Podcast Seeks to Legitimize US Spanish - Language Magazine
Spanish speakers in the US, among linguists and nonlinguists, have been denigrated for the way that they speak, says UC Berkeley sociolinguist Justin Davidson. It’s part of the country’s long history of scrutiny of nonmonolingual English speakers, he says, dating back to the early 20th century. “It’s groups in power, it’s discourses and collective communities, that sort of socially determine what kinds of words and what kinds of language are acceptable and unacceptable,” says Davidson, an associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. But the US is a Spanish-speaking country, he says, and it’s time for us as
