Op Ed: American Fabulously Mongrel Language is Model for Immigration Reform

[LiberalElite]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/21/america-language-model-immigration-reform

I must admit that I indulge in a private chuckle during the inevitable "English only" point of any immigration debate. It seems like almost every modern attempt at comprehensive immigration reform carries with it some caveat or stricture regarding the place of English and English-language proficiency.

Make no mistake: my laughter is not over learning English, but rather, the way that English is portrayed in these discussions. I'm particularly prone to a guffaw when the rhetoric soars to the lofty heights of "preserving and enhancing the role of the English language" in the US, as one amendment to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 put it.

My own view of English is informed by years in the trenches, writing dictionaries and taking the worm's-eye view of our language – and from down here, I can safely say that, contrary to the panicked squawking of linguistic doomsayers, English is not in need of any conservation or preservation. It is, in fact, flourishing. This is due, in part, to all the foreign words and phrases that English has borrowed and stolen over the centuries – including a substantial number of words brought by immigrants.