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9 - Asian Heritage Languages in the United States

Chinese and Hindi Language Communities

from Part I - Heritage Languages around the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2021

Silvina Montrul
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Maria Polinsky
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
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Summary

This chapter provides a brief overview of efforts to promote heritage and community language education among two of the fastest growing newly emerging minority populations in the United States, that is, those who fall broadly under the labels of “Chinese” and “Indian” language communities in the United States. San Francisco has been one of the major centers of Chinese immigration to the United States since the nineteenth century and has emerged as one of the major centers for more recent Chinese immigration. Indian immigration has also rapidly increased since 1965, and the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area represents one of the key urban areas for the growth of South Asian populations. Each of these ethnolinguistic communities in the United States is not homogenous because they all reflect the linguistic diversities of their respective homelands. In addition, they also reflect the influence of the large Diasporas of Chinese and Indian populations around the globe.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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