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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mia,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You are right. However, many people (like James
Crawford, Richard Ruiz, and others) have tried to do this. The problem seems to
be the matter of getting it out to the general public even though numerous
articles,, citing the cognitive value of being multilingual, have been published
in newspapers/magazines aimed at non-academic audiences. Still, somehow it never
gets for-fronted when politics becomes involved. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Susan</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=MiaKalish@LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US
href="mailto:MiaKalish@LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US">MiaKalish - LFP</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU">ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 22, 2004 7:12
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: English-Only laws in
AZ</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>There is a lot of Psychology
research that shows that people who master more than one language are much
"smarter", to use a short-cut, than monolingual people. This research would
make a stunning case if people assembled it, and I think would be much more
effective than the ideological arguments people use in this type of
discussion. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>Mia</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mward@LUNA.CC.NM.US href="mailto:mward@LUNA.CC.NM.US">Matthew
Ward</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU">ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, September 21, 2004 5:06
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: English-Only laws in
AZ</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>One of the depressing things about the AZ situation, for me,
is that while there are still many countries with repressive laws that
affect minority languages, most countries appear to be moving in a direction
of more and more tolerance. It really is against a worldwide trend.
Even CHINA is liberalizing its language policies to some extent--why
are we falling for this stupidity, when time is so very short?
<BR><BR>It also really makes me very angry that that English-Only
movement has used all of this rhetoric about helping immigrant kids learn
English and used it against indigenous American languages. It's not
that I support English-Only in ANY form, but I do feel quite certain that
when most Americans vote for these laws, they don't intend to vote against
Native American languages. It's very, very devious and evil. If
I understand Prop. 203 properly, I think that it needs a 75% vote to
significantly alter it. The only real hope is that lawsuits and the
courts will block it. I believe that's what happened in Alaska:
Native groups challenged the English-only law (another one of those
laws by Unz and his gang of bullies) and it's stuck in court as a result.
I remember reading an article in which some idiot representative of
the English-only movement in Alaska said something like "We're not against
preservation of Native languages, but they have to be practical. They
couldn't use them if they go to Germany." Well, hell! You could
condemn some of the largest languages on earth on that particular grounds.
<BR><BR>We all need to get a lot more politically savvy. I've
found that people really respond to certain kinds of rhetoric--you can say
things like "Prop. 203 reduces Navajo, an American language that helped win
WWII, to the status of a foreign language." People really turn their
heads when they hear statements like that. Most Americans
instinctively recognize the rightness of preserving indigenous languages,
but when they think that they are voting for "English for the children,"
then most never even think about indigenous languages. I'm not a
nationalist, but we do need to point out strongly that were are preserving
our own American culture here. The other side is brilliant at
appealing to people's emotions--we need to do the same thing. We are,
after all, on the right side of this issue. <BR><BR><BR>Susan Penfield
wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid1095781052.b017db4104013@www.email.arizona.edu
type="cite"><PRE wrap="">All,
I'm sure this is a pattern affecting endangered languages in many corners of the
world. Thanks for this perspective on the Tucson and Canadian situations. For
an indepth discussion of Prop. 203 in Arizona, see this page on James
Crawford's Language Policy website:
<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/az-unz.htm">http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/az-unz.htm</A>
It contains a complete explanation of the origin of Prop.203 (spinning out of
California...) and the current status of this legislation.
The tenor of 'English-only' arguments, although aimed at the Mexican-American
population, is clearly a threat to anyone working on indigenous language
revitalization and we should all be aware of the hidden agendas in this type of
language policy.
Best,
Susan
Quoting Rolland Nadjiwon <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:mikinakn@SHAW.CA"><mikinakn@SHAW.CA></A>:
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Interesting Anecdote:
Proposition 203, English only, is not a recent proposition. My wife and I
and our children were living in Tucson at the time it more of an issue.
There was a major opposition to it by the Mexican Americans. One of the
outspoken families was the Rhonstadt family, an old family with signatures
on Spanish/ American documentation predating Texas/New
Mexico/Arizona/California statehood. The protests resulted in a response of
the nature that the proposition would not be rescinded but it would not be
enforced. It appeared, at the time, many people did not realize the extent
of the Mexican American remaining in the southwest even to this day and had
intended the legislation to be used against the Dene and other native Tribes
in Arizona. The Mexican American response seemed to be a total surprise to
White rural populations who strongly supported it. Perhaps that is part of
the reason why you find 203 is "poorly crafted and even more poorly
implemented...."
The only reason I am aware of this legislation, is because of the two
official language legislation in Canada for French and English. That
Canadian decision around the same time as Prop 203 was 'very' controversial
in Canada.
Here in the city where we live, we had moved to Tucson for my wife to do her
Grad work at UofA, the mayor, a somewhat colourful/notorious personality,
rescinded the legislation and declared Sault Ste. Marie, ON. as an English
only city. Both my wife and I were unaware of the Mayor's actions. However,
people who knew where relocated from were saying, "Hey, you come from that
English only city up in Canada."
"No. Canada has two official languages by Federal Legislation: English and
French."
"Oh no. Your mayor just declared your city an English only city."
Of course it didn't work. I could never figure why he did that considering
he is Italian and, probably, the largest language group in Sault Ste. Marie
outside of English, as Hispanic is in Arizona.
However, our Native Language programs are taking a beating here in Canada
also because of official language legislation where we are neither included
or excluded.
-------
wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Penfield" <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:sdp@EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU"><sdp@EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU></A>
To: <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU"><ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU></A>
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: English-Only laws in AZ
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Matthew,
Thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention. It is particularly
troubling since, in the beginning of the process, Native people were
assured, repeatedly, that they would not be included in the application of
this
poorly crafted and even more poorly implemented (my opinion, put mildly)
proposition.
Susan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Ward" <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:mward@LUNA.CC.NM.US"><mward@LUNA.CC.NM.US></A>
To: <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU"><ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU></A>
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 3:55 PM
Subject: English-Only laws in AZ
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Just wanted to mention that I've been in touch with ACLU Arizona about
the issue of Prop. 203, the English-only law, affecting Native immersion
programs. It does indeed seem that Window Rock Public Schools may risk
losing funding by continuing their immersion programs, and the issue may
have to go to court.
We all need to be vigilant in letting people know that these
English-only laws do not just apply to immigrants--they also endanger
efforts to preserve Native American languages as well. I suspect that
if Azizona voters had understood the effect of this law, they wouldn't
have voted for it in the first place.
Matthew Ward
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap=""><!---->
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.
Department of English
The Writing Program
Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Ph.D. Program (affiliate faculty)
Indigenous Languages and Technology
Southwest Center, Research Associate in Anthropology
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
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