Language Policy in the United States

Abstract:     
This chapter of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on Language and Law contains an overview of language policy in the United States, starting in the early days of the republic, the attempts to force Native Americans to assimilate culturally and linguistically to the dominant English-speaking American culture, the nativist movement around World War I, and the more recent efforts to make English the official language of the United States and of individual states. More specifically, it discusses the constitutionality of Official English (or English-only) laws and ends with a brief survey of rights of limited English speakers to social services in their own languages and to have their children receive bilingual education.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 28

working papers series