Language
From Seminar 2: The Peopling of New York City
Contents |
Introduction
Language is one of the primary features that people use to identify their ethnicity. The language that one speaks has the unique ability to both unite as well as create barriers. Because New York City has and continues to be a major center for immigrant influx, understanding language and its effect on immigrant societies is a pertinent issue. Each group of immigrants comes from a different part of the world and bring with them their own culture, individual language, and the markers for social stigma.
Immigrants from the West Indies are no exception. This particular population enters New York speaking various languages, including but not exclusively Creole languages. Creole is a hybrid language which blends the vernacular of the many groups which came into contact during the colonization of the West Indies, most commonly those of the Europeans and African slaves]. Both French and English Creoles are now common sounds on the streets of New York City, especially in East Flatbush.
The unique experiences that each West Indian immigrant group face in New York and in the United States in general depends largely on how the mainstream society treats these groups. When American society neglects Creole language as a functional language spoken by a significant part of the American population, those who speak it are forced to adapt and are not always successful. How do Americans perceive Creole and how does it affect West Indian Immigrants as well as their assimilation into American society?
Our group looked at how social, linguistic, and cultural barriers affected West Indians and their:
1. Personal Expression through Music
Coyote Anderson
2. Education in New York City Public Schools
Evan Leung
3. Prospects for Employment
Mary Perez
4. Expression of Identity through Language and Press
Akshai Sarma
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