Language Acculturation

Acculturation is the process of two cultures blending, generally seen when an immigrant or minority culture acclimates with the dominant culture. Not only is there a blending of the cultural traditions, there is also a blending of the languages. Newer generations may initially substitute in words from the dominant culture with an eventual progression to full substitution of only speaking the dominant language, as in the example of “Spanglish.” Initially, this is seen in a positive light where the family blends, fits in, and can advance in the dominant culture by predominately using the dominant language.

There are approximately 6,000 oral languages spoken in the world. The vast majority of those languages are spoken by communities of 10,000 speakers or less, representing approximately 5% of the world’s population. And only 300 of the 6,000 languages are spoken by the majority of the world, representing approximately 95% of the world’s population. Thus, one can see that the more than...