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<a href="http://news.fiu.edu/2015/05/its-time-for-miami-to-embrace-bilingualism/87909" title="Permalink to Phillip M. Carter: It’s time for Miami to embrace bilingualism" rel="bookmark">Phillip M. Carter: It’s time for Miami to embrace bilingualism</a>
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Posted by <span class=""><span class=""><a href="http://news.fiu.edu/author/esuperez" title="Posts by Evelyn Perez" rel="author">Evelyn Perez</a></span></span> <span class="">×</span> <span class="">05/11/2015</span> at 2:10 pm
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<div style="margin-bottom:20px"><div class="" style="float:left;margin-right:10px"><span style="vertical-align:bottom;width:89px;height:20px"></span></div></div><p><em><strong>The
following op-ed was written in Spanish and published in the print
edition of Diario las Americas on Wed., April 15. Phillip M. Carter is a
professor of linguistics in the <a href="https://english.fiu.edu/" target="_blank">FIU Department of English</a>.
Carter has conducted research on bilingualism and Hispanic-English
dialects in the United States, particularly in Texas, North Carolina and
Florida. He has recently brought extensive media attention to the Miami
English dialect through national and international media, including the
Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, CNN, CNN Español, MSN Latino and BBC
Mundo.</strong></em></p>
<div id="attachment_88036" style="width:310px" class=""><img class="" src="http://news.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/Phillip-Carter_clip1-300x194.jpg" alt="Phillip M. Carter, professor of linguistics in the FIU Department of English" height="194" width="300"><p class="">Phillip M. Carter, professor of linguistics in the FIU Department of English</p></div>
<p>Despite all of the economic success that high levels of societal
bilingualism have made possible in Miami, very little is done in terms
of public policy and education to promote and protect it – and what
needs protecting is our Spanish. Miami is demographically unique in that
it has the distinction of being both the most Latino large city in the
U.S., as well as the most foreign-born. On account of these statistics,
we can add a third distinction to the list: Miami is now also the most
bilingual large city in North America. As an oral phenomenon, there are –
proportionally speaking – more fluent bilinguals in Miami than in San
Antonio, Los Angeles, and even Montreal, the Canadian city known for its
language politics and strong support of French.</p>
<p>In many ways, Miami thrives on its bilingualism. The Spanish-language
media and entertainment industries in the U.S. are largely based here,
creating jobs for tens of thousands of people. Tourists from across
Latin America flock here, in part because of the ease of getting around
in Spanish. And across Miami-Dade County, condos are sold and deals are
closed because of the presence of <em>both </em>languages, Spanish and
English. In fact, the economic value of bilingualism in Miami is so
tremendous that one wonders if the city could exist in its current form
without it.</p>
<p>To the casual observer, Spanish in Miami may seem safe and inevitable
– it’s easy enough to hear and see Spanish across the county, from
Doral to Miami Beach. But most of the Spanish-speaking going on in
Miami-Dade is among immigrants, not their children and grandchildren who
are born here. For the Miami born, research shows that what linguists
call <em>language shift, </em>a phenomenon in which a speech community
replaces one language with another, is well underway. This means the
Miami born are becoming more English-speaking and less bilingual. My own
research with Professor Andrew Lynch (University of Miami) shows that
Miami-born Latinos even harbor negative perceptions of Spanish as
compared to English. This is a disturbing finding since language
attitudes are one of the key factors in predicting whether or not a
language will be transmitted to the next generation.</p>
<p>The biggest threat to the sustainability of Miami’s bilingualism is
the lack of bilingual education programs in our schools. This lack is
remarkable considering not only Miami’s demographic profile and the
value of Spanish to our economy, but also the fact that the bilingual
education movement in this country was pioneered here when Coral Way
Elementary became officially bilingual in 1963. That program was
considered so successful that school districts across the U.S. took note
and followed Miami’s lead. But today, the vast majority of our students
do not have access to comprehensive bilingual education. My
undergraduate students at FIU, who are mostly Miami born Latinos, are
native bilinguals who should have equal working capacity in English and
Spanish. But after thirteen years of compulsory education in English,
they very often lack literacy skills in Spanish and generally feel
unprepared to use Spanish in professional settings. Some even feel
ashamed of their Spanish. And while non-Latinos in prior generations may
have bemoaned the presence of Spanish in Miami, my non-Latino students
desperately wish they had access to it. They are in general far more
persuaded by the economic, sociocultural, and cognitive advantages of
bilingualism than by outmoded notions about the righteousness of English
monolingualism.</p>
<p>For all the advantages of bilingualism in Miami, one has the
impression that Spanish is merely tolerated here, rather than embraced
and cultivated. We need not follow Quebec’s hardline model of language
policy in order to protect local bilingualism, but as a minimum, the
skill of bilingualism should be available to all local students who want
access to it. The reality of language shift is upon is – it’s up to us
to decide what to do about it.</p>
<p><em> – Phillip M. Carter </em><em>| <a href="mailto:pmcarter@fiu.edu">pmcarter@fiu.edu</a></em></p><p><em><a href="http://news.fiu.edu/2015/05/its-time-for-miami-to-embrace-bilingualism/87909">http://news.fiu.edu/2015/05/its-time-for-miami-to-embrace-bilingualism/87909</a><br></em></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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