Official Language Designation

The United States is one of only a few countries in the world that has never adopted an official language or languages. In the late 1970s, a movement began in Miami, Florida, that soon spread across the country, calling for the formal adoption of English as the sole and exclusive language of the country. The first organized effort was a voter initiative later overturned in the courts. It consisted of a poorly crafted ban on the use of public funds in Dade County for any expense in a language other than English and any culture other than “the American culture.” The voter initiative passed handily, despite much opposition and warnings that it would not survive a court challenge. The ordinance passed, but later was successfully challenged in court.

In some cases, the focus for making English official and exclusive has been limited to an official language used for conducting the work of government agencies. Other versions of the demand for official English have been more encompassing: an order that the county, state, or federal government limit itself governmentally and socially to communicating in only one language in all spheres, including cultural and social institutions such as museums, libraries, and schools. Harsh measures are not common, but they are plausible in the political climate found after 2000. An English-only voter initiative adopted in Arizona in 2000 imposed a 5-year blacklisting on school administrators who willfully violate the English-only mandate of Proposition 203. Some advocates of official English have gone as far as to propose that radio and TV station licenses be limited to stations that broadcast only in English. The constitutionality of such a measure has yet to be well tested in the courts. In the case of Miami, when the first English-only measure was adopted, the results were tame and uninspired. The ordinance ended a variety of minor county services in other languages: bus schedules, health care brochures, and Latin signage on animal cages at the county zoo. The press editorialized that the new ordinance seemed to have no clear purpose other than to remind speakers of other languages that those languages were subservient to English.

The motivations that drive proponents of an official language designation are often muddled. Advocacy messages favoring official language legislation are often interlaced with anti-immigrant sentiments. It is not unusual to hear proponents of an official language simultaneously protest bilingual education, Spanish-language tests for obtaining driver licenses, and curtailment of immigration from the Spanish-speaking world. Some proponents have claimed that the English language is in danger of being overrun by Spanish. If English is not protected by granting it legal status, they claim, Spanish will someday displace English as the lingua franca of the nation. This position seems somewhat alarmist in that it ignores the fact that English is rapidly becoming the most commonly used language in the world and that no countermovement exists to supplant it with any other language.

In this entry, in broad terms, the question of adopting an official language is reviewed, specifically English in the case of the United States, and some of the allegations and positions on both sides of the issue. To further clarify the controversy and to examine in more detail the views of groups that oppose the concept and those who favor it, see Appendix E, Official English Legislation, Opposed. The issue is also discussed elsewhere in this encyclopedia.

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