links for 2008-10-19
-
Unsurprising for those with even the tiniest bit of familiarity in such topics: "Miranda Wilkerson […] and [Mr. Verb] contributor Joe just had a piece in American Speech showing that German-speaking immigrants to Wisconsin didn't learn English quickly, in fact even for two or three generations in many cases. It's called "'Good old immigrants of yesteryear' who didn't learn English" and appears in vol. 83, pp. 259-283. They note that scholars like Calvin Veltman show that contemporary immigrants, in contrast, are learning English as fast as they can."
chris @ October 20, 2008
Yeah, it is unsurprising for people who have looked into it, but of course very few people in our society have. We were pretty disturbed by the degree to which public debate is largely based on bad information. Thanks.