‘영어전용’과 미국 다문화주의 —다문화사회의 단언어성, 다언어성, 횡언어성에 대한 고찰
‘English Only’ Policy and American Multiculturalism: A Critical Perspective on Monolingualism, Multilingualism, and Translingualism of the Multicultural Society
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This paper investigates the monolingualism of ‘English Only’ policy in American multiculturalism, focusing on the hidden agenda this policy imposes on the formation of American identity and experience. English has been naturalized as the official national language of the United States to articulate the ‘universal’ identity of America out of the ‘diverse’ voices, races, and cultures. In fact, however, the equation of being American and speaking English is not ‘natural’ at all, considering the violence and oppression involved in the historical process of legitimating ‘English’ as the ‘one and only’ language of the U.S.A. The monolingual policy controls, manipulates, and contains the otherwise menacing differences in the American society. Against such an assimilating power of the monolingual policy of American multiculturalism, multilingual projects are being proposed as alternative linguistic strategies. But to truly overcome the monologic structure of American monolingualism, we need to go beyond the binary opposition of ‘monolingualism vs. multilingualism.’ Translingual practice, then, becomes a more valid way to resist the all-consuming power of the monolingual grip of ‘English only’ policy. Derrida, Bakhtin, and Dimock provide a good theoretical foundation to build the translingual perspective on which we might see language not as national heritage, legacy, or the reified commercial products, but as a fluid, transformative, and unmeasurable force of human experience. One language is just not enough to represent the whole American experience. Instead, the accented, fragmented, and broken English can be the alternative linguistic ground where various members of multicultural society gather and discuss their collective history and identity.
Abstract
This paper investigates the monolingualism of ‘English Only’ policy in American multiculturalism, focusing on the hidden agenda this policy imposes on the formation of American identity and experience. English has been naturalized as the official national language of the United States to articulate the ‘universal’ identity of America out of the ‘diverse’ voices, races, and cultures. In fact, however, the equation of being American and speaking English is not ‘natural’ at all, considering the violence and oppression involved in the historical process of legitimating ‘English’ as the ‘one and only’ language of the U.S.A. The monolingual policy controls, manipulates, and contains the otherwise menacing differences in the American society. Against such an assimilating power of the monolingual policy of American multiculturalism, multilingual projects are being proposed as alternative linguistic strategies. But to truly overcome the monologic structure of American monolingualism, we need to go beyond the binary opposition of ‘monolingualism vs. multilingualism.’ Translingual practice, then, becomes a more valid way to resist the all-consuming power of the monolingual grip of ‘English only’ policy. Derrida, Bakhtin, and Dimock provide a good theoretical foundation to build the translingual perspective on which we might see language not as national heritage, legacy, or the reified commercial products, but as a fluid, transformative, and unmeasurable force of human experience. One language is just not enough to represent the whole American experience. Instead, the accented, fragmented, and broken English can be the alternative linguistic ground where various members of multicultural society gather and discuss their collective history and identity.
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