Document Types
Individual Presentation
Start Date
2-24-2024 11:20 AM
End Date
2-24-2024 11:50 AM
Track
Applied Linguistics
Abstract
Spanish as a heritage language in Ñuu Savi children in rural northwest Oregon: Identity, attitudes, usage domains, and maintenance
Immigrants from Mexico and the rest of Latin America in the US who are monolingual in an indigenous language face challenges that have received some attention from scholars (Geyman et al., 2012) and in the popular press (Cengel 2013; DeCoursey 2015; Fox & Rivera-Salgado 2005 among many others) in the last 15 years. To date, little to no research exists on who the heritage speakers (TRI) of Spanish in rural Oregon with parents (OMS) who speak a Mexican Indigenous language are. Because OMS are not native speakers of Spanish, they constitute the contact generation (Villa & Rivera-Mills, 2009) for both English and Spanish, having learned these languages as adults in Mexico and the US. The present study focuses on the children of Mixtecos (Ñuu Savi) in rural northwest Oregon. Through 42 oral, dialogic sociolinguistic interviews with OMS and TRI of both genders, ages 6-55 conducted mostly in Spanish, data on how Spanish may shape their cultural and linguistic identity, what their attitudes about the use of Spanish are, their usage domains for this language, and their thoughts on Spanish language maintenance were collected. Results show that TRI take the use of Spanish for granted, since it is the lingua franca of the immigrant community, despite it not being the native language of their parents. Results also revealed that it is the language used at home with parents but not with siblings, that Spanish helps both TRI and OMS connect with the larger Mexican Spanish-speaking community, and that given how pervasive Spanish is where they live, and how few TRI learn their parents’ native languages, children learn Spanish naturalistically very well in this area of rural northwest Oregon. This type of research should help inform educators and administrators in making decisions about programs of Spanish as a heritage or second language to benefit these and other similar communities.
Keywords Indigenous speakers, Mixteco, Tu’un Savi, immigration, sociolinguistics, language maintenance, linguistic attitudes, linguistic identity, cultural identity, usage domains, bilingualism, trilingualism
References
Cengel, K. (2013). The other Mexicans. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130624-mexico-mixteco-indigenous-immigration-spanish-culture/
DeCoursey, D. (2015). Indigenous languages and the courts: Challenges in providing language access to indigenous immigrants. The American Translators Association Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.atanet.org/chronicle‑online/wp‑content/uploads/4405_10_decoursey.pdf
Fox, J. & Rivera-Salgado, G. (2005). Building civil society among indigenous migrants. U. S.-Mexico Policy Bulletin, 7. Retrieved from https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Building%20Civil%20Society.Fox%2526Rivera.Eng1.pdf
Geyman, M., Schmitt, A. L., Leyrer, S., Ford, D. G., Smith, R., and Adams, M. (2012).Indigenous Guatemalan and Mexican workers in Washington State: Living conditions and legal issues. Mexican Law Review, 5. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1870‑05782012000200002
Villa, D. J. & Rivera-Mills, S. V. (2009). An integrated multi-generational model for language maintenance and shift. Spanish in Context, 6(1), 26-42.
Recommended Citation
Ibarra, Carlos Enrique, "Spanish as a heritage language in Ñuu Savi children in rural northwest Oregon: Identity, attitudes, usage domains, and maintenance" (2024). 11th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language. 8.
https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/heritage_spanish/SCHEDULE/Saturday/8
Included in
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, First and Second Language Acquisition Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Spanish Linguistics Commons
Spanish as a heritage language in Ñuu Savi children in rural northwest Oregon: Identity, attitudes, usage domains, and maintenance
Spanish as a heritage language in Ñuu Savi children in rural northwest Oregon: Identity, attitudes, usage domains, and maintenance
Immigrants from Mexico and the rest of Latin America in the US who are monolingual in an indigenous language face challenges that have received some attention from scholars (Geyman et al., 2012) and in the popular press (Cengel 2013; DeCoursey 2015; Fox & Rivera-Salgado 2005 among many others) in the last 15 years. To date, little to no research exists on who the heritage speakers (TRI) of Spanish in rural Oregon with parents (OMS) who speak a Mexican Indigenous language are. Because OMS are not native speakers of Spanish, they constitute the contact generation (Villa & Rivera-Mills, 2009) for both English and Spanish, having learned these languages as adults in Mexico and the US. The present study focuses on the children of Mixtecos (Ñuu Savi) in rural northwest Oregon. Through 42 oral, dialogic sociolinguistic interviews with OMS and TRI of both genders, ages 6-55 conducted mostly in Spanish, data on how Spanish may shape their cultural and linguistic identity, what their attitudes about the use of Spanish are, their usage domains for this language, and their thoughts on Spanish language maintenance were collected. Results show that TRI take the use of Spanish for granted, since it is the lingua franca of the immigrant community, despite it not being the native language of their parents. Results also revealed that it is the language used at home with parents but not with siblings, that Spanish helps both TRI and OMS connect with the larger Mexican Spanish-speaking community, and that given how pervasive Spanish is where they live, and how few TRI learn their parents’ native languages, children learn Spanish naturalistically very well in this area of rural northwest Oregon. This type of research should help inform educators and administrators in making decisions about programs of Spanish as a heritage or second language to benefit these and other similar communities.
Keywords Indigenous speakers, Mixteco, Tu’un Savi, immigration, sociolinguistics, language maintenance, linguistic attitudes, linguistic identity, cultural identity, usage domains, bilingualism, trilingualism
References
Cengel, K. (2013). The other Mexicans. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130624-mexico-mixteco-indigenous-immigration-spanish-culture/
DeCoursey, D. (2015). Indigenous languages and the courts: Challenges in providing language access to indigenous immigrants. The American Translators Association Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.atanet.org/chronicle‑online/wp‑content/uploads/4405_10_decoursey.pdf
Fox, J. & Rivera-Salgado, G. (2005). Building civil society among indigenous migrants. U. S.-Mexico Policy Bulletin, 7. Retrieved from https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Building%20Civil%20Society.Fox%2526Rivera.Eng1.pdf
Geyman, M., Schmitt, A. L., Leyrer, S., Ford, D. G., Smith, R., and Adams, M. (2012).Indigenous Guatemalan and Mexican workers in Washington State: Living conditions and legal issues. Mexican Law Review, 5. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1870‑05782012000200002
Villa, D. J. & Rivera-Mills, S. V. (2009). An integrated multi-generational model for language maintenance and shift. Spanish in Context, 6(1), 26-42.
