Language (and immigration)

LANGUAGE elK lthough the United States has been a land of immigrants-and immigrant languages-since colo nial times, its immigrant multilingualism has been transitional. Over the last two centuries, the United States has incorporated huge numbers of bilinguals perhaps more than any other country-but in no ma jor country has bilingualism so quickly turned to monolingualism. With the exception of a few, small groups, immigrants have lost the languages of their countries of origin by the third generation and, some times, even the second, making America a graveyard for immigrant languages. At the same time that im migrant languages have been replaced by English, however, these languages have contributed to Ame