| The introduction of English into the home has been one of the causes of Spanish language loss in New Mexico. At one time Spanish was the only language used in many homes by people with a Spanish language background. It served all of the functions within the home as well as many functions within the community. Children started school speaking Spanish, and knew little or no English. English gradually took over many of the functions within the community. Society and the educational system convinced many parents that Spanish was detrimental to education, so many began teaching English to their children at home. They used little or no Spanish, and within a few years English replaced their native language within the family. English is now the first and, in many cases, the only language learned by many children. Today most children from Spanish speaking homes begin school speaking English and little or no Spanish. Both languages, however, can be learned at home as separate systems used effectively if they are practiced consistently.;The study includes Jose's acquisition of English and Spanish questions and negatives. His acquisition of English structures is compared with the acquisition of these same structures by three monolingual English speaking children. His acquisition of Spanish questions and negatives is compared with that of Spanish-English bilinguals. The study also includes Jose's awareness of, and attitudes toward, his two linguistic systems, his creativity in his acquisition of English and Spanish, his use of features from one language while speaking the other, and his acquisition of synonyms and antonyms.;Jose's acquisition of English and Spanish simultaneously compares well with that of the English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals with whom he was compared. His learning of both languages at home from an early age does not seem to have had any negative effect on his acquisition of either language or on his cognitive development.;This study is an attempt at renewing the tradition of teaching youngsters Spanish at home. It describes a conscious and consistent effort to teach Spanish to my child, Jose. I spoke only Spanish to him from the time he was born, while my wife and my daughter spoke to him in English. When Jose started speaking, he used either all English or a combination of mostly English and some Spanish. He showed some resistance to using Spanish a few times, but I tried several strategies to encourage him to speak it. Jose responded well and as his use of Spanish increased, he began to gradually separate the two languages. By 39 months of age he was using all Spanish with me and English with others, except when they addressed him in Spanish. Two months later, at 41 months of age, he was consciously aware that he was speaking both languages. He was aware, too, that some people speak only English. He showed his sensitivity and responsiveness to language use by switching codes to address me in Spanish and others in English. |
