Languages of the United StatesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Languages of the United States Official languages None at federal level Main languages English 80%, Spanish 12.4%, other Indo-European 3.7%, Asian and Pacific island languages 3%, other languages 0.9% (2009 survey by the Census Bureau) Indigenous languages Navajo, Central Alaskan Yupik, Dakota, Western Apache, Keres, Cherokee, Zuni, Ojibwe, Oodham,[1] Other [show]Achumawi, Adai, Afro-Seminole Creole, Ahtna, Alabama, Aleut, Alutiiq, Arapaho, Assiniboine, Atakapa, Atsugewi, Barbareño, Biloxi, Blackfoot, Caddo, Cahuilla, Carolina Algonquian, Carolinian, Cayuga, Cayuse, Central Kalapuya, Central [2] Siberian Yupik, Central Pomo, Chamorro, Chemakum, Cheyenne, Chickasaw, Chico, Chimariko, Chinook Jargon, Chippewa, Chitimacha, Chiwere, Choctaw, Coast Tsimshian, Coahuilteco, Coeur dAlene, Colorado River, Columbia-Moses, Cocopah, Comanche, Cowlitz, Creek, Crow, Deg Xinag, Dena’ina, Delaware, Eastern Abnaki, Eastern Pomo, Esselen, Etchemin, Eyak, Eyeri, Fox, Gros Ventre, Gullah, Gwich’in, Halkomelem, Haida, Hän, Havasupai, Havasupai-Hualapai, Hawaiian, Hawaiian Pidgin, Hidatsa, Holikachuk, Hopi, Hupa, Inupiaq, Ipai, Jicarilla, Karuk, Kashaya, Kathlamet, Kato, Kawaiisu, Kiowa, Klallam, Klamath-Modoc, Klickitat, Koasati, Konkow language, Koyukon, Kumeyaay, Kutenai, Lakota, Lipan, Louisiana Creole French, Lower Tanana, Luiseño, Lummi, Lushootseed, Mahican, Maidu, Makah, Malayalam, Malecite-Passamaquoddy, Mandan, Maricopa, Massachusett, Mattole, Mednyj Aleut, Menominee, Mescalero-Chiricahua, Miami-Illinois, Mikasuki, Mikmaq, Mobilian Jargon, Mohawk, Mohawk Dutch, Mohegan-Pequot, Mojave, Mono, Munsee, Mutsun, Nanticoke language, Nawathinehena, Negerhollands, Nez Perce, Nisenan, Nlakapamux, Nooksack, Northeastern Pomo, Northern Kalapuya, Northern Paiute, Northern Pomo, Okanagan, Omaha-Ponca, Oneida, Onondaga, Osage, Pawnee, Paipai, Picuris, Piscataway, Plains Apache, Plains Cree, Potawatomi, Powhatan, Qawiaraq, Quechan, Quileute, Quiripi, Saanich, Sahaptin, Salinan, Salish, Samoan, Seneca, Shasta, Shawnee, Shoshone language, Solano, Southeastern Pomo, Southern Pomo, Southern Sierra Miwok, Southern Tiwa, Takelma, Tanacross, Taos, Tataviam, Tewa, Tillamook, Timbisha, Tipai, Tlingit, Tolowa, Tongva, Tonkawa, Tsetsaut, Tübatulabal, Tuscarora, Twana, Unami, Upper Kuskokwim, Upper Tanana, Ventureño, Virgin Islands Creole, Wailaki, Wappo, Wasco-Wishram, Washo, Whulshootseed, Wichita, Winnebago, Wintu, Wiyot, Wyandot, Yahi, Yana, Yaqui, Yavapai, Yoncalla, Yuchi, Yuki, Yurok Main immigrant languages Chinese, French, German, Italian, Polish,[3] Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese Sign languages American Sign Language, Hawaii Pidgin Sign Language, Plains Indian Sign Language Part of a series on the Culture of the United States History People Languages Mythology and folklore[show]Mythology ·folklore Cuisine Festivals Religion Art[show]Architecture ·Sculpture ·Fashion Literature[show]Comic books ·Poetry Music and performing arts[show]Music Media[show]Radio ·Television ·Cinema Sport Monuments[show]World Heritage Sites Symbols[show]Flag ·Coat of arms United States portal v ·t ·e Many languages are used, or historically have been used in the United States. The most commonly used language is English. There are also many languages indigenous to North America or to U.S. states or holdings in the Pacific region. Languages brought to the country by colonists or immigrants from Europe, Asia, or other parts of the world make up a large portion of the languages currently used; several languages, including creoles and sign languages, have also developed in the United States. Approximately 337 languages are spoken or signed by the population, of which 176 are indigenous to the area. Fifty-two languages formerly spoken in the countrys territory are now extinct.[4] The variety of English spoken in the United States is known as American English. English is the de facto national language of the United States, with 80% of the population claiming it as a mother tongue, and some 95% claiming to speak it well or very well.[5] However, no official language exists at the federal level. There have been several proposals to make English the national language in amendments to immigration reform bills,[6][7] but none of these bills has become law with the amendment intact. The situation is quite varied at the state and territorial levels, with some states mirroring the federal policy of adopting no official language in a de jure capacity, others adopting English alone, others officially adopting English as well as local languages, and still others adopting a policy of de facto bilingualism. Spanish is the second most common language in the country, and is spoken by over 30% of the population.[8] The United States holds the worlds fifth largest Spanish-speaking population, outnumbered only by Mexico, Spain, Colombia, and Argentina. Throughout the Southwestern United States, long-established Spanish-speaking communities coexist with large numbers of more recent Hispanophone immigrants. Although many new Latin American immigrants are less than fluent in English, nearly all second-generation Hispanic Americans speak English fluently, while only about half still speak Spanish.[9] According to the 2000 US census, people of German ancestry make up the largest single ethnic group in the United States, and the German language ranks fifth.[10][11] Italian, Polish, and French are still widely spoken among populations descending from immigrants from those countries in the early 20th century, but the use of these languages is dwindling as the older generations die. Russian is also spoken by immigrant populations. Tagalog and Vietnamese have over one million speakers each in the United States, almost entirely within recent immigrant populations. Both languages, along with the varieties of the Chinese language, Japanese, and Korean, are now used in elections in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Washington.[12] Native American languages are spoken in smaller pockets of the country, but these populations are decreasing, and the languages are almost never widely used outside of reservations. Hawaiian, although having few native speakers, is an official language along with English at the state level in Hawaii. The state government of Louisiana offers services and documents in French, as does New Mexico in Spanish. Besides English, Spanish, French, German, Navajo and other Native American languages, all other languages are usually learned from immigrant ancestors that came after the time of independence or learned through some form of education. Contents [hide] 1 Census statistics 2 Official language status 2.1 States that are de facto bilingual 2.2 Status of other languages 3 Indigenous languages 3.1 Native American languages 3.1.1 Native American sign languages 3.2 Austronesian languages 3.2.1 Hawaiian 3.2.2 Samoan 3.2.3 Chamorro 3.2.4 Carolinian 4 Main languages 4.1 English 4.2 Spanish 4.3 French 4.4 Arabic 4.5 Chinese 4.6 Dutch 4.7 Vietnamese 4.8 Finnish 4.9 German 4.10 Russian 4.11 Hebrew 4.12 Ilocano 4.13 Indian 4.14 Irish 4.15 Italian 4.16 Khmer (Cambodian) 4.17 Polish 4.18 Portuguese 4.19 Scottish Gaelic 4.20 Swedish 4.21 Tagalog 4.22 Welsh 4.23 Yiddish 5 New American languages, dialects, and creoles 5.1 African American Vernacular English 5.2 Chinuk Wawa or Chinook Jargon 5.3 Gullah 5.4 Hawaii Creole English 5.5 Louisiana Creole French 5.6 Outer Banks languages 5.7 Pennsylvania Dutch 5.8 Texas Silesian 5.9 Tangier Islander 5.10 Chicano English 6 Sign languages 6.1 American Sign Language 6.1.1 Black American Sign Language 6.2 Hawaii Pidgin Sign Language 6.3 Marthas Vineyard Sign Language 7 See also 8 Notes 9 Bibliography 10 External links Census statistics[edit]Language Spoken at Home (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2009)[13] List [show]English only – 228 699 523Spanish – 35 468 501Chinese – 2 600 150Tagalog – 1 513 734French – 1 305 503Vietnamese – 1 251 468German – 1 109 216Korean – 1 039 021Russian – 881 723Arabic – 845 396Italian – 753 992Portuguese – 731 282Other Indian Languages – 668 596French Creole – 659 053Polish – 593 598Hindi – 560 983Armenian – 498 700Japanese – 445 471Persian – 396 769Urdu – 355 964Greek – 325 747Hebrew – 221 593Mon–Khmer, Cambodian – 202 033Hmong – 193 179Navajo – 169 009Thai – 152 679Yiddish – 148 155Laotian – 146 297 According to the American Community Survey 2009, endorsed by the United States Census Bureau, the main languages by number of speakers older than five are: 1.English – 229 million 2.Spanish – 35 million 3.Chinese languages – 2.6 million + (mostly Cantonese speakers, with a growing group of Mandarin speakers) 4.Tagalog – 1.5 million + (Most Filipinos may also know other Philippine dialects, e.g. Ilokano, Pangasinan, Bikol languages, and Visayan languages) 5.French – 1.3 million 6.Vietnamese – 1.3 million 7.German – 1.1 million (High German) + German dialects like Hutterite German, Texas German, Pennsylvania German, Plautdietsch 8.Korean – 1.0 million 9.Russian – 881,000 10.Arabic – 845,000 11.Italian – 754,000 12.Portuguese – 731,000 13.French Creole – 659,000 14.Polish – 594,000 15.Hindi – 561,000 16.Japanese – 445,000 17.Persian – 397,000 18.Urdu – 356,000 19.Gujarati – 341,000 20.Greek – 326,000 21.Serbo-Croatian – 269,000 22.Armenian – 243,000 23.Hebrew – 222,000 24.Cambodian – 202,000 Additionally, modern estimates indicate that American Sign Language is signed by as many as 500,000 Americans.[14] The total sample size for these figures is 286 million people. Official language status[edit]The United States does not have a national official language; nevertheless, English (specifically American English) is the primary language used for legislation, regulations, executive orders, treaties, federal court rulings, and all other official pronouncements; although there are laws requiring documents such as ballots to be printed in multiple languages when there are large numbers of non-English speakers in an area. As part of what has been called the English-only movement, some states have adopted legislation granting official status to English. As of April 2011[update], out of 50 states, 27 had established English as the official language, and Hawaii had established both English and Hawaiian as official. Place English official Other official language(s) Note Ref Alabama Yes No since 1990 [15] Alaska Yes No since 2007; 1998 law ruled unconstitutional [16] Arizona Yes No since 2006; 1988 law ruled unconstitutional [17] Arkansas Yes No since 1987 [15] California Yes No since 1986 [15] Colorado Yes No since 1988 [15] Connecticut No No [15] Delaware No No [15] Florida Yes No since 1988 [15] Georgia Yes No since 1996 [15] Hawaii Yes Hawaiian since 1978 [15] Idaho Yes No since 2007 [15] Illinois Yes No since 1969; American official 1923-1969 [15] Indiana Yes No since 1984 [15] Iowa Yes No since 2002 [15] Kansas Yes No since 2007 [15] Kentucky Yes No since 1984 [15] Louisiana No No French has had special status since 1968 founding of CODOFIL [15] Maine No No [15] Maryland No No [15] Massachusetts No No [15] Michigan No No [15] Minnesota No No [15] Mississippi Yes No since 1987 [15] Missouri No No [15] Montana Yes No since 1995 [15] Nebraska Yes No since 1923 [15] Nevada No No [15] New Hampshire Yes No since 1995 [15] New Jersey No No [15] New Mexico No No Spanish has had special status since 1912 passage of state constitution see article New York No No [15] North Carolina Yes No since 1987 [15] North Dakota Yes No since 1987 [15] Ohio No No [15] Oklahoma Yes No since 2010 [18] Oregon No No English Plus since 1989 [15] Pennsylvania No No [15] Rhode Island No No English Plus since 1992 [15] South Carolina Yes No since 1987 [15] South Dakota Yes No since 1995 [15] Tennessee Yes No since 1984 [15] Texas No No [15] Utah Yes No since 2000 [15] Vermont No No [15] Virginia Yes No since 1981 [15] Washington No No English Plus since 1989 [15] West Virginia No No [15] Wisconsin No No [15] Wyoming Yes No since 1996 [15] American Samoa Yes Samoan [19] District of Columbia No No [citation needed] Guam Yes Chamorro [citation needed] Northern Mariana Islands Yes Chamorro, Carolinian [citation needed] Puerto Rico Yes Spanish [20] U.S. Virgin Islands Yes No [21] States that are de facto bilingual[edit]Louisiana (English and French legally recognized, although there is no official language) (1974) Maine (English and French both de facto) New Mexico (English and Spanish both de facto)[22] Texas (English and Spanish are both de facto) Status of other languages[edit]The state of Alaska provides voting information in Iñupiaq, Central Yupik, Gwichin, Siberian Yupik, Koyukon, and Tagalog, as well as English. California has agreed to allow the publication of state documents in other languages to represent minority groups and immigrant communities. Languages such as Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Persian, Russian, Vietnamese, and Thai appear in official state documents, and the Department of Motor Vehicles publishes in 9 languages.[23] In New Mexico, although the state constitution does not specify an official language, laws are published in English and Spanish, and government materials and services are legally required (by Act) to be made accessible to speakers of both languages. Some have asserted that the New Mexico situation is part of the provisions in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; however, no mention of language rights is made in the Treaty or in the Protocol of Querétaro, beyond the Mexican inhabitants having (1) no reduction of rights below those of citizens of the United States and (2) precisely the same rights as are mentioned in Article III of the Treaty of the Louisiana Purchase and in the Treaty of the Florida Purchase. This would imply[original research?] that the legal status of the Spanish language in New Mexico and in non-Gadsden Purchase areas of Arizona is the same as of French in Louisiana and certainly not less than that of German in Pennsylvania. Percentage of people 5 years and over who speak Spanish at home: 2008. Second most prevalent language in each US state. Spanish French German TagalogContrary to belief, the state of Pennsylvania was never officially bilingual. The state has a history of Pennsylvania Dutch German language communities that goes back to the 1650s. There were attempts to recognize German in Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries due to the prevalence of German speakers in the state. This situation prevailed until the 1950s in some rural areas.[citation needed] The state of New York had state government documents (i.e., vital records) co-written in the Dutch language until the 1920s, in order to preserve the legacy of New Netherland, though England annexed the colony in 1664.[citation needed] Native American languages are official or co-official on many of the U.S. Indian reservations and pueblos. In Oklahoma before statehood in 1907, territory officials debated whether or not to have Cherokee, Choctaw and Muscogee languages as co-official, but the idea never gained ground. The issue of bilingualism also applies in the states of Arizona and Texas, while the constitution of Texas has no official language policy. Arizona passed a proposition in the November 7, 2006 general election declaring English as the official language.[24] Nonetheless, Arizona law requires the distribution of voting ballots in languages such as Navajo and Tohono Oodham in certain counties.[25] In 2000, the census bureau printed the standard census questionnaires in six languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese (in traditional characters), Vietnamese, and Tagalog. Indigenous languages[edit]Native American languages[edit]Native American languages predate European settlement of the New World. In a few parts of the U.S. (mostly on Indian reservations), they continue to be spoken fluently. Most of these languages are endangered, although there are efforts to revive them. Normally the fewer the speakers of a language the greater the degree of endangerment, but there are many small Native American language communities in the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico) which continue to thrive despite their small size. In 1929, speaking of indigenous Native American languages, linguist Edward Sapir observed: Few people realize that within the confines of the United States there is spoken today a far greater variety of languages ... than in the whole of Europe. We may go further. We may say, quite literally and safely, that in the state of California alone there are greater and more numerous linguistic extremes than can be illustrated in all the length and breadth of Europe.[26] According to the 2000 Census and other language surveys, the largest Native American language-speaking community by far is the Navajo. Navajo is an Athabascan language with 178,000 speakers, primarily in the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, in addition to smaller numbers of speakers across the country. Dakota is a Siouan language with 18,000 speakers in the US alone (22,000 including speakers in Canada), not counting 6,000 speakers of the closely related Lakota. Most speakers live in the states of North Dakota and South Dakota. Central Alaskan Yupik is an Eskimo-Aleut language with 16,000 speakers, most of whom live in Alaska. Cherokee belongs to the Iroquoian language family, and had about 22,000 speakers as of 2005.[27] The Cherokee have the largest tribal affiliation in the U.S., but most are of mixed ancestry and do not speak the language. Recent efforts to preserve and increase the Cherokee language in Oklahoma and the Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina have been productive. Western Apache, with 12,500 speakers, is a Southern Athabaskan language closely related to Navajo, but not mutually intelligible with it. Most speakers live in Arizona. The Oodham language, spoken by the Pima and the Tohono Oodham, is a Uto-Aztecan language with more than 12,000 speakers, most of whom live in central and southern Arizona and northern Sonora. Choctaw has 11,000 speakers. One of the Muskogean language family, like Seminole and Alabama. Keres has 11,000 speakers. A language isolate, the Keres are the largest of the Pueblo nations. The Keres pueblo of Acoma is the oldest continually inhabited community in the United States. Zuni has 10,000 speakers. Zuni is a language isolate mostly spoken in a single pueblo, Zuni, the largest in the U.S. Ojibwe has 7,000 speakers (about 55,000 including speakers in Canada). The Algonquian language family includes populous languages like Cree in Canada. Many other languages have been spoken within the current borders of the United States. The following is a list of 28 language families (groups of demonstrably related languages) indigenous to the territory of the continental United States. Algic Alsean Athabaskan Caddoan Chimakuan Chinookan Chumashan Coosan Comecrudan Eskimo–Aleut Iroquoian Kalapuyan Maiduan Muskogean Palaihnihan Plateau Penutian Pomoan Salishan Shastan Siouan Tanoan Tsimshian Utian Uto-Aztecan Wakashan Wintuan Yokutsan Yuman In addition to the above list of families, there are many languages in the United States that are sufficiently well-known to attempt to classify but which have not been shown to be related to any other language in the world. These 25 language isolates are listed below. With further study, some of these will likely prove to be related to each other or to one of the established families. There are also larger and more contentious proposals such as Penutian and Hokan. Adai Atakapa Cayuse Chimariko Chitimacha Coahuilteco Esselen Haida Karankawa Karuk Keres Kootenai Natchez Salinan Siuslaw Takelma Timucua Tonkawa Tunica Washo Yana Yuchi Yuki Wappo Zuni Since the languages in the Americas have a history stretching for about 17,000 to 12,000 years, current knowledge of American languages is limited. There are doubtless a number of languages that were spoken in the Americas that are missing from historical record. Native American sign languages[edit]A sign-language trade pidgin, known as Plains Indian Sign Language or Plains Standard, arose among the Plains Indians. Each signing nation had a separate signed version of their oral language, that was used by the hearing, and these were not mutually intelligible. Plains Standard was used to communicate between these nations. It seems to have started in Texas and then spread north, through the Great Plains, as far as British Columbia. There are still a few users today, especially among the Crow, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Unlike other sign languages developed by hearing people, it shares the spatial grammar of deaf sign languages. Austronesian languages[edit]Hawaiian[edit]Hawaiian is an official state language of Hawaii as prescribed in the Constitution of Hawaii. Hawaiian has 1,000 native speakers. Formerly considered critically endangered, Hawaiian is showing signs of language renaissance. The recent trend is based on new Hawaiian language immersion programs of the Hawaii State Department of Education and the University of Hawaii, as well as efforts by the Hawaii State Legislature and county governments to preserve Hawaiian place names. In 1993, about 8,000 could speak and understand it; today estimates range up to 27,000. Hawaiian is related to the Māori language spoken by around 150,000 New Zealanders and Cook Islanders as well as the Tahitian language which is spoken by another 120,000 people of Tahiti. Samoan[edit]Samoan is an official territorial language of American Samoa. Samoans make up 90% of the population, and most people are bilingual. Chamorro[edit]Chamorro is co-official in the Mariana Islands, both in the territory of Guam and in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In Guam, the indigenous Chamorro people make up about 60% of the population. Carolinian[edit]Carolinian is also co-official in the Northern Marianas, where only 14% of people speak English at home. Main languages[edit] A trash can in Seattle labeled in four languages: English, Chinese (垃圾), Vietnamese (should be rác), and Spanish. Tagalog also uses the Spanish word.Some of the first European languages to be spoken in the U.S. are English, Dutch, German, French, and Spanish. From the mid-19th century on, the nation had large numbers of immigrants who spoke little or no English, and throughout the country state laws, constitutions, and legislative proceedings appeared in the languages of politically important immigrant groups. There have been bilingual schools and local newspapers in such languages as German, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Greek, Polish, Swedish, Romanian, Czech, Japanese, Yiddish, Hebrew, Lithuanian, Welsh, Cantonese, Bulgarian, Dutch, Portuguese and others, despite opposing English-only laws that, for example, illegalized church services, telephone conversations, and even conversations in the street or on railway platforms in any language other than English, until the first of these laws was ruled unconstitutional in 1923 (Meyer v. Nebraska). Currently, Asian languages account for the majority of languages spoken in immigrant communities: Korean, the varieties of Chinese, and various Indian or South Asian languages like Punjabi, Hindi/Urdu, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, Arabic, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Persian, and others. Typically, immigrant languages tend to be lost through assimilation within two or three generations, though there are some groups such as the Cajuns (French), Pennsylvania Dutch (German) in a state where large numbers of people were heard to speak it before the 1950s, and the original settlers of the Southwest (Spanish) who have maintained their languages for centuries. English[edit]Main article: American English English language distribution in the United States.English was inherited from British colonization, and it is spoken by the majority of the population. It serves as the de facto official language, the language in which government business is carried out. According to the US Census Bureau 80% spoke only English at Home and all but 57,097,826 of U.S. residents speak English well or very well.[28] American English is different from British English in terms of spelling (a classic example being the dropped u in words such as color/colour), grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and slang usage. The differences are not usually a barrier to effective communication between an American English and a British English speaker, but there are certainly enough differences to cause occasional misunderstandings, usually surrounding slang or region dialect differences.[citation needed] Some states, like California, have amended their constitutions to make English the only official language, but in practice, this only means that official government documents must at least be in English, and does not mean that they should be exclusively available only in English. For example, the standard California Class C drivers license examination is available in 32 different languages.[29] Spanish[edit]Main article: Spanish language in the United States Spanish language distribution in the United States.Spanish was also inherited from colonization and is sanctioned as official in Puerto Rico. Spanish is also taught in various regions as a second language, especially in areas with large Hispanic populations such as the Southwestern United States along the border with Mexico, as well as Florida, parts of California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. In Hispanic communities across the country, bilingual signs in both Spanish and English may be quite common. Furthermore, numerous neighborhoods exist (such as Washington Heights in New York City or Little Havana in Miami) in which entire city blocks will have only Spanish language signs and Spanish-speaking people. In addition to Spanish-speaking Hispanic populations, younger generations of non-Hispanics in the United States seem to be learning Spanish in larger numbers due to the growing Hispanic population and increasing popularity of Latin American movies and music performed in the Spanish language. A 2009 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau, showed that Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by over 35 million people aged 5 or older,[13] making the United States the worlds fifth-largest Spanish-speaking community, outnumbered only by Mexico, Spain, Colombia, and Argentina.[30][31] Spanglish is a code-switching variant of Spanish and English and is spoken in areas with large bilingual populations of Spanish and English speakers, such as along the Mexico – United States border (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), Florida, and New York City. French[edit]Main article: French language in the United States French language distribution in the United States. Counties and parishes marked in yellow are those where 6% to 12% of the population speak French at home; brown, 12% to 18%; red, over 18%. Cajun French and French-based creole languages are not included even though the Creole dialects are spoken throughout the U.S. and taught in many U.S. schools.French, the fourth most-common language, is spoken mainly by the Louisiana Creole, native French, Cajun, Haitian, and French-Canadian populations. It is widely spoken in Maine, New Hampshire, and in Louisiana, with notable Francophone enclaves in St. Clair County and many rural areas of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Three varieties of French developed within what is now the United States in colonial times: Louisiana French, Missouri French, and New England French (essentially a variant of Canadian French).[32] French is the second de facto language in the states of Louisiana (where the French dialect of Cajun predominates) and Maine. The largest French-speaking communities in the United States reside in Northeast Maine; Hollywood and Miami, Florida; New York City;[citation needed] certain areas of rural Louisiana; and small minorities in Vermont and New Hampshire. Many of the New England communities are connected to the dialect found across the border in Quebec or New Brunswick. More than 13 million Americans possess primary French heritage, but only 2 million speak French or French Creole at home. Arabic[edit]Main article: Arabic in the United States Arabic is spoken by immigrants from the Middle East as well as many Muslim Americans. The highest concentrations of native Arabic speakers reside in heavily urban areas like Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles. Detroit and the surrounding areas of Michigan boast a significant Arabic-speaking population including many Arab Christians of Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian descent. Arabic is used for religious purposes by Muslim Americans and by some Arab Christians (notably Catholics of the Melkite and Maronite Churches as well as Rum Orthodox, i.e. Antiochian Orthodox Christians). A significant number of educated Arab professionals who immigrate often already know English quite well, as it is widely used in the Middle East. Lebanese immigrants also have a broader understanding of French as do many Arabic-speaking immigrants from North Africa. Chinese[edit]Main article: Chinese language in the United States Chinese, mostly of the Cantonese variety, is the third most-spoken language in the United States, almost completely spoken within Chinese American and Taiwanese American populations and by immigrants or the descendants of immigrants, especially in California.[33] Many young Americans not of Chinese or Taiwanese descent have become interested in learning the language, specifically Mandarin, the official spoken language in the Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan. Over 2.6 million Americans speak some variety of Chinese, with the Mandarin variety becoming increasingly more prevalent due to the opening up of the PRC.[33] In New York City at least, although Mandarin is spoken as a native language among only 10% of Chinese speakers, it is used as a secondary dialect among the greatest number of them and is on its way to replace Cantonese as their lingua franca.[34] Dutch[edit] Dutch language distribution in the United States.There has been a Dutch presence in America since 1602, when the government of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands chartered the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) with the mission of exploring for a passage to the Indies and claiming any uncharted territories for the Dutch republic. In 1664, English troops under the command of the Duke of York (later James II of England) attacked the New Netherland colony. Being greatly outnumbered, director general Peter Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam, with Fort Orange following soon. New Amsterdam was renamed New York, Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany. Dutch city names can still be found in New Yorks neighbourhoods. Harlem is Haarlem, Staten Island is Staten Eiland and Brooklyn refers to Breukelen. Dutch was still spoken in many parts of New York at the time of the Revolution. For example, Alexander Hamiltons wife Eliza Hamilton attended a Dutch-language church during their marriage. African-American abolitionist and womens rights activist Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree) was a native speaker of Dutch. Martin Van Buren, the first President born in the United States following its independence, spoke Dutch as his native language, making him the only President whose first language was not English. In a 1990 demographic consensus, 3% of surveyed citizens claimed descent from Dutch settlers. Modern estimates place the Dutch American population at 5 million, lagging just a bit behind Scottish Americans and Swedish Americans. Notable Dutch Americans include the Roosevelts (Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt), Marlon Brando, Thomas Alva Edison, Martin Van Buren and the Vanderbilts. The Roosevelts are direct descendants of Dutch settlers of the New Netherlands colony in the 17th century. Around 136,000 people in the United States still speak the Dutch language at home today. They are concentrated mainly in California (23,500), Florida (10,900), Pennsylvania (9,900), Ohio (9,600), New York (8,700) and Michigan (6,600) (i.e. the city of Holland).[35] A vernacular dialect of Dutch, known as Jersey Dutch was spoken by a significant number of people in the New Jersey area between the start of the 17th century to the mid-20th century. With the beginning of the 20th century, usage of the language became restricted to internal family circles, with an ever-growing number of people abandoning the language in favor of English. It suffered gradual decline throughout the 20th century, and it ultimately dissipated from casual usage. Vietnamese[edit] Spread of the Vietnamese language in the United StatesAs a relatively recent immigrant group, most Vietnamese Americans are either first- or second-generation Americans. They have the lowest distribution of people with more than one race among the major Asian American groups. As many as one million people who are five years and older speak Vietnamese at home—making it the seventh-most spoken language in the United States. As refugees, Vietnamese Americans have some of the highest rates of naturalization.[36] In the 2006 American Community Survey, 72% of foreign-born Vietnamese are naturalized US citizens; this combined with the 36% who are born in the United States makes 82% of them United States citizen in total. Of those born outside the United States, 46.5% entered before 1990, 38.8% between 1990 and 2000, and 14.6% entered after 2000.[37] According to the 2010 Census, there are 1,548,449 people who identify themselves as Vietnamese alone or 1,737,433 in combination with other ethnicities, ranking fourth among the Asian American groups. Of those, 581,946 (38%) live in California and 210,913 (14%) in Texas. The largest number of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam is found in Orange County, California—totalling 183,766, or 6.1% of the countys population. Vietnamese American businesses are ubiquitous in Little Saigon, located in the communities of Westminster and Garden Grove, where they constitute 40.2 and 27.7 percent of the population, respectively. The metropolitan areas of San Jose, Houston, Seattle, Washington, D.C. (in Northern Virginia), Dallas-Fort Worth, and New Orleans have sizable Vietnamese communities. Recently, the Vietnamese immigration pattern has shifted to other states like Ohio (Cleveland), Oklahoma (Oklahoma City and Tulsa in particular) and Oregon (Portland in particular). Vietnamese Americans are much more likely to be Christians than Vietnamese who are residing in Vietnam. While Christians (mainly Roman Catholics) make up about 6% of Vietnams total population, they compose as much as 23% of the total Vietnamese American population.[38] Historical population Year Pop. ±% 1980 261,729 — 1990 614,517 +134.8% 2000 1,122,528 +82.7% 2010 1,548,449 +37.9% Finnish[edit] Finnish language distribution in the United States.The first Finnish settlers in America were amongst the settlers who came from Sweden and Finland to New Sweden colony. Most colonists were Finnish. However, the Finnish language was not preserved as well among subsequent generations as Swedish. Shortly after the Civil War, many Finnish citizens immigrated to the United States, mainly in rural areas of the Midwest (and more specifically in Michigans Upper Peninsula). Hancock, Michigan, as of 2005, still incorporates bi-lingual street signs written in both English and Finnish.[40] Americans of Finnish origin yield at 800,000 individuals, though only 26,000 speak the language at home. There is a distinctive dialect of English to be found in the Upper Peninsula, known as Yooper. Yuper often has a Finnish cadence and uses Finnish sentence structure with modified English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish vocabulary. Notable Finnish Americans include Gus Hall, U.S. Communist Party leader, Renny Harlin, film director, and the Canadian-born actress Pamela Anderson. Another Finnish community in the United States is found in Lake Worth, Florida, north of Miami. German[edit]Main article: German language in the United States See also: Hutterite German, Texas German, Pennsylvania Dutchified English, and Plautdietsch German language distribution in the United States.German was a widely spoken language in some of the colonies, especially Pennsylvania, where a number of German-speaking religious minorities settled to escape persecution in Europe. Dutch, Swedish, and Scottish Gaelic all became less common than German after the American Revolution. Another wave of settlement occurred when Germans fleeing the failure of 19th Century German revolutions emigrated to the United States. Large numbers of Germans settled throughout the U.S., especially in the cities. Neighborhoods in many cities were German-speaking. German farmers took up farming around the country, including the Texas Hill Country, at this time. German was widely spoken until the United States entered World War I. Numerous local German language newspapers and periodicals existed. In the early twentieth century, German was the most widely studied foreign language in the United States, and prior to World War I, more than 6%[citation needed] of American school-children received their primary education exclusively in German, though some of these Germans came from areas outside of Germany proper. Currently, more than 49 million Americans claim German ancestry, the largest self-described ethnic group in the U.S., but less than 4% of them speak a language other than English at home, according to the 2005 American Community Survey.[41] The Amish speak a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania German. One reason for this decline of German language was the perception during both World Wars that speaking the language of the enemy was unpatriotic; foreign language instruction was banned in places during the First World War. Unlike earlier waves, they were more concentrated in cities, and integrated quickly. There is a myth (known as the Muhlenberg Vote) that German was to be the official language of the U.S., but this is inaccurate and based on a failed early attempt to have government documents translated into German.[42] The myth also extends to German being the second official language of Pennsylvania; however, Pennsylvania has no official language. Although more than 49 million Americans claim they have German ancestors, only 1.24 million Americans speak German at home. Many of these people are either Amish and Mennonites or Germans having newly immigrated (e.g. for professional reasons). Russian[edit]Main article: Russian language in the United States Russian language distribution in the United States.The Russian language is frequently spoken in areas of Alaska, Los Angeles, Seattle, Spokane, Miami, San Francisco, New York City, Philadelphia, Woodburn, Oregon, and Chicago. The Russian-American Company used to own Alaska Territory until selling it after the Crimean War. Russian had always been limited, especially after the assassination of the Romanov dynasty of tsars. Starting in the 1970s and continuing until the mid-1990s, many people from the Soviet Union and later its constituent republics such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Uzbekistan have immigrated to the United States, increasing the languages usage in America. The largest Russian-speaking neighborhoods in the United States are found in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island in New York City (specifically the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn), parts of Los Angeles, particularly West Los Angeles and West Hollywood, parts of Philadelphia, particularly the Far Northeast and, parts of Miami like Sunny Isles Beach. Slavic Voice of America media group serves Russian-speaking Americans out of Dallas, TX. Hebrew[edit]Modern Hebrew is used by some immigrants from Israel and Eastern Europe. Liturgical Hebrew is used as a religious or liturgical language by many of the United States approximately 7 million Jews. Ilocano[edit]Like the Tagalogs, the Ilocanos are an Austronesian stock which came from the Philippines. They were the first Filipinos to migrate en masse to the United States. They first entered the State of Hawaii and worked there in the vast plantations. As they did in the Philippine provinces of Northern Luzon and Mindanao, they quickly gained importance in the areas where they settled. Thus, the state of Hawaii became no less different from the Philippines in terms of percentage of Ilocano speakers. Like Tagalog, Ilocano is also being taught in universities where most of the Filipinos reside. Indian[edit]There are many Indians in the USA, and they speak various languages. Major Indian languages spoken in USA include: Gujarati Hindi (over 500,000 people) Punjabi, Marathi, and Tamil Hindi is one of the two official Language of the Union Government of India (Alongside English), and is an official or co-official language of many States in India. People from Nepal, Fiji, Some Afghan and east Africans also speak Hindi or Gujarati. Irish[edit]Up to 37 million Americans have Irish ancestry, many of whose ancestors would have spoken Irish. According to the 2007 American Community Survey, 22,279 people speak Irish at home. As of 2008[update] It was the 76th most spoken language in the USA.[43] Italian[edit]Main article: Italian language in the United States Current distribution of the Italian language in the United States.The Italian language and its various dialects has been widely spoken in the United States for more than one hundred years, primarily due to large-scale immigration from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century. In addition to Standard Italian learned by most people today, there has been a strong representation of the dialects and languages of Southern Italy amongst the immigrant population (Sicilian and Neapolitan in particular). As of 2009, though 15,638,348 American citizens report themselves as Italian Americans, only 753,992 of these report speaking the Italian language at home (0.3264% of the population). Khmer (Cambodian)[edit]Between 1981 and 1985 about 150,000 Cambodians resettled in the United States.[44] Before 1975 very few Cambodians came to the United States. Those who did were children of upper-class families sent abroad to attend school. After the fall of Phnom Penh to the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975, some Cambodians managed to escape. In 2007 the American Community Survey reported that there were approximately 200,000 Cambodians living in the United States, making up about 2% percent of the Asian population. Polish[edit]The Polish language is very common in the Chicago metropolitan area. Chicagos largest white ethnic groups are those of Polish descent. The Polish people and the Polish language in Chicago have been very prevalent in the early years of the city, as well as the progression and economical and social development of Chicago. Poles in Chicago make up one of the largest ethnically Polish population (650,000 people) in the world comparable to the city of Wrocław, the fourth largest city in Poland. That makes it one of the most important centres of Polonia and the Polish language in the United States, a fact that the city celebrates every Labor Day weekend at the Taste of Polonia Festival in Jefferson Park.[45] Portuguese[edit]The first Portuguese speakers in America were Jews who had fled the Inquisition; they founded the first Jewish communities, two of which stiil exist: Congregation Shearith Israel in New York and Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia. However, by the end of the 18th century the use of Portuguese had been replaced by English. In the late 19th century, many Portuguese, mainly Azoreans and Madeirans, immigrated to the United States, establishing in cities like Providence, Rhode Island, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Santa Cruz, California. Many of them also moved to Hawaii during its independence. In the mid-late 20th century there was another surge of Portuguese immigration in America, mainly in the Northeast (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts). Many Portuguese Americans may include descendants of Portuguese settlers born in Africa (like Angola, Cape Verde, and Mozambique) and Asia (mostly Macau). There were around 1 million Portuguese Americans in the United States by the year 2000. Portuguese (European Portuguese) has been spoken in the United States by small communities of immigrants, mainly in the metropolitan New York City area, like Newark, New Jersey. The Portuguese language is also spoken widely by Brazilian immigrants, established mainly in Miami, New York City and Boston. (Brazilian Portuguese) Scottish Gaelic[edit]In the 17th and 18th centuries, tens of thousands of Scots from Scotland, and Scots-Irish from the north of Ireland arrived in the American colonies. Today, an estimated 20 million Americans are of Scottish ancestry. The province of Nova Scotia, Canada was the main concentration of Scottish Gaelic speakers in North America (Nova Scotia is Latin for New Scotland). According to the 2007 American Community Survey, 1,445 people speak Scottish Gaelic at home. Swedish[edit] Swedish language distribution in the United States.There has been a Swedish presence in America since the New Sweden colony came into existence in March 1638. Widespread diaspora of Swedish immigration did not occur until the latter half of the 19th century, bringing in a total of a million Swedes. No other country had a higher percentage of its people leave for the United States except Ireland and Norway. At the beginning of the 20th century, Minnesota had the highest ethnic Swedish population in the world after the city of Stockholm. 3.7% of US residents claim descent from Scandinavian ancestors, amounting to roughly 11–12 million people. According to SILs Ethnologue, over half a million ethnic Swedes still speak the language, though according to the 2007 American Community Survey only 56,715 speak it at home. Cultural assimilation has contributed to the gradual and steady decline of the language in the US. After the independence of the US from the Kingdom of Great Britain, the government encouraged colonists to adopt the English language as a common medium of communication, and in some cases, imposed it upon them. Subsequent generations of Swedish Americans received education in English and spoke it as their first language. Lutheran churches scattered across the Midwest started abandoning Swedish in favor of English as their language of worship. Swedish newspapers and publications alike slowly faded away. There are sizable Swedish communities in Minnesota, Ohio, Maryland, Philadelphia and Delaware, along with small isolated pockets in Pennsylvania, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, and New York. Chicago once contained a large Swedish enclave called Andersonville on the citys north side. John Morton, the person who cast the decisive vote leading to Pennsylvanias support for the United States Declaration of Independence, was of Finnish descent. Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden in the 18th century. Tagalog[edit] Tagalog language distribution in the United States.Tagalog speakers were already present in the United States as early as the late sixteenth century as sailors contracted by the Spanish colonial government. In the eighteenth century, they established settlements in Louisiana, such as Saint Malo. After the American annexation of the Philippines, the number of Tagalog speakers steadily increased, as Filipinos began to migrate as students or contract laborers. Their numbers, however, decreased upon Philippine independence, as many Filipinos were repatriated. Today, Tagalog, together with its standardized form Filipino, is spoken by over a million and a half Filipino Americans, and is promoted by Filipino American civic organizations and Philippine consulates. Taglish, a form of code-switching between Tagalog and English, is also spoken by a number of Filipino Americans. As the Filipinos became the second fastest growing Asian population in the United States, Tagalog easily became the second most spoken Asian language in the continent. Today, Tagalog is being majored in some universities where a significant number of Filipinos exist. Some of these schools include the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of California. As Tagalog is the basis of Filipino, most of all the Filipinos living in the United States are proficient in Tagalog. Welsh[edit] Welsh language distribution in the United States.Up to two million Americans are thought to have Welsh ancestry. However, there is very little Welsh being used commonly in the USA. According to the 2007 American Comminty Survey, 2,285 people speak Welsh at home; primarily spoken in California (415), Florida (225), New York (204), Ohio (135), and New Jersey (130).[46] Some place names, such as Bryn Mawr in Chicago and Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (English: Big Hill) are Welsh. Several towns in Pennsylvania, mostly in the Welsh Tract, have Welsh namesakes, including Uwchlan, Bala Cynwyd, Gwynedd, and Tredyffrin. Yiddish[edit]Yiddish has a much longer history in the United States than Hebrew.[47] It has been present since at least the late 19th century and continues to have roughly 148,000 speakers as of the 2009 American Community Survey. Though they came from varying geographic backgrounds and nuanced approaches to worship, immigrant Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia were often united under a common understanding of the Yiddish language once they settled in America, and at one point dozens of publications were available in most East Coast cities. Though it has declined by quite a bit since the end of WWII, it has by no means disappeared. Many Israeli immigrants and expatriates have at least some understanding of the language in addition to Hebrew, and many of the descendants of the great migration of Ashkenazi Jews of the past century pepper their mostly English vocabulary with some loan words. Furthermore, it is definitely a lingua franca alive and well among Orthodox Jewry, particularly in Los Angeles, Miami and New York.[48][49] New American languages, dialects, and creoles[edit]Several languages have developed on American soil, including creoles and sign languages. African American Vernacular English[edit]African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also known as Ebonics, is a variety of English spoken by many African Americans, in both rural and urban areas. Not all African Americans speak AAVE and many European Americans do. Indeed, it is generally accepted that Southern American English is part of the same continuum as AAVE. There is considerable debate among non-linguists as to whether the word dialect is appropriate to describe it. However, there is general agreement among linguists and many African Americans that AAVE is part of a historical continuum between creoles such as Gullah and the language brought by English colonists. Some educators view AAVE as exerting a negative influence on the learning of Proper and Standard English, as numerous AAVE rules differ from the rules of Standard English. Other educators, however, propose that Standard English should be taught as a second dialect in areas where AAVE is a strong part of local tradition. Chinuk Wawa or Chinook Jargon[edit]Chinuk Wawa (or Chinook Jargon) is a Creole language of 700–800 words of French, English, Cree and other Native origins. It is the old trade language of the Pacific Northwest. It was used extensively among both European and Native peoples of the old Oregon Territory, even used in place of English at home for many families. It is estimated that around 250,000 people spoke it at its peak and it was last used extensively in Seattle. Gullah[edit]Gullah, an English-African creole language spoken on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, retains strong influences of West African languages. The language is sometimes referred to as Geechee. Hawaii Creole English[edit]Hawaiian Pidgin, more accurately known as Hawaii Creole English, is commonly used by locals and is considered an unofficial language of the state. This not to be confused with Hawaiian English which is standard American English with Hawaiian words. Louisiana Creole French[edit]Louisiana Creole French is a French Creole language spoken by the Louisiana Creole people of the state of Louisiana, close to Haitian Creole, Colonial French and Cajun French (language of Acadians deportated from New France after 1755 and the Grand Dérangement). French Creole is spoken by millions of people worldwide, mainly in the United States and Indian Ocean areas. Outer Banks languages[edit]In the islands of the Outer Banks off North Carolina, several unique English dialects have developed. This is evident on Harkers Island and Ocracoke Island. These dialects are sometimes referred to as high tider. Pennsylvania Dutch[edit]Pennsylvania Dutch is a language spoken mainly in Pennsylvania. It evolved from the German dialect brought over to America by the Pennsylvania Dutch people (the Amish) before 1800. Texas Silesian[edit]Texas Silesian (Silesian: teksasko gwara) is a language used by Texas Silesians in American settlements from 1852 to the present. Tangier Islander[edit]Another dialectal isolate is that spoken on Tangier Island, Virginia located in the Chesapeake bay. The dialect is partially derived from English as spoken by English pre-Revolutionary settlers, and partially from the present-day Middle-Atlantic American dialect of English. It also contains some words from the Cornish Language, the Celtic language spoken in Cornwall in southwest England.[citation needed] Chicano English[edit]A mixture of the Spanish and American English languages spoken by many Hispanics in urban areas and predominantly Latino communities. See also Chicano English and New Mexican Spanish for Mexican-American dialects of the Southwest. Sign languages[edit]See also: Native American sign languages This section requires expansion. (January 2007) American Sign Language[edit]American Sign Language (ASL) is the native language of a number of Deaf and hearing people in America. While some sources have stated that ASL is the second most frequently used non-English language in the US, following Spanish,[50] recent scholarship has pointed out that most of these estimates are based on numbers conflating deafness with ASL use, and that the last actual study of this (in 1972) seems to indicate an upper bound of 500,000 ASL speakers at the time.[14] Unlike Signed English, ASL is a natural language in its own right, not a manual representation of English.[51] Black American Sign Language[edit]Black American Sign Language (BASL) developed in the southeastern US, where separate residential schools were maintained for white and black deaf children. BASL shares much of the same vocabulary and grammatical structure as ASL and is generally considered one of its dialects.[50][51][52] Hawaii Pidgin Sign Language[edit]Hawaii Pidgin Sign Language is moribund. (It is named after Hawaii Pidgin English, but is not itself a pidgin nor related to Hawaii Pidgin. Recent work by linguists uses the name Hawaii Sign Language.[53]) Marthas Vineyard Sign Language[edit]Marthas Vineyard Sign Language is now extinct. Along with French Sign Language, it was one of two main contributors to American Sign Language. See also[edit]American English Language Spoken at Home (U.S. Census) List of Presidents of the United States by languages spoken Muhlenberg legend General: Bilingual education Culture of the United States Notes[edit]1.Jump up ^ Siebens, J & T Julian. Native North American Languages Spoken at Home in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2006–2010. United States Census Bureau. December 2011. 2.Jump up ^ Census Data Of USA. US Census Bureau. Retrieved 17 August 2012. 3.Jump up ^ web.archive.org/web/20120721162143/msz.gov.pl/files/docs/polonia/Raport_PPG.pdf 4.Jump up ^ Grimes 2000 5.Jump up ^ Language Use in the United States: 2007, U.S. Census Bureau, retrieved 2008-02-22 6.Jump up ^ U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 109th Congress – 2nd Session, United States Senate, retrieved 2008-02-22 7.Jump up ^ Senate Amendment 1151 to Senate Bill 1348, Immigration Act of 2007. project Vote Smart. Retrieved 2008-07-04. . 8.Jump up ^ Selected Social Characteristics in the United States: 2007. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-10-09. 9.Jump up ^ English Usage among Hispanics in the United States 10.Jump up ^ Ancestry: 2000, U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 11.Jump up ^ Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000 (PDF), U.S. Census Brueau, October 2003, retrieved 2008-02-22 12.Jump up ^ EAC Issues Glossaries of Election Terms in Five Asian Languages Translations to Make Voting More Accessible to a Majority of Asian American Citizens. Election Assistance Commission. 20 June 2008. 13.^ Jump up
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