Linguistic Imperialism and Immigration

Linguistic imperialism is defined as the transfer of a dominant language and aspects of its culture, to speakers of other languages. Linguistic imperialism occurs when the language of a large or dominant population or the language of power transfers to other people in the same or neighboring areas. There are many types of linguistic imperialism and many causes of it. Causes include immigration, education, trade as well as religion. Such changes in language can be forced or can take place through natural changes. 

Immigration is a large cause of linguistic imperialism. This is most often seen as the act of an invading or migrating people making others learn their language. From research, it was discovered that at the end of the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries AD, a number of Germanic peoples moved westward into the Empire’s territories. Of those invading powers, many took control of the area, but their responses to the indigenous language varied. The Angles, Saxons and Jutes managed to eradicate the language of the native Romano-British. On the other hand, the Franks who invaded Gaul and the Ostragoths, who invaded Iberia, both adopted the language of the native population. From this we could see how there are two main ways that immigration can cause linguistic imperialism; from invading countries forcing their language on the country they are invading and eradicating it's language or from immigrants adopting to the language of the country they migrated to. We could argue that perhaps when we consider some practices that were done , and are still done, in the context of immigration presently as linguistic imperialism. When immigrant children are taught the language of the place they are migrating to, they are taught to speak the language and given the idea that the reason they are there is to learn the language. It was realized that advice that teachers usually give to parents is to speak and practice the language at home; this is when neither parents nor children speak that language and have a chance to speak their original language. And thus children start losing their original language and associated traditions and culture.

We as human beings live in a world categorized by gender, race, nationality, culture and language. We cannot separate these aspects in life because we need them all and language plays an essential part as it distinguishes us from other ethnics in the world.  Language in the context of social identity is describes in terms of cultural specific vocabulary, context-sensitive topics and shared attitudes. Language is naturally essential to the expression of culture and is a medium of instruction and a way of communicate and preserve values, beliefs and customs. this is why linguistic imperialism is believed to indeed be a social tragedy. When a language dies, so much is lost because the traditions and history it once preserved is lost with it. We could see these effects in many endangered languages presently and immigrant or third-culture children.