Resumen de The Hispanophobia of the Official English movement in the US

Ana Celia Zentella

• The greatest efforts ever made to restrict language in the US since the post-WWIperiod have been taking place since 1980. Language policy in three areas — the language of government, the language of employment, and the language of the schools — affect the human rights of 32 million members of language-minority families, but they are targeted most specifically at the group that represents the majority: Spanish Speakers. In response, defense of Spanish has served to unite diverse groups of Latinos despite dijferences in migration history, socioeconomic profiles, andpolitical affiliations. Of particular interest is the relationship between the positions that a group takes on the issue ofmaking English the official language of the US and on the issue of eliminating the Services that might be affected by English-only legislation. This paper reports on the views of more than 300 Latinos in New York City and compares them with those of EuroAmericans, African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and others.