Sociolinguistic Characteristics of the Population of the United States

Abstract

Any study of linguistic demography must devote considerable attention to immigration. Typically immigrants are the bearers of languages different from the language(s) of the host country, and if a country is either an important recipient or discharger of immigrants, the movement of migrants modifies the language compositions of the host and the home countries, raises questions of national identity, linguistic diversity, and acculturation/integration for the host country, and poses questions regarding the impact of the immigration on the various social, economic, and political institutions of the host country. For some countries immigration is the leading factor influencing changes in the composition and the structure of their national language. This chapter is concerned with the historical trends in immigration to the United States and the effect of such immigration on the linguistic composition of its population.

Appendixes

Appendix A: History of Immigration to the United States

I begin this brief history of immigration to the United States with a figure that reflects the numerical consequences of immigration to the United States over most of the country’s history. It is a bar chart showing the numbers of foreign-born persons and their percentage of the total population by decades from 1850 to 2010 (Fig. 7.6). We note immediately the bimodal shape of the curves, with the percentage curve peaking in 1890–2010 after modest increases, then going into a freefall to 1970, when it abruptly changes direction and rises steeply to 2010. The absolute numbers of foreign-born persons have a roughly parallel trend, showing a peak in 1930, a trough in 1970, and a second peak in 2010. The numbers and percentage continued to rise to 2015, so that in the 45-year period from 1970 to 2015, the percentage showed a “whopping” 9 percentage-point increase from 4.7% to 13.7%, and the foreign-born numbers more than quadrupled from 10 million to 44 million.

Fig. 7.6

Foreign-born population and percentage of total population, for the United States: 1850 to 2010

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Population, 1850 to 2000, and the American Community survey 2010

United States had a generally open-door policy on immigration until the second quarter of the twentieth century. At first, the immigrants were mostly the colonizers of the territories that became the United States, mainly English and Scotch-Irish. Then later came French, Spanish, and some Dutch and German colonists. Many of the early colonists brought along African slaves. With the start of the Civil War the slave trade dried up. By the middle of the nineteenth century, thousands of Irish came to escape the potato famine in 1845 in Ireland and thousands of oppressed and dispossessed Germans came after the uprisings and upheavals in 1848 in Europe. The limited restrictive legislation of 1882 hardly affected the influx of Europeans, so the immigration flow from Europe continued unabated. In the last decades of the nineteenth century thousands of Russian Jews came as a result of the government-inspired pogroms. The newcomers mainly settled in the ports of entry on the east coast, especially New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, but they also migrated west, building railroads and cattle towns and populating other small cities. This flow culminated in the massive immigration of the first decade of the twentieth century, when nearly nine million immigrants, mostly from eastern and southern Europe entered the United States. In the single year, 1907, over a million arrived. Among them were Greeks. Italians, Jews from Russia and the many subject states of the Russian Empire, Hungarian and Romanian Jews, Irish, Poles, and Bulgarians.

The entry of so many foreigners who spoke strange languages give rise to strong public beliefs in nativism and Americanization, and led to the passage of sharply restrictive immigration laws in the early 1920s. Even during the years of restricted immigration, the immigration flow continued unabated, however, albeit at a much reduced level. The flow dried up during the Depression decade of the 1930s, when there was a net emigration in some years, and the years of World War II, 1940–1945. The influx resumed during the post-war years. Canada was a leading source of immigrants during the 1960s, but by the 1970s Mexico became the leading source, followed by the Philippines and Korea. The United Kingdom and Germany, which used to rank among the top sources of immigrants, were displaced by countries in Asia and Latin America in the 1970s. During these years there were many refugees from Communism. The largest migration of refugees from Communism came, not from the Soviet Union, but from Cuba. First, just after the Cuban revolution in 1959, the relatively affluent Cubans came, then “ordinary” citizens, and finally the poor, some by way of Spain. The Cubans created a thriving transplanted “little Cuba” in central Miami and are now the political and economic powerhouse in the city.

As a result of changes in federal immigration policy and legislation in the 1950s and 1960s, the volume of immigration to the United States has increased greatly in recent decades and the countries of origin have changed. Now the immigrants were coming from the so-called Third World—Asia, Latin America , and Africa (Fig. 7.7). Because of the preference given to family reunification, immigrants could bring many of their relatives into the country. This has been a major factor in the great expansion in the volume of immigration. Another has been the tremendous increase in the number of illegal immigrants —estimated at about 12 million in 2011. Most of them came from Mexico and Central America and entered as illegal border crossers. Most illegal immigrants from overseas countries are visa overstayers and a small number entered with fake or forged passports.

Fig. 7.7

U.S. immigrants by world region of birth, 1960s to 2000s

Note: The total for 1990 to 1999 includes 2.2 million immigrants who were legalized in 1987 and 1988 and granted immigrant status in the early 1990s. The sum of the percentages may exceed 100 because of rounding

Source: Immigration and Naturalization Service, Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1970 to 2010, selected years

During the last quarter of the last century, legal immigrants arrived in the United States at a steady pace, numbering about 400,000 per year. Net migration still made up only about one fifth of the national population increase because, in spite of declining birth rates, the number of births was still high. Although the new immigration policy was more evenhanded toward all countries (except that it favored Latin America ), it does favor professional workers and the “middle classes.” Ellis Island was no longer the grand point of entry and most legal newcomers arrived by jet airplane on both the East and West coasts.

Since the 1960s the share of immigrants from Europe has diminished sharply while the share of immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Latin America has exploded. In 2015 40% of the legal immigrants came from Asia, 42% came from the Americas, 10% from Africa, and 8% from Europe (U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 2016). The Asian/African/Latin American “peaceful invasion” of the last few decades includes many refugees from the civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. Many Arabs figure among these refugees. They have changed the religious and ethnolinguistic landscape in the United States by adding a major additional religion and language to those already present. Among other religious and ethnolinguistic groups who came are the Koreans and Asiatic Indians . Although many refugees and asylum-seekers are coming to the United States, the primary reason for immigration to the country, including illegal immigration, has been economic, that is, the search for an improved life, including the quest for higher wages and more amenities.

In the several decades leading up to 2015, the United States was experiencing another boom in immigration, similar in numbers to the great immigration at the early part of the last century. This boom was fueled greatly by the large numbers of relatives of U.S. citizens, legal residents, and illegal entrants. In fact, the numbers of legal immigrants admitted were close to those of the earlier period. About 1.1 million legal immigrants were admitted in 2015. Since the great recession beginning in 2008, the volume of immigration has diminished somewhat from some areas and increased from others. Although there was a shortage of jobs in the United States, the flow was bolstered by the family reunification preference rule, civil conflict with violence in some countries bringing in more refugees, and the greater economic stress in other countries than the United States. All three conditions apply in some degree to various countries in Sub-Saharan Africa , the Middle East , and Latin America .

Appendix B: History of U.S. Immigration Legislation

According to the U, S, Constitution, immigration into the United States is controlled by federal legislation, supplemented by federal administrative law and Presidential executive orders , that is, by the U.S. Congress and the federal executive branch. For nearly the first century of its history United States had no immigration policy , passed few immigration laws, and showed an official disregard for the language characteristics of the population. As a result, during the middle of the nineteenth century, many thousands of Irish and Germans came for reasons of economic improvement, escape from war, and political oppression. One of the first laws on immigration was passed in 1882; based on the principle of selectivity, it barred “lunatics,” convicts, and Chinese laborers. Since these were minimal exclusions, the tide of immigration continued in an expanding, industrializing America with the arrival of masses of Italians, Greeks, Russians Jews, Poles, and other European nationals, mainly from southern and eastern Europe . The principle of selectivity was expanded greatly in subsequent legislation. A new immigration law in 1921 introduced the principle of national origins quotas. The quotas were based on the national origins of the U. S. population in 1890. This basis of the quotas favored immigration from northern and western Europe. The Immigration Act of 1924 retained and extended the national origins provisions of the 1921 law. The restrictive quotas remained in place through the 1930s and early 1940s, when the Germans were overrunning Europe and thousands vainly sought sanctuary in the United States . In 1948, the Congress passed special legislation, allowing the admission of 400,000 displaced persons. This legislation was extended in 1953 and paved the way for the admission of Hungarian refugees in 1956 and Cuban refugees in 1959. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 continued the national origins quota features of prior legislation.

More recent immigration law relating to the entry of lawfully admitted residents has been guided by different principles than the selectivity principle: The diversity of new admissions on the basis of country of origin; the protection of refugees; the admission of immigrants with needed skills; and family reunification. These principles were implemented with the enactment of The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. It replaced the national origins quota system of the earlier immigration laws that favored immigrants from northern and western Europe by an immigration law that favored more national diversity, family members, and needed skills. Immigration was limited to 170,000 from the Eastern Hemisphere, with no more than 20,000 from any one country, and to 120,000 from the Western hemisphere, for an annual total of 290,000.

As a result of the elimination of restrictions on the admission of relatives of U.S. citizens (parents, spouses, and unmarried children) and of non-Europeans, the composition of the migrant flow changed radically. Specifically, it encouraged the reunification of parents with their adult resident children and of spouses with their husbands or wives, and opened the doors for large numbers of immigrants from India , China , and the rest of Asia, as well as from Africa and Latin America . The new total, including the relatives, who are exempt from all quotas, was about 400,000. Under the quota, preference is given to professionals and members of occupations in short supply in the United States. The Refugee Act of 1980 established the Federal Refugee Program, a relatively formal program for refugee admissions and settlement, compared to the previous practice of passing ad hoc legislation for each new batch of refugees.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 regularized the status of a few million illegal aliens who had resided continuously in the United States from before January 1, 1982. One of the conditions of acquiring legal status was a demonstration of English literacy. IRCA also made it a crime to hire illegal aliens. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 barred most legal aliens who arrived after the passage of the act from most means-tested programs for 5 years after arrival. It also removed the eligibility of most legal aliens for Supplementary Security Income and Food Stamps, and allowed states to limit immigrants’ access to Medicaid. (See Wilmoth 2004.) The law has since been modified to restore these benefits to older and disabled immigrants. The Obama administration has increased deportations and enforcement operations; about 1.2 million deportations were carried out during 2009–2011. Meanwhile business continues to hire illegal immigrants because of lax enforcement of IRCA, as it has done since the law’s passage.

In 2010 the state of Arizona passed SB-1070, which is based on the principle of attrition of the illegal resident population through active state enforcement of federal laws on illegal residence. It gives law enforcement officials the power to stop anyone whom they suspect of being illegal. The U. S. Supreme Court ruled against Arizona’s immigration law in June 2012. In 2011 Alabama passed immigration law HB 56. It requires public schools to collect information on the immigration status of new students and their parents and makes it a felony to transport, hire, or house an illegal immigrant. The law was partially invalidated in 2012 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The U.S. Congress voted down the “Dream Act,” an immigration bill that would provide a path to citizenship for youth who had been brought to the United States before age 16 by parents who entered illegally and who had continually resided in the United States for 5 years, provided the minors had remained in school, had finished high school or had served in the military forces of the United States, and had no criminal record. President Obama issued an Executive order in June 2012 halting deportation of eligible youth and granting them a 2-year work permit with legal residence. The requirements were:

Were brought to the United States under age 16 by illegally resident parents.

Are now under 30 years of age.

Had resided continuously in the United States for the last 5 years.

Have never been convicted of a felony.

Were not a threat to national security.

As mandated by the U.S. Constitution, all persons born in the United States are citizens, except those born to foreign diplomatic personnel. If born abroad to aliens, current requirements for becoming a citizen by naturalization, in general, are:

• 1. Family basis: Spouse , child, parent, or sibling of a citizen; spouses and unmarried children of green card holders.

or

• 2. Basis in specialized work: Requested by an employer; preference is given to persons with crucial skills, such as specialized medical professionals, executives of multinational companies, and persons with advanced degrees.

For others, after securing a green card signifying government approval for permanent resident status:

• 1. To reside continuously in the United States for 5 years (or 3 years for spouses of citizens)

• 2. Have no criminal convictions and be of good moral character.

• 3. Pay the fee.

• 4. Pass a civics test (with some exceptions).

• 5. Be able to speak, read, write, and understand English (with some exceptions)

• 6. Get in line, under the quota restrictions for each country

or

Secure a temporary work visa, such as H1-B.

If illegal, married to a U.S. citizen , return to the home country and apply on the basis of family or employment; if on record as illegal, wait 10 years first.

Appendix C: Formulas for Calculating Geographic Separation Measures

• 1. Evenness: The dissimilarity index (ID)

$$ \mathrm{D}=.{5}^{\mathrm{n}}{\Sigma}_{\mathrm{i}=1}\vert {\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}/\mathrm{X}-{\mathrm{y}}_{\mathrm{i}}/\mathrm{Y}\vert $$

where n is the number of census tracts in the city or metropolitan area , x is the population size of the racial/ethnic group of interest in tract i, X is the population size of the racial/ethnic group in the city or metropolitan area , y _i is the population size of the reference racial/ethnic group in the census tract (e.g., all racial/ethnic groups), and Y is the population size of the reference group in the city or metropolitan area . The formula calculates one half of the sum (disregarding signs) of the differences between the census tract’s share of the racial/ethnic group in the city or metropolitan area and the census tract’s share of the reference group in the city or metropolitan area . The index of dissimilarity ranges from 0 (perfect evenness of distribution) to 1 (complete separation).

• 2. Exposure

  • (a) The interaction index (_xP_y)

$$ {}_{\mathrm{x}}{\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{y}}{=}^{\mathrm{n}}{\Sigma}_{\mathrm{i}=1}\ {\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}/{\mathrm{X}}^{\ast }\ {\mathrm{y}}_{\mathrm{i}}/{\mathrm{t}}_{\mathrm{i}} $$

where t_i represents the total population in the ith census tract. This measure varies from 0 to 1.

• (b) The isolation index (_xP_x)

$$ {}_{\mathrm{x}}{\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{x}}{=}^{\mathrm{n}}{\Sigma}_{\mathrm{i}=1}\ {\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}/{\mathrm{X}}^{\ast}\kern0.5em {\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}/{\mathrm{t}}_{\mathrm{i}} $$

• 3. Concentration (delta)

$$ \mathrm{Delta}=.{5}^{\mathrm{n}}{\Sigma}_{\mathrm{i}=1}{\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}/\mathrm{X}-{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{i}}/\mathrm{A} $$

where a_i equals the land area of unit i and A is the land area of the total metropolitan area .