Laurent Aubague originally pointed my attention to the
role of diglossia in language maintenance in Mexico.
In brief, he hypothesized that indigenous languages
had survived 4 centuries after European arrival
through a system of stable diglossic practices. The
indigenous language is an integral and irreplaceable
part of a set of practices that are highly valued.
Certainly, spiritual practices often fit the bill.
Notice, though, that a minimum level of material
continuity is also required. People who have been
ripped from their African origins and tossed onto
the plantations of the American shore had to adapt.
And did. American Indian children who were taken to
prison-like institutions and cut off from their elders
also had to adapt.
When I first started to pay attention to language
maintenance and shift, I noticed, well, I'll call
it an English punctuated by deep silences. It was
quite striking to me that my Mexican friends never
said a sentence that didn't have word plays, double
entendres, wicked little undercurrents, and my
Mexican-American ones seemed to keep their
communications down to the bare bones. Did the
transfer from Spanish to English somehow strip
away the layers? Bob Kaplan basically told me,
well, consider the creole continuum, the processes
involved. As recently as one generation ago, the
processes included disruption and trauma in this
American Southwest, and I think these not-so-hidden
injuries of class are recoverable in the language.
The situation has changed--now there's MTV en espanol
alongside the hostility, and kids are no longer tossed
into English isolation. All kinds of hybrid language
use is bubbling into view.
genevieve
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