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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. 207–230

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
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Portuguese in Eastern Massachusetts
    • Fall River and New Bedford
  • Literature review
    • The Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory
    • Social networks
  • Methodology
    • Goals and hypotheses
    • Procedure
  • Results and discussion
    • Second-generation Portuguese migrants
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.25.09gub
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