Making English Official
Writing and Resisting Local Language Policies

An inside look at the movement to make English the only official language in local communities around the US.

Katherine S. Flowers (Author)

9781009278027, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 January 2024

226 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 1.8 cm, 0.496 kg

'This is the most interesting, informative, and useful work I have encountered on how language policies dealing with the status of English in the United States evolve at the community level. The book uses a variety of research methods to demonstrate how policies that concern language status are inseparable from economics, race, and identity politics. This book shows that both support for and opposition to English-only policies in the United States is complex and multi-dimensional and cannot simply be reduced to one-off explanations. This is a major contribution to the language policy and planning literature and will be of great interest to language activists.' Thomas Ricento, Professor Emeritus of Education, University of Calgary

In communities across the US, people wrestle with which languages to use, and who gets to decide. Despite more than 67 million US residents using a language other than English at home, over half of the states in the US have successfully passed English-only policies. Drawing on archives and interviews, this book tells the origin story of the English-only movement, as well as the stories of contemporary language policy campaigns in four Maryland county governments, giving a rare glimpse into what motivates the people who most directly shape language policy in the US. It demonstrates that English-only policies grow from more local levels, rather than from nationalist ideologies, where they are downplayed as harmless community initiatives, but result in monolingual approaches to language remaining increasingly pervasive. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

Introduction
1. The Origins of the English-Only Movement
2. Creating English-Only Policies: Ghostwriting, Templates, and Genre Choices
3. Emphasizing the Local in Language Policy: From Upscaling to Downscaling
4. Resisting and Rewriting: How People Undo English-Only Policies
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB]