Update on 'Official English'

By Robert Park
Volume 6, Number 2 (Winter 1995-1996)
Issue theme: "Affirmative action for immigrants?"

In the last issue of this journal I reported on the en banc decision of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Yniquez case, which challenged the constitutionality of the 1988 initiative in Arizona that made English the official language of that state. The judges held 6-5 that state employees have a First Amendment free speech right to use any language of their own choosing in the discharge of their duties on behalf of the state. This is true, held the court, even if the employee's supervisor cannot understand that language.

Under this ruling it would presumably be possible for a state employee to use any of the 300-plus languages besides English that the U.S. Census Bureau reports are spoken in the United States. We thought you would like to see that listing. How many of these languages have you heard of before?

My request (I am the sole defendant in this case) to the U.S. Supreme Court to review this matter was filed on December 20, 1995. I hope to have the court's decision some time in the next two or three months.

[Tax-deductible contributions are urgently needed to help underwrite the costs of this court action. These can be sent to English Language Advocates, 316½ E. Mitchell St., Petoskey, MI 49770, earmarked for the Yniguez case.

Indo-European

Languages

Afrikaans

Albanian

Armenian

Assamese

Balochi

Bengali

Bielorussian

Bihari

Bulgarian

Cajun

Catalonian

Croatian

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Fradese

French

French Creole

Frisian

German

Greek

Gujarathi

Gullah

Hawaiian Pidgin

Hindi (Urdu)

Icelandic

Irish Gaelic

Italian

Jamaican Creole

Kashmiri

Krid

Kurdish

Ladino

Lettish

Lithuanian

Lusatian

Luxembourgian

Macedonian

Marathi

Nepali

Norwegian

Oriya

Panjabi

Papia Mentae

Pashto

Patois

Pennsylvania

Dutch

Persian

Pidgin

Polish

Portuguese

Provencal

Rajasthani

Rhaeto-Romanic

Romany

Rumanian

Russian

Sanskrit

Saramacca

Scottic Gaelic

Serbian

Serbocroatian

Simohi

Sinhalese

Slovak

Slovene

Spanish

Swedish

Ukrainian

Welsh

Yiddish

Asian and Pacific

Island Languages

Achinese

Azerabaijani

Balinese

Bikol

Bisayan

Brahut

Burmese

Carolinian

Chak

Chamorro

Chinese

Dravidian

Fijian

Formosan

Fuchow

Gilbertese

Gondi

Hakka

Hawaiian

Ilocano

Indonesian

Japanese

Javanese

Kachin

Kamnada

Karachay

Karen

Kazakh

Kirghiz

Korean

Kurukh

Kusatean

Malagasy

Halay

Malayalan

Mandarin

Madri

Marquesan

Marshallese

Melanesian

Miao (Hmong)

Miao-Yao

Micronesian

Minangkabau

Mokilese

Mon-Khmer

(Cambodian)

Mongolian

Munda

Muong

Miuean

Mukuoro

Palau

Paleo-Siberian

Pampangan

Pangasiman

Polynesian

Pohapean

Samoan

Sebuako

Sundanese

Tagalog

Tamil

Telugu

Thai (Laotian)

Tibetan

Tokelauan

Tongan

Trukese

Tungus

Turkish

Turkhen

Uishur

Ulithean

Vietnamese

Moleai-Ulithi

Mu

Yapese

Native North

American

Languages

Achumami

Ahtena

Alabama

Aleut

Algonquian

American Indian

Apache

Arapaho

Arikara

Athapascan

Atsina

Blackfoot

Caddo

Cahuilla

Cayuga

Chasta Costa

Chemehuevi

Cherokee

Chinook Jargon

Chiricahua

Chimere

Choctaw

Clallan

Cocomaricopa

Coeur d'Alene

Columbia

Comanche

Cree

Cupeno

Dakota

Delaware

Delta River Yuman

Diegueno

Eskimo

Foothill No. Yokuts

Fox

French Cree

Haida

Han

Havasupai

Hibatsa

Hopi

Hupa

Inupik

Iroquois

Jicarilla

Kalispel

Kansa

Karok

Keres

Kickapoo

Kiowa

Kiowa-Apache

Klamath

Koasati

Koyukon

Kuchin

Kutenai

Kwakiutl

Luiseno

Makah

Mandan

Menomini Miami

Micmac

Mikasuki

Mohave

Mohawk

Mono

Mountain Maibu

Muskogee

Navaho

Nez Perce

Nootsack

Northern Patute

Ojibwa

Okamogan

Omaha

Oneida

Onondaga

Osage

Other Athapascan-Eyak

Ottawa

Patute

Passamaquoddy

Pawnee

Penobscot

Picuris

Pina

Pono

Ponca

Potawatomi

Puget Sound Salish

Guapam

Quinault

Sahaptian

Salish

San Carlos

Sandia

Seneca

Serrano

Shastan

Shawnee

Shoshoni

Sierra Miwok

Siuslaw

Spokane

St. Lawrence Is.

Tachi Tamaina

Tema

Tilanook

Tiwa

Tlingit

Tonkawa

Towa

Tsinshian

Twana

Upper Chehalis

Upper Chinook

Ute

Walapai

Washo

Wichita

Winnebago

Winton

Yaqui

Yavapai

Yuchi

Yuki

Yuma

Yupik Yurok

Zuni

Other Languages

African

Akharic

Arabic

Arawakian

Aykara

Aztecan

Bantu

Basque

Berber

Caucasian

Chadic

Chibchan

Cushite

Efik

Estonian

Finnish

Fulaki

Gur

Hebrew

Hungarian Khoisan

Kru

Lapp

Mande

Mapuche

Mayan Languages

Hbum (and

related)

Misumalpan

Nilo-Hamitic

Milo-Sharan

Milotic

Nubian

Other Uralic Lang.

Oto - Manguen

Quechua

Saharan

Sonoran, Nec

Sudanic

Swahili

Syriac

Tarascan

Tupi-Guarani

Source: 1990 U.S. Census, Table: "Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for Persons 5 Years and Over"

Bureau of the Census, Document: CPH-L-133