English schmenglish

I was recently asked by a friend to complete a survey for one of her courses.
The survey was about personal language use and my opinions on the status of language in the United States.

I’ve answered these types of questions many times during my years at IU, as they seem to be the perennial favorites of political science and linguistics professors.

The final query asked, “Are you in favor of making English the official language in the U.S.?” To this, I responded with a gracious and gentlemanly “hell no.”

There’s a perfectly logical reason as to why the U.S. hasn’t adopted an official language in our 233-year history – we don’t need one, just like we don’t need an official religion or soda pop.

Many other countries have official languages, but the people of those countries have a cultural heritage that inseparably binds them to their history.

Koreans and Icelanders, for example, have stories of the ancestors who inhabited the same lands all the way back to antiquity. To them, their country has always existed, as well as their language.

The U.S. doesn’t share that kind of past. We have a keen knowledge of how and when our nation was formed, as well as how we arrived here to form it.

Our history tells us that we all came from different places, and that we all spoke different languages and carried different customs when we arrived here.

Just because the U.S. is no longer a new nation of immigrants, there shouldn’t be a rush to elevate the language most commonly spoken to official status.

English isn’t a point of pride or shame for most Americans anyway. It just happens to be the language we speak.

Besides, plenty of individual states already have official languages, Indiana being one of them.

And though most have solely English in that role, Hawaii has two official languages. The second one, Hawaiian, relates to the native Hawaiians, who have the language as part of their cultural identity from the time when the islands were a distinct kingdom.

The idea of having English as our official language comes up on the national stage from time to time, usually during a slow news day when some crotchety old senator is trying to drum up support for an immigration policy initiative or re-election campaign.

The subtle racism of “us vs. them” may be enough to ensure backing from an unwavering base of social ultraconservatives, but it shouldn’t pass the laugh test with the rest of intelligent society.

The goal of America, as an ideal, is that no person should be impugned for what they are, even if what they do is objectionable.

It’s not an easy principle to uphold, and at times we’ve done a downright pitiful job. But with each passing generation, it remains just below the surface.