Abstract

The present qualitative study investigated Spanish language maintenance among a familial/friend group of ten Ecuadorians that live in Northern California. The participants completed a survey and participated in an interview from which I retrieved information about the importance of Spanish and English, their self-reported confidence in Spanish and English, language attitudes, language use in private/familial contexts, and language use in public/social contexts. Previous studies regarding language maintenance and language shift in California were primarily focused on the Mexican-American population. California has the fourth largest population of Ecuadorians in the United States, yet there are no maintenance and shift studies for Ecuadorians in California. The collectivism and communal style of living that permeate Ecuadorian culture make the current study particularly unique and adds to past research on factors that affect maintenance and shift. Findings indicate that many of the members of this community are part of a dense network. This appears to encourage positive language attitudes. As a result, Spanish is used in many public and private contexts, which may help Spanish to be maintained by future generations. However, the current study also sheds light on the level of impact that spousal language may have regarding maintenance or shift for the future generation. The findings show that households with an English monolingual parent show a shift of importance and emotional attachment from Spanish to English. Thus, future generations are likely to see a shift to English if they are in a household with an English monolingual mother but may have an identity associated with their heritage because of the dense network to which they belong. However, future generations in households with two parents who speak Spanish are likely to maintain Spanish due to the network density and overall language attitudes.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Spanish and Portuguese

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/