The English and Vietnamese of Vietnamese immigrants in the US

Abstract

This study focuses on the Vietnamese community in Texas, aiming to explore the characteristics of English and Vietnamese languages among Vietnamese Americans in the United States when the two languages are in contact. The research investigates cross-linguistic interactions, particularly in vowel production and question formation, with a focus on generational differences within the community. The findings contribute to our understanding of language contact outcomes in immigrant diasporic communities, shedding light on linguistic and social factors influencing language varieties. The study's insights can enhance cultural understanding and integration efforts for Vietnamese immigrants in the U.S. The study conducted within the Vietnamese community in Texas reveals positive indicators for the future maintenance of the Vietnamese heritage language (HL) within the community. While there are variations in perspectives across generations due to different social and linguistic exposures, the overall attitude within this Vietnamese American com-munity is optimistic about using and preserving the Vietnamese HL in the U.S. Participants express pride in speaking the language and a strong desire to maintain it in their host country. Key factors identified for HL maintenance include its role as a communicative tool, facilitating connections with older generations in the family and community, and its identity value. Effective HL maintenance strategies identified in the study involve speaking the heritage language at home and enrolling children in HL classes. Cross-linguistic interac-tions were found to impact oral language production, with differences between the first language (L1) and second language (L2) and language proficiency being significant driv-ing factors. While participants tended to select standard question structures in both English and Vietnamese when assessing different sets of structures, spontaneous speech revealed a tendency to use more non-standard features than perceived. The study also presents characteristics of English and Vietnamese questions among Vietnamese Americans across generations. In English, first-generation speakers commonly exhibited non-standard features such as Subject- Auxiliary inversion, verb conjugation is-sues, and plural noun problems. Vietnamese questions by Vietnamese Americans often involved non-standard features related to verb conjugation, interrogative words/phrases, and word choice, with second-generation speakers facing challenges in using copula verbs and interrogative word placement.