Chapter published in:
New Approaches to Language Attitudes in the Hispanic and Lusophone World
Edited by Talia Bugel and Cecilia Montes-Alcalá
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 25] 2020
► pp. 208–230

Portuguese in Massachusetts

Linguistic attitudes, social networks and language maintenance

| University of Massachusetts Amherst
| University of Rhode Island
In the state of Massachusetts, Portuguese is the second most spoken foreign language after Spanish and the dense population of Portuguese speakers gives this community vitality. This paper analyzes the linguistic attitudes of a group of twenty Portuguese men and women, from the island of Saint Michael, Azores, who have lived on the eastern coast of Massachusetts for more than fifteen years. Some important factors that have been linked to language maintenance and the prevention of language attrition are positive attitudes, socio-cultural factors and social networks. Using the social networks framework, we further discuss the implications that language attitudes may have on language maintenance within this community. We conclude that linguistic attitudes continue to be a key factor in preventing language loss and promoting ethnic pride, which ultimately benefit language maintenance.
Keywords: language attitudes, Portuguese in Massachusetts, language maintenance, social networks
Published online: 30 April 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.25.09gub
References

References

Almeida, O.
(1987) L(USA)lândia- a Décima Ilha. Secretária Regional dos Assuntos Sociais, Direcção de Serviços de Emigração: Angra do Heroísmo.Google Scholar
(2008) Comunidades portuguesas nos Estados Unidos: Identidade, assimilação, aculturação. In M. Ferreira Lages & A. T. de Matos (Eds.), Portugal: Percursos de interculturalidade (pp. 339–422). Lisboa, Portugal: Alto Comissariado para a Imigração e Diálogo Intercultural.Google Scholar
Amaral, P.
(1978) They ploughed the seas: Profiles of Azorean master mariners. St. Petersburg, FL: Valkyrie Press.Google Scholar
Anderson-Mejías, P., Mejías, H., & Carlson, R.
(2002) Attitude toward Spanish language maintenance or shift (LMLS) in the lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. The International Journal of Sociology of Language, 158, 121–140.Google Scholar
(2003) Attitude update: Spanish on the South Texas Border. Hispania, 86(1), 138–150. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Barker, V., Giles, H., Noels, K., Duck, J., Hecht, M., & Clément, R.
(2001) The English only movement: A communication analysis of changing perceptions of language vitality. Journal of Communication, 51(1), 3–37. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ben-Rafael, M., & Schmid, M.
(2007) Language attrition and ideology: Two groups of immigrants in Israel. In B. Köpke, M. Schmid, M. Keijzer, & S. Dostert (Eds.), Language attrition: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 205–226). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bourhis, R., Giles, H., & Rosenthal, D.
(1981) Notes on the construction of a ‘subjective vitality questionnaire’ for ethnolinguistic groups. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 2(2), 145–155. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho, A. M.
(2010) Portuguese in the USA. In K. Potowski (Ed.), Language diversity in the USA (pp. 223–237). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cherciov, M.
(2013) Investigating the impact of attitude on first language attrition and second language acquisition from a Dynamic Systems Theory perspective. International Journal of Bilingualism 17(6), 716–733. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Conklin, N., & Lourie, M.
(1983) A host of tongues: Language communities in the United States. New York, NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
Crochran, M., Larner, M., Riley, D., Gunnarson, L., & Henderson Jr., C. R.
(Eds.) (1990) Extending families: The social networks of parents and children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
De Sá, G. M., Pacheco, S., & Farrar, J.
(2011) Preserving and promoting ethnic heritage, identity and representation in the U.S.: The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives. In World Library and Information Congress: 77th IFLA General Conference and Assembly. Retrieved from http://​www​.ifla​.org​/past​-wlic​/2011​/107​-sa​-en​.pdf> (23 October 2019).
Dion, M.
(2003, Feb. 26). Portuguese a great force in Fall River. The Herald News. Retrieved from https://​www​.sailsinc​.org​/durfee​/portugueseagreat​.pdf> (23 October 2019).
Espirito Santo School
. (n.d.). Espirito Santo history. Retrieved from https://​www​.espiritosantoschool​.org​/history​-mission​-2/> (23 October 2019).
Evans, J. D.
(1996) Straightforward statistics for the behavioral sciences. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.Google Scholar
Garcia, M.
(2003) Recent research on language maintenance. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 23, 22–43. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Garrett, P.
(2010) Attitudes to language. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Giles, H., Bourhis, R., & Taylor, D.
(1977) Towards a theory of language in ethnic group relations. In H. Giles (Ed.), Language, ethnicity and intergroup relations (pp. 307–348). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
González Martínez, J.
(2008) Metodología para el estudio de las actitudes lingüísticas. In I. Olza Moreno, M. Casado Velarde, & R. González Ruiz (Eds.), Actas del XXXVII simposio internacional de la Sociedad Española de Lingüística (SEL). Pamplona: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra.Google Scholar
Hulsen, M.
(2000) Language loss and language processing. Three generations of Dutch migrants in New Zealand (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Katholieke Universiteit, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Retrieved from https://​www​.researchgate​.net​/publication​/305397435​_Language​_shift​_language​_loss​_and​_language​_processing​_An​_investigation​_of​_three​_generations​_of​_Dutch​_immigrants​_in​_New​_Zealand> (23 October 2019).
Hulsen, M., Kees de Bot, & Weltens, B.
(2002) Between two worlds: Social networks, language shift, and language processing in three generations of Dutch migrants in New Zealand. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 153, 27–52.Google Scholar
Kroskrity, P.
(2000) Identity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 9(1–2), 111–114.Google Scholar
Labov, W.
(1972) Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Lasagabaster, D.
(2014) El español y las lenguas cooficiales en el estado español: Actitudes lingüísticas en un contexto multilingüe. In T. Bugel (Ed.), Nuevos estudios sobre actitudes lingüísticas RILI, XII, No. 1(23), 25–40.Google Scholar
McCall, G. & Simmons, J.
(1978) Identities and interaction. An examination of human association in everyday life. New York, NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
Milroy, L.
(1987 [1980]) Language and social networks (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
(2001) Bridging the micro-macro gap: Social change, social networks and bilingual repertoires. In J. Klatter-Folmer & P. van Avermaet (Eds.), Theories on maintenance and loss of minority languages: Towards a more integrated explanatory framework (pp. 39–64). Muenster: Waxmann.Google Scholar
Mira, M.
(1998) The forgotten Portuguese. Franklin, NC: The Portuguese-American Historical Research Foundation.Google Scholar
Montes-Alcalá, C., & Sweetnich, L.
(2014) Español en el sureste de EE. UU.: El papel de las actitudes lingüísticas en el mantenimiento o pérdida de la lengua. In T. Bugel (Ed.), Nuevos estudios sobre actitudes lingüísticas RILI, XII, No. 1(23), 77–92.Google Scholar
Okita, T.
(2001) Invisible work: Bilingualism, language choices and childrearing in intermarried families. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Pascual y Cabo, D.
(2015) Language attitudes and linguistic Identities in Miami. In S. Sessarego & M. González Rivera (Eds.), New perspectives on Hispanic contact linguistics in the Americas (pp. 373–404). Madrid/Franfurt: Iberoamericana/Vervuert. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Portes, A., & Hao, L.
(1998) E pluribus unum. Bilingualism and loss of language in the second generation. Sociology of Education, 71(4), 269–94. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Preston, D.
(1999) A language attitude approach to the perception of regional variety. In D. Preston (Ed.), Handbook of perceptual dialectology (Vol. 1, pp. 359–373). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ribeiro, J.
(1982) Portuguese immigrants and education. Bristol, RI: Portuguese-American Federation.Google Scholar
Rubinstein-Avila, E.
(2005) Brazilian Portuguese in Massachusetts’s linguistic landscape: A prevalent yet understudied phenomenon. Hispania 88(4), 873–880. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M.
(2002) First language attrition, use and maintenance: The case of German Jews in Anglophone countries. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M., & Dusseldorp, E.
(2010) Quantitative analyses in a multivariate study of language attrition: The impact of extralinguistic factors. Second Language Research, 26(1), 125–160. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Silva, John Jr.
(1969) Azoreans in America and Americans in the Azores. Bristol, RI: Portuguese-American Federation.Google Scholar
Stoessel, S.
(1998) The investigation of social networks as a factor in language maintenance and shift (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Boston University.Google Scholar
(2002) Investigation the role of social networks in language maintenance and shift. International Journal of Sociology of Language 153, 93–131.Google Scholar
Tse, L.
(2001) Resisting and reversing language shift: Heritage-language resilience among U.S. native biliterates. Harvard Educational Review, 71, 676–708. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Velázquez, I.
(2012) Mother’s social network and family language maintenance. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 34(2), 189–202. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Vermette, M.
(1998) Azoreans in American whaling. In M. McCabe & J. Thomas (Eds.), Portuguese spinner. An American story: Stories of history, culture and life from Portuguese Americans in Southeastern New England (pp. 216–221). New Bedford, MA: Spinner.Google Scholar
Williams, J.
(1982) And yet they come. Portuguese immigration from the Azores to the United States. New York, NY: Center for Migration Studies.Google Scholar
(2005) In pursuit of their dreams: A history of Azorean immigration to the United States. Dartmouth, MA: UMASS Dartmouth Center for Portuguese Study and Culture.Google Scholar
Winford, D.
(2003) An introduction to contact linguistics. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Yağmur, K.
(1997) First language attrition among Turkish speakers in Sydney. Tilburg: Tilburg University Press.Google Scholar
(2004) Language maintenance patterns of Turkish immigrant communities in Australia and Western Europe: The impact of majority attitudes on ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 165, 121–142.Google Scholar
(2011) Does ethnolinguistic vitality theory account for the actual vitality of ethnic groups? A critical evaluation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 32(2), 111–120. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Yağmur, K., & Martin Ehala, M.
(2011) Tradition and innovation in the Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 32(2), 101–110. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zentella, A.
(1994) Growing up bilingual. Puerto Rican children in New York. New York: Blackwell.Google Scholar