Читать книгу The Mysteries of Bilingualism. Unresolved Issues онлайн

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The percentage of bilinguals is definitely on the rise. Researcher Jeffrey Bloem at the University of Minnesota helped me extract the appropriate numbers from the census and ACS databases. For each year, we tabulated those who spoke a language other than English, as well as English to varying degrees, and we worked out a percentage based on the total population. The results are plotted in Figure 2.1.

ssss1 The percentage of bilinguals, and of inhabitants who know no English, since 1980 in the United States.

As can be seen in the graph (dark grey function), there is a steady increase of the percentage of bilinguals between 1980 and 2018. Back in 1980, the percentage of bilinguals was 10.68% whereas in 2018, the last ACS survey for which we have data, it was 20.55%. Thus the percentage has practically doubled in 38 years. One will want to study the reasons for this constant rise since 1980. There is, of course, the arrival of new immigrants who learn English and hence become bilingual. Some maintain their languages from generation to generation and hence bilingualism continues. Other reasons may be the (re)learning of some older immigration languages, as well as of Native American languages, and of American Sign language. To these should be added the effort that is being made to allow children and adolescents to acquire and use a second language in the home, as well as more natural language learning opportunities in some schools with immersion and dual language programs.