"The Charbor Chronicles": The Second Language in Each American State

Monday, February 11, 2019

The Second Language in Each American State

Yesterday, I posted something on the difference between French spoken in Canada, and specifically Québec, versus French spoken in France, and elsewhere more generally. So, I thought it might be interesting to publish something that continues the theme on linguistics here in North America.

Now, of course most of North America is dominated by English. After all, the province of Québec is the only large political body, whether province or state or territory, where French is the majority language. It does also have a strong presence in New Brunswick, the only other province of Canada that officially recognizes French as a language, where roughly one-third of the population speaks French. It is also clearly present in Ottawa the along eastern Ontario, long the border with, although as with Québec province. But like with Canada more generally, it takes a clear backseat, as only about 20 percent or so speak French there. French is a presence throughout the rest of Canada, but it is scattered and hardly dominant. There are also some French-speakers in some American states, particularly northern New England and Louisiana, but again, it takes a very clear backseat to English, which has taken over far more fully still than it has in Canada.

The subject of languages is always fascinating, and I know that a lot of countries, whether they officially recognize more than one language or not, have friction within because of the issue of language. Canada certainly is not an exception, and there appears to be quite a bit of conflict remaining between the two "sides", if you want to call them that. It is not as immediately pressing, hot button issue as it used to be. Particularly in 1995, when a referendum on Quebec independence was very narrowly defeated by a razor thin margin. Also, in the late eighties, when the question of whether Quebec was a "distinct society" because of the dominance of the French language and Roman Catholicism there made it unique and, thus, worthy of it's own special status, was one of the most divisive issues that Canada was dealing with.

Of course, other countries as well have had many issues revolving around the controversy of friction existing between two different linguistic groups. Hell, a few years ago, it seemed like Belgium was about to break apart as a result of that very thing.

In the United States, the rise in Hispanic immigration in recent decades has led to many issues that are now dividing the country, perhaps like never before. Many feel that these recent immigrants are responsible for pretty much all of the problems now facing the country, and there has been a movement to essentially close our borders and end mass immigration. Many people feel that these people should learn English, which is now, of course, the official language of the United States (it was not so for decades, but was made that during the recent tenure of President George W. Bush).

In a time of controversy, when many feel that recognizing English as the official language of the United States was very important, and when predominately white Anglos want to build a literal wall between themselves and the swarthier Hispanics farther south, it seemed like an interesting time to explore what the unofficial second language of each state in region within the United States actually would be.

So here are some pictures of maps illustrating what the second language other than English (and in one map, also other than Spanish) is in each state within the United States. The links to the sources (mostly Slate) where I got this from are down below: