Latin American Languages and Societies Commons^™

Power, Policy, Profit: The Spanish Language In The United States, Eva C. Vazquez

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Over the past several decades, the Spanish language has been considered secondary to English, specifically in the United States. However, this paper argues that Spanish is one of the primary languages in the country because it is the second most spoken language, despite efforts to maintain a monolingual nation. Due to the impact of capitalism, if one’s first language is not English, they are separated and viewed as inferior in society. After providing background on the history of Spanish in the United States, this paper explores the impact of power, Americanization, education and cheap work on the Spanish language with …