R&L Logo R&L Logo
  • GENERAL
    • Browse by Subjects
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Chases's Calendar
  • ACADEMIC
    • Textbooks
    • Browse by Course
    • Instructor's Copies
    • Monographs & Research
    • Reference
  • PROFESSIONAL
    • Education
    • Intelligence & Security
    • Library Services
    • Business & Leadership
    • Museum Studies
    • Music
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Psychotherapy
  • FREUD SET
Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
share of facebook share on twitter
Add to GoodReads

Language Rights and the Law in the United States and Its Territories

Eduardo D. Faingold

This book analyzes the language policies that result from the promulgation of linguistic rights in the constitutions and statutes of the United States and its territories. The United States is a nation in which speakers of minority languages were conquered or incorporated and the languages spoken by them were suppressed or neglected. Since the 1960’s, the United States and its territories have seen a resurgence of claims for language recognition by minority groups representing a considerable population (Spanish in Puerto Rico and the Southwestern states, Chamorro in Guam, Chamorro and Carolinian in the Northern Mariana Islands, and Samoan in American Samoa). Also, the book studies recent developments regarding the status and use of English in the United States and some of its territories. For example, studying the effects of legal, social, educational, and political contexts on the Spanish language in the Southwestern states, and Pacific languages (Chamorro, Carolinian, and Samoan) in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, reveals that English continues to be used as the main language of communication in all these places despite continuous efforts to protect the rights of indigenous languages by their native populations. For these reasons, it is important to compare the linguistic laws promulgated in the constitutions and statutes of the United States and its territories, or the lack thereof, as a response to the demands for linguistic rights by sectors of the population who do not speak English as a first language or who may seek to maintain the use of one or more indigenous languages. The book offers insights to those in charge of drafting legislation in the area of language rights. It shows how the United States and its territories could recognize and accommodate linguistic diversity.

  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Lexington Books
Pages: 134 • Trim: 6¼ x 9
978-1-4985-7136-4 • Hardback • October 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)
978-1-4985-7138-8 • Paperback • July 2020 • $47.99 • (£37.00)
Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, Law / Constitutional, Political Science / Public Policy / Cultural Policy

Eduardo D. Faingold is professor of Spanish and linguistics at the University of Tulsa.

Introduction

Part 1. U.S. State, Territorial, and Freely Associate State Language Rights Legislation

1 Language Rights in the Fifty States of the United States

2 Language Rights in the Territories of the United States and the Freely Associated States

Part 2. U.S. Federal Language Rights Legislation

3 Language Rights in the U.S. Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964

4 Language Rights in the Workplace in the United States

Part 3. Language Rights in the Southwest of the United States

5 Language Rights in the Southwest of the United States and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

6 Language Rights and Devolution in the Southwest of the United States

Part 4. Language Rights in the Pacific Island Territories of the United States

7 Language Rights in the United States Island Territory of Guam

8 Language Rights in the United States Island Territory of the Northern Mariana Islands

9 Summary, Conclusion, and Directions for Future Research

This is a well-researched book with balanced shifts between detached analyses and normative arguments. Its clear prose and fine-tuned policy aims make it an easy read and an important intervention, and one can only hope that Faingold has the ears of policy makers.


— Pacific Affairs


The title and back cover recommendations will certainly entice many who may be interested in this very important topic, and most readers new to this subject will not be disappointed. Overall, for new students, this is a gathering of facts and analyses available elsewhere into one very convenient volume.


— Language Policy


Language Rights and the Law in the United States is a great publication on languages issues in the US about legal point of view. Dr. Faingold analyses scientifically and in a very exhaustive way the hands-off and the hands-on, the explicit and implicit, the official and non-official, the native and no-native different language legislations in the US. It is a remarkable publication written by a linguist who thinks like a lawyer.


— Joseph-G. Turi, President and Secretary-General of the International Academy of Linguistic Law


The issues surrounding language rights, and the violations of language rights, have in recent years gained increasing attention in settings around the world. Language rights have also been the focus of considerable scholarly work by applied linguists and others interested in matters of language, language policy, language in education, and language planning. In the United States, the incredible complexity of questions of language rights has rarely been clearly recognized, let alone cogently analyzed. In Language Rights and the Law in the United States and its Territories, Eduardo Faingold provides an invaluable critical examination of the legal and constitutional issues surrounding language rights in the many contexts that exist in the United States: in the constitutions of the different states, in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in the historical experiences of the US Southwest, and in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. This volume provides a unique treatment of an important and timely topic, and will be of interest and value to a wide variety of readers, including not only linguists, but also those with backgrounds in such diverse disciplines as education, history, international relations, law, political science, and many other areas in the social sciences.
— Timothy Reagan, University of Maine


A painstakingly thorough review of cases illustrating the interplay between de facto and de jure policymaking in the United States and how these afford or deny minority speakers’ language rights. Highly unique, this book accessibly navigates detailed study of history, linguistics, legislation, and litigation in praiseworthy pursuit of providing for policymakers, politicians, and other decision-makers specific guidance on how to leverage the law for the promotion of minority language rights.
— Sarah C. K. Moore, Center for Applied Linguistics


The book, the culmination of years of study of US language policies by a leading expert in language policy, provides a comprehensive overview of language policies, and policies bearing on language, in the United States and US territories. The book will serve as an important source of information for students of language policy and for policymakers everywhere.
— Humphrey Tonkin, University of Hartford


Language Rights and the Law in the United States and Its Territories

Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
Summary
Summary
  • This book analyzes the language policies that result from the promulgation of linguistic rights in the constitutions and statutes of the United States and its territories. The United States is a nation in which speakers of minority languages were conquered or incorporated and the languages spoken by them were suppressed or neglected. Since the 1960’s, the United States and its territories have seen a resurgence of claims for language recognition by minority groups representing a considerable population (Spanish in Puerto Rico and the Southwestern states, Chamorro in Guam, Chamorro and Carolinian in the Northern Mariana Islands, and Samoan in American Samoa). Also, the book studies recent developments regarding the status and use of English in the United States and some of its territories. For example, studying the effects of legal, social, educational, and political contexts on the Spanish language in the Southwestern states, and Pacific languages (Chamorro, Carolinian, and Samoan) in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, reveals that English continues to be used as the main language of communication in all these places despite continuous efforts to protect the rights of indigenous languages by their native populations. For these reasons, it is important to compare the linguistic laws promulgated in the constitutions and statutes of the United States and its territories, or the lack thereof, as a response to the demands for linguistic rights by sectors of the population who do not speak English as a first language or who may seek to maintain the use of one or more indigenous languages. The book offers insights to those in charge of drafting legislation in the area of language rights. It shows how the United States and its territories could recognize and accommodate linguistic diversity.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 134 • Trim: 6¼ x 9
    978-1-4985-7136-4 • Hardback • October 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)
    978-1-4985-7138-8 • Paperback • July 2020 • $47.99 • (£37.00)
    Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, Law / Constitutional, Political Science / Public Policy / Cultural Policy
Author
Author
  • Eduardo D. Faingold is professor of Spanish and linguistics at the University of Tulsa.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Introduction

    Part 1. U.S. State, Territorial, and Freely Associate State Language Rights Legislation

    1 Language Rights in the Fifty States of the United States

    2 Language Rights in the Territories of the United States and the Freely Associated States

    Part 2. U.S. Federal Language Rights Legislation

    3 Language Rights in the U.S. Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964

    4 Language Rights in the Workplace in the United States

    Part 3. Language Rights in the Southwest of the United States

    5 Language Rights in the Southwest of the United States and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

    6 Language Rights and Devolution in the Southwest of the United States

    Part 4. Language Rights in the Pacific Island Territories of the United States

    7 Language Rights in the United States Island Territory of Guam

    8 Language Rights in the United States Island Territory of the Northern Mariana Islands

    9 Summary, Conclusion, and Directions for Future Research

Reviews
Reviews
  • This is a well-researched book with balanced shifts between detached analyses and normative arguments. Its clear prose and fine-tuned policy aims make it an easy read and an important intervention, and one can only hope that Faingold has the ears of policy makers.


    — Pacific Affairs


    The title and back cover recommendations will certainly entice many who may be interested in this very important topic, and most readers new to this subject will not be disappointed. Overall, for new students, this is a gathering of facts and analyses available elsewhere into one very convenient volume.


    — Language Policy


    Language Rights and the Law in the United States is a great publication on languages issues in the US about legal point of view. Dr. Faingold analyses scientifically and in a very exhaustive way the hands-off and the hands-on, the explicit and implicit, the official and non-official, the native and no-native different language legislations in the US. It is a remarkable publication written by a linguist who thinks like a lawyer.


    — Joseph-G. Turi, President and Secretary-General of the International Academy of Linguistic Law


    The issues surrounding language rights, and the violations of language rights, have in recent years gained increasing attention in settings around the world. Language rights have also been the focus of considerable scholarly work by applied linguists and others interested in matters of language, language policy, language in education, and language planning. In the United States, the incredible complexity of questions of language rights has rarely been clearly recognized, let alone cogently analyzed. In Language Rights and the Law in the United States and its Territories, Eduardo Faingold provides an invaluable critical examination of the legal and constitutional issues surrounding language rights in the many contexts that exist in the United States: in the constitutions of the different states, in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in the historical experiences of the US Southwest, and in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. This volume provides a unique treatment of an important and timely topic, and will be of interest and value to a wide variety of readers, including not only linguists, but also those with backgrounds in such diverse disciplines as education, history, international relations, law, political science, and many other areas in the social sciences.
    — Timothy Reagan, University of Maine


    A painstakingly thorough review of cases illustrating the interplay between de facto and de jure policymaking in the United States and how these afford or deny minority speakers’ language rights. Highly unique, this book accessibly navigates detailed study of history, linguistics, legislation, and litigation in praiseworthy pursuit of providing for policymakers, politicians, and other decision-makers specific guidance on how to leverage the law for the promotion of minority language rights.
    — Sarah C. K. Moore, Center for Applied Linguistics


    The book, the culmination of years of study of US language policies by a leading expert in language policy, provides a comprehensive overview of language policies, and policies bearing on language, in the United States and US territories. The book will serve as an important source of information for students of language policy and for policymakers everywhere.
    — Humphrey Tonkin, University of Hartford


ALSO AVAILABLE

  • Cover image for the book The Language of Harassment: Pragmatic Perspectives on Language as Evidence
  • Cover image for the book Amazonian Quichua Language and Life: Introduction to Grammar, Ecology, and Discourse from Pastaza and Upper Napo, Ecuador
  • Cover image for the book Food, Language, and Society: Communication in Japanese Foodways
  • Cover image for the book Telling Animals: Animacies in Dene Narratives
  • Cover image for the book Redefining the Hypernym Mensch:in in German: Gender, Sexuality, and Personhood
  • Cover image for the book Mixed Emotions and Indigenous Language Maintenance in Post-Disaster Reconstruction Communities
  • Cover image for the book Bridging the Humor Barrier: Humor Competency Training in English Language Teaching
  • Cover image for the book Education and Language in the Philippines
  • Cover image for the book The Instruction and Acquisition of the BA Construction by Students of Chinese as a Foreign Language
  • Cover image for the book Personal Names, Hitler, and the Holocaust: A Socio-Onomastic Study of Genocide and Nazi Germany
  • Cover image for the book French Immersion Ideologies in Canada
  • Cover image for the book Linguistic Landscaping and the Pacific Region: Colonization, Indigenous Identities, and Critical Discourse Theory
  • Cover image for the book Gentrification and Bilingual Education: A Texas TWBE School across Seven Years
  • Cover image for the book The Political Interview: Broadcast Talk in the Interactional Combat Zone
  • Cover image for the book Complaining as a Sociocultural Activity: Examining How and Why in Korean Interaction
  • Cover image for the book Exploring Multilingual Hawai'i: Language Use and Language Ideologies in a Diverse Society
  • Cover image for the book African Multilingualisms: Rural Linguistic and Cultural Diversity
  • Cover image for the book Language, Literacy, and Health: Discourse in Brazil’s National Health System
  • Cover image for the book Constructing Feminine to Mean: Gender, Number, Numeral, and Quantifier Extensions in Arabic
  • Cover image for the book Urban Multilingualism in East-Central Europe: The Polish Dialect of Late-Habsburg Lviv
  • Cover image for the book Multimodalities and Chinese Students’ L2 Practices: Positioning, Agency, and Community
  • Cover image for the book Tool Intelligence as an Explanation of Cross-Linguistic Variation and Family Resemblance: An Evolutionary and Typological Investigation
  • Cover image for the book Intensification in English and Spanish Communication
  • Cover image for the book Language Creativity: A Semiotic Perspective
  • Cover image for the book Metaphor from the Ground Up: Understanding Figurative Language in Context
  • Cover image for the book Language Policy and Identity in Mauritania: Multilingual and Multicultural Tensions
  • Cover image for the book Meeting Foreignness: Foreign Languages and Foreign Language Education as Critical and Intercultural Experiences
  • Cover image for the book International Students in Higher Education: Language, Identity, and Experience from a Holistic Perspective
  • Cover image for the book Kenyan English: Domains of Use, Forms, and Users' Attitudes
  • Cover image for the book Narratives of Immigration and Language Loss: Lessons from the German American Midwest
  • Cover image for the book Interjections, Translation, and Translanguaging: Cross-Cultural and Multimodal Perspectives
  • Cover image for the book Transcultural Flows of English and Education in Asian Contexts
  • Cover image for the book Bilingual and Multicultural Perspectives on Poetry, Music, and Narrative: The Science of Art
  • Cover image for the book The Evolution of the Slavic Dual: A Biolinguistic Perspective
  • Cover image for the book Second-Generation South Asian Britons: Multilingualism, Heritage Languages, and Diasporic Identity
  • Cover image for the book The Cultural Semantics of Address Practices: A Contrastive Study between English and Italian
  • Cover image for the book The Language of Harassment: Pragmatic Perspectives on Language as Evidence
  • Cover image for the book Amazonian Quichua Language and Life: Introduction to Grammar, Ecology, and Discourse from Pastaza and Upper Napo, Ecuador
  • Cover image for the book Food, Language, and Society: Communication in Japanese Foodways
  • Cover image for the book Telling Animals: Animacies in Dene Narratives
  • Cover image for the book Redefining the Hypernym Mensch:in in German: Gender, Sexuality, and Personhood
  • Cover image for the book Mixed Emotions and Indigenous Language Maintenance in Post-Disaster Reconstruction Communities
  • Cover image for the book Bridging the Humor Barrier: Humor Competency Training in English Language Teaching
  • Cover image for the book Education and Language in the Philippines
  • Cover image for the book The Instruction and Acquisition of the BA Construction by Students of Chinese as a Foreign Language
  • Cover image for the book Personal Names, Hitler, and the Holocaust: A Socio-Onomastic Study of Genocide and Nazi Germany
  • Cover image for the book French Immersion Ideologies in Canada
  • Cover image for the book Linguistic Landscaping and the Pacific Region: Colonization, Indigenous Identities, and Critical Discourse Theory
  • Cover image for the book Gentrification and Bilingual Education: A Texas TWBE School across Seven Years
  • Cover image for the book The Political Interview: Broadcast Talk in the Interactional Combat Zone
  • Cover image for the book Complaining as a Sociocultural Activity: Examining How and Why in Korean Interaction
  • Cover image for the book Exploring Multilingual Hawai'i: Language Use and Language Ideologies in a Diverse Society
  • Cover image for the book African Multilingualisms: Rural Linguistic and Cultural Diversity
  • Cover image for the book Language, Literacy, and Health: Discourse in Brazil’s National Health System
  • Cover image for the book Constructing Feminine to Mean: Gender, Number, Numeral, and Quantifier Extensions in Arabic
  • Cover image for the book Urban Multilingualism in East-Central Europe: The Polish Dialect of Late-Habsburg Lviv
  • Cover image for the book Multimodalities and Chinese Students’ L2 Practices: Positioning, Agency, and Community
  • Cover image for the book Tool Intelligence as an Explanation of Cross-Linguistic Variation and Family Resemblance: An Evolutionary and Typological Investigation
  • Cover image for the book Intensification in English and Spanish Communication
  • Cover image for the book Language Creativity: A Semiotic Perspective
  • Cover image for the book Metaphor from the Ground Up: Understanding Figurative Language in Context
  • Cover image for the book Language Policy and Identity in Mauritania: Multilingual and Multicultural Tensions
  • Cover image for the book Meeting Foreignness: Foreign Languages and Foreign Language Education as Critical and Intercultural Experiences
  • Cover image for the book International Students in Higher Education: Language, Identity, and Experience from a Holistic Perspective
  • Cover image for the book Kenyan English: Domains of Use, Forms, and Users' Attitudes
  • Cover image for the book Narratives of Immigration and Language Loss: Lessons from the German American Midwest
  • Cover image for the book Interjections, Translation, and Translanguaging: Cross-Cultural and Multimodal Perspectives
  • Cover image for the book Transcultural Flows of English and Education in Asian Contexts
  • Cover image for the book Bilingual and Multicultural Perspectives on Poetry, Music, and Narrative: The Science of Art
  • Cover image for the book The Evolution of the Slavic Dual: A Biolinguistic Perspective
  • Cover image for the book Second-Generation South Asian Britons: Multilingualism, Heritage Languages, and Diasporic Identity
  • Cover image for the book The Cultural Semantics of Address Practices: A Contrastive Study between English and Italian
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linked in icon NEWSLETTERS
ABOUT US
  • Mission Statement
  • Employment
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Statement
CONTACT
  • Company Directory
  • Publicity and Media Queries
  • Rights and Permissions
  • Textbook Resource Center
AUTHOR RESOURCES
  • Royalty Contact
  • Production Guidelines
  • Manuscript Submissions
ORDERING INFORMATION
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • National Book Network
  • Ingram Publisher Services UK
  • Special Sales
  • International Sales
  • eBook Partners
  • Digital Catalogs
IMPRINTS
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • Lexington Books
  • Hamilton Books
  • Applause Books
  • Amadeus Press
  • Backbeat Books
  • Bernan
  • Hal Leonard Books
  • Limelight Editions
  • Co-Publishing Partners
  • Globe Pequot
  • Down East Books
  • Falcon Guides
  • Gooseberry Patch
  • Lyons Press
  • Muddy Boots
  • Pineapple Press
  • TwoDot Books
  • Stackpole Books
PARTNERS
  • American Alliance of Museums
  • American Association for State and Local History
  • Brookings Institution Press
  • Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  • Fortress Press
  • The Foundation for Critical Thinking
  • Lehigh University Press
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  • Other Partners...