American English, Pt 2

[roydo]

If this has been covered in the other thread, then oops.

Can any of our American members confirm or deny this?

According to a mate of mine, soon after the US war of Independence, or maybe the Civil War, the balance of the population in the US was pretty much dominated by European immigrants. Still is I suppose. Anyrate, my mate said that a vote was held, to decide which European language should be adopted as the national language of the newly formed US of A, and although the result was obviously English, second place was German, and it was very close.

True? Bo****s? And, WHAT IF, German won?????

 

[spikeman]

There is no official language of the USA. I've never heard that before.

 

[peteblue]

If this has been covered in the other thread, then oops.

Can any of our American members confirm or deny this?

According to a mate of mine, soon after the US war of Independence, or maybe the Civil War, the balance of the population in the US was pretty much dominated by European immigrants. Still is I suppose. Anyrate, my mate said that a vote was held, to decide which European language should be adopted as the national language of the newly formed US of A, and although the result was obviously English, second place was German, and it was very close.

True? Bo****s? And, WHAT IF, German won?????

Is your mates name Adolf or Wolfgang?......

 

[spikeman]

If this has been covered in the other thread, then oops.

Can any of our American members confirm or deny this?

According to a mate of mine, soon after the US war of Independence, or maybe the Civil War, the balance of the population in the US was pretty much dominated by European immigrants. Still is I suppose. Anyrate, my mate said that a vote was held, to decide which European language should be adopted as the national language of the newly formed US of A, and although the result was obviously English, second place was German, and it was very close.

True? Bo****s? And, WHAT IF, German won?????

And to answer this question. It obviously would have been changed or something during WWI

 

[johnnydawg68]

No official language, and German would have never been in the running. Having said that just saw an interesting Ken Burns documentary on the Prohibition period, and all of the major brewers in the country were German (no surprise there) and even conducted their industry meetings in German.

 

[peteblue]

No official language, and German would have never been in the running. Having said that just saw an interesting Ken Burns documentary on the Prohibition period, and all of the major brewers in the country were German (no surprise there) and even conducted their industry meetings in German.

There were some large German enclaves, especially brewers in places like Pittsburg, however according to Wiki, English is the language spoken at home by 80% of the US population, followed by Spanish 12%, Other languages negligible......

 

[roydo]

No official language, and German would have never been in the running. Having said that just saw an interesting Ken Burns documentary on the Prohibition period, and all of the major brewers in the country were German (no surprise there) and even conducted their industry meetings in German.

When you say there is no official language, when the original founder states formed the USA, surely they/you must have negotiated stuff like that? As far as my knowledge goes, they formed a federal union of previously independent states, adopted the Dollar as the single currency, established national bodies, (senate, the "fed" etc), why wouldnt a common language be discussed? Just curious like, no offence meant.

 

[spikeman]

When you say there is no official language, when the original founder states formed the USA, surely they/you must have negotiated stuff like that? As far as my knowledge goes, they formed a federal union of previously independent states, adopted the Dollar as the single currency, established national bodies, (senate, the "fed" etc), why wouldnt a common language be discussed? Just curious like, no offence meant.

It probably was discussed but since there were so many nationalities living in the United States, they didn't adopt an official language.

 

[johnnydawg68]

When you say there is no official language, when the original founder states formed the USA, surely they/you must have negotiated stuff like that? As far as my knowledge goes, they formed a federal union of previously independent states, adopted the Dollar as the single currency, established national bodies, (senate, the "fed" etc), why wouldnt a common language be discussed? Just curious like, no offence meant.

Part of the explanation would be that in the beginning, States were much more autonomous and probably would have rejected any kind of Federal, "top-down", mandates like that. Louisiana and Maine both had (and still do) large amounts of French speaking or bi-lingual citizens. I can't imagine Louisiana (when it was added to the Union) being ok with an "official" language that did not include French.

The other reason is that is probably was just assumed and not needed, like today.

 

[roydo]

It probably was discussed but since there were so many nationalities living in the United States, they didn't adopt an official language.

So why do they speak, in general, English, when there probably as many Italians, Spanish, German, immigrants building the country at the time, not to mention, the native Americans. Someone must have made a decision, or did all the non English speakers just decide to give up their native tongue?

 

[peteblue]

So why do they speak, in general, English, when there probably as many Italians, Spanish, German, immigrants building the country at the time, not to mention, the native Americans. Someone must have made a decision, or did all the non English speakers just decide to give up their native tongue?

Exactly. Laws, documents etc etc are in English and many of the individual states have 'official' languages (English)

 

[roydo]

Part of the explanation would be that in the beginning, States were much more autonomous and probably would have rejected any kind of Federal, "top-down", mandates like that. Louisiana and Maine both had (and still do) large amounts of French speaking or bi-lingual citizens. I can't imagine Louisiana (when it was added to the Union) being ok with an "official" language that did not include French.

The other reason is that is probably was just assumed and not needed, like today.

Ta, that makes some sense; suppose it is a bit like the regional dialects over here, which reflect the ancient source of the original "settlers", to use an unfortunate phrase, of the area you live in. The north east of Englands dialect is very influenced by the Scandinavians, and scouse has a heavy influence from Ireland.

 

[johnnydawg68]

So why do they speak, in general, English, when there probably as many Italians, Spanish, German, immigrants building the country at the time, not to mention, the native Americans. Someone must have made a decision, or did all the non English speakers just decide to give up their native tongue?

Not necessarily. Sometimes things are just the way they are, so need to make anything "official" at the Federal level. The country was initially founded my mostly English speaking peoples (English and Scots at first), then the Irish hordes who had at least cursory understanding of English. By the time the Germans, Italians, and Polish starting emigrating in mass numbers, English was, and had been the standard language of government and commerce. However, that doesn't mean that these people spoke a lick of English anymore than the Mexican immigrants these days are fluent. With each passing generation, through public education and assimilation, the children of immigrants were bi-lingual, or even stopped speaking the native tongue.

 

[peteblue]

When do our US cousins think that Spanish will become the predominant language. I reckon about 50 years.......

 

[chicoazul]

Just face it, you speak our language. We still own you.