En fin...

I would like to elaborate further on the article by Bills and Vigil 1999. We have repeatedly read articles on language attitudes and language shifts. In the end, what is the conclusion? Spanish has fought to be maintained, yet we do not hear of other languages having this issue, or are we just not listening? For example, native U.S. languages exist but due to barriers that were built by the natives in order to protect and conserve the culture, prohibit us from having access or learning it. If others were permitted to learn the native language, how would this have changed or affected language variety in New Mexico? Would there have been more integration of languages? Would we be learning their language in schools? If no perseverance of maintaining Spanish in the U.S. was needed and the language was finally accepted and considered just as prestigious as English, would this fight of maintenance continue? Do you think it will ever be considered just as prestigious? Do you think language attitudes towards Spanish would change? We see the continuous influence of ‘Mexican Spanish’ and English in the US, what do you think will happen in 20 or 50 years? Furthermore, for the reason that the U.S. is home to more than one language and culture, I do not believe that one “mother tongue” exists. In my opinion, there is no ‘mother tongue’ expect when taken literally. We all speak the language our ‘mothers’ raised us with, including of course the influence of language contact in relation to where you were raised, therefore, in my opinion there is no official ‘mother tongue’. At last, when will there be in end to people having to fight for ‘their mother tongue’?