Perspectives on official English: The campaign for English as the official language of the USA

Although language policy has historically not been a matter of great public concern in the United States, the last few years have witnessed a growing interest in this topic.1 In spite of brief periods of controversy and active policy-making, from the mid-19th century until recently a strong sense existed in the U.S. that non-English speaking people should and would - ultimately - speak English and that even those language enclaves which did establish themselves would die out in a few generations. As a result, little official concern for, or attention to, linguistic minorities seemed necessary. During that era, America was a "melting pot," and immigrant populations were typically anxious to become americanized in one or two generations. Government involvement in this process was seen to be unnecessary.