvisitors, immigrants, and workers whose dominant tongue is Spanish. Other factors include size, density, distribution, ingroup proportion, growth, and homogeneity ofthe MexicanAmerican population; the relative social and economic Subordination and distance of the Mexican-American Community from mainstream society;

    Mexican-American group pride and language loyalty; market value or Status of Spanish in the wider Community; and the accessibility of oral and written linguistic models of Spanish. The clear presence of Spanish in the public sector may Signal a 'reverse diglossia in progress, i.e. the private language usually typifying or reserved for primary group or intragroup interactions is also used, though perhaps with societal restrictions, in the public spheres of society, notwithstanding the legal Status of the language or variety.