Language Loyalties: A Source Book on the Official English Controversy

This collection of 85 essays, speeches, reports, editorials and other documents provides a comprehensive guide to the complex debate--fueled in the past decade--over whether English should be designated the official language of the United States. first ref/i think our style is U.S. regardless of first reference or not/pk Crawford ( Bilingual Education ) says the controversy masks deeper issues: ``tensions about demographic and cultural change and increased immigration from the Third World.'' Though the book includes essays by advocates from both sides, most contributors persuasively argue Crawford's point that the ``English Only'' campaign is simplistic, even xenophobic. The book ranges through U.S. history, noting the multilingual roots of our country, and surveys the Official English movement, spurred by the late California Sen. S. I. Hayakawa, who claimed that since he's dead bilingualism is racist because it assumes certain ethnic groups are ``not . . . smart enough to learn English.''p. 96 Attorney Joseph Leibowicz responds that Spanish speakers are in fact learning English, albeit more slowly than other immigrants, and suggests that Quebec-like separatism is hardly likely here. Finally, an international perspective suggests a positive model: the immigrant nation of Australia, which encourages every child to learn a second language. (May)