Spanish as a Heritage Language and the Negotiation of Race and Intra-Latina/o Hierarchies in the U.S.

Latina/os have sociohistorical roots in continents including North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, making them a pan-ethnic, ¹ multiracial, and multicultural people. At least 19 national origin dialects of Spanish are spoken by different U.S. Latina/o groups (but see Erker, this volume, for a critique of the concept of dialect), which combined with the multiple dialects of English they speak ² render them among the most linguistically diverse of U.S. groups. Latina/o groups (e.g. Cubans, Ecuadorians, Salvadorians) have experienced distinct immigration histories and trajectories within the U.S., which partially explains their different social statuses. This diversity confounds the U.S. racial system, which has historically categorized the U.S. population into white and non-white and conferred status on groups in relation to the white dominant majority. What happens when the realities of Latina/o diversity and the inflexibility of the U.S. racial system meet, and how does this translate into the everyday of social and linguistic practice? I argue that Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) must be examined within a broad repertoire of linguistic options available to Latina/os as they negotiate the U.S. racial hierarchy. Latina/os’ linguistic repertoires may include multiple dialects of English and Spanish, different styles, standard and non-standard forms, as well as hybrid forms resulting from language contact (Bailey, 2000, 2001; Zentella, 1997; Durán and Toribio, this volume) and this variety enables the creative and flexible negotiations of multiple dimensions of difference, including race.