Freedom of Language

America is a land of immigrants. Most American citizens in 2000’s ancestry census actually claimed German ancestry, not English (“Your Geography Selections”), and the English themselves were immigrants to a land where hundreds of Native American tongues were spoken. Fearlessly, generations of people have abandoned their homelands for America to build new lives of freedom, happiness and success. The uniting factor among Americans is the Constitution and the values it upholds; freedom of speech is protected by this document, regardless of tongue, medium, or content. Clearly, liberty is our common ground, so why choke it with an officiation of the language of English?

Despite identifying as a Republican, I find the current Republican National Committee’s proposal of English as an official language appalling and in direct defiance of the party’s values (2012 Republican Party Platform) and roots as being unapologetically constitutionalist. GOP presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are Cuban Americans who speak Spanish at home, and former candidate Jeb Bush’s wife is a Mexican American and therefore they choose to speak Spanish in their home as well. None of these individuals are forcing Spanish upon others, and I believe it is morally and constitutionally inconsistent to force English on them as their method of communication.

From a historical perspective, even the English language Americans speak is not English in its pure form. Hundreds of American words have origins in other languages. For example, words such as “mocassin”, “bagel”, and “corral” come from Native American tongues, Yiddish and Spanish, respectively. Webster, the man who authored the first American English dictionary, had to reshape the structure of the language to compensate for American pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary and learned 26 languages from Anglo-Saxon to Sanskrit to do so properly (“Noah Webster”).

If the Republicans want all Americans to speak English, what form of English should that language be? Will it be Received Pronunciation, (London based English which is the standard, BBC dialect throughout the UK) Liverpudlian, General Australian or General American? If these very different dialects are all English, is it acceptable to dictate dialect as well?

I certainly concede that English as our de facto (the default, nationally accepted commercial language) language is important, and a characteristic Americans should continue to foster by teaching English in our schools and providing ESOL classes. Where I diverge from the Republicans is the prospect of a federal official language. America has our own culture and dialect of English. However, this does not negate the fact that freedom of speech did not come with the red tape to license the roping off of liberty.

Works Cited

"Noah Webster and America's First Dictionary." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

"2012 Republican Party Platform." GOP. Republican Party, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

"Your Geography Selections." American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.