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DIRECTIONS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING

b ANGUAGE
Course Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski
Copyright 2014 by McGraw-HillEducation. All rights
resewed. Printed in the United States of America. Except as
permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part
of this publication may be reproducedor distributed in any form
or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without prior written permission of the publisher.

This McGraw-HillCreate text may include materials submitted to


McGraw-Hillfor publicationby the instructor of this course.
The instructor is solely responsible for the editorial content of such
materials. Instructors retain copyright of these additional materials.
Contents

1. Heritage Language Teaching in the United States: An Introduction 1


2. General Sociolinguistic Considerations 13
3. Who are Heritage Language Learners? 32
4. Goals and Principles in Heritage Language Instruction 58
5. Developing Listening and Speaking Skills 82
6. Developing Literacy Skills: Reading 104
7. Developing Literacy Skills: Writing 120
8. Approaches to Grammar Instruction 153
9. Developing Cultural Proficiency 178
10. Program and Administrative Considerations 193
A. Bibliography 219
Index 237
Credits

1. Heritage Language Teaching in the United States: An Introduction: Chapter 1 from Heritage
Language Teaching: Research and Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 2015 1
2. General Sociolinguistic Considerations: Chapter2 from Heritage Language Teaching: Research and
Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 2015 13
3. Who are Heritage Language Learners?: Chapter 3 from Heritage Language Teaching: Research and
Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 20 15 32
4. Goals and Principles in Heritage Language Instruction: Chapter 4 from Heritage Language Teaching:
Research and Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 2015 58
5. Developing Listening and Speaking Skills: Chapter5 from Heritage Language Teaching: Research and
Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 2015 82
6. Developing Literacy Skills: Reading: Chapter 6 from Heritage Language Teaching: Research and
Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 2015 104
7. Developing Literacy Skills: Writing: Chapter 7 ftom Heritage Language Teaching: Research and
Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 2015 120
8. Approaches to Grammar Instruction: Chapter 8 from Heritage Language Teaching: Research and
Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 20 15 153
9. Developing Cultural Proficiency: Chapter 9 from Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice
by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 20 15 178
10. Program and Administrative Considerations: Chapter 10 from Heritage Language Teaching: Research
and Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski, 2015 193
A. Bibliography: Chapter from Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice by Beaudrie, Ducar,
Potowski, 2015 219
Index 237 -
- -- - - -- --- - -. - -
Heritage Language Teaching:Research and Practice 1
- .

CHAPTER 2

Heritage Language Teaching


in the United States:
An Introduction

T h e r e are "significantly more" bilingual or multilingual people in the world


than there are monolinguals (Tucker, 1999). Although only 21% of U.S. resi-
dents report speaking a language other than English in the home (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2012), the country is quite linguistically diverse. Over 300 languages
are spoken within our national boundaries, and the number of speakers of
many non-English languages is on the rise. For example, between the Census
reports of 2000 and 2010, the Spanish-speaking population grew by 32%,
the Chinese-speaking population grew by 39%, the number of Vietnam-
ese speakers grew by 37% and the Russian-speaking population increased
by 21%.
One of the areas most impacted by this growth in linguistic diversity is
education. The number of school-age children who spoke a language other
than English at home rose from 4.7 to 11.2 million between 1980 and 2009-that
is, from 10% to 21% of the population between the ages of 5 and 18 (National
Center for Educational Statistics, 2012). Some groups of educators, typically
categorized under the fields of bilingual education or English as a Second
Language (ESL), focus on helping these children learn English as well as their
school subjects. Typically, when these students arrive at high school and col-
lege, they encounter the possibility of engaging in formal study of a "foreign"
language. The teachers of these students in these classes, to whom this book is
primarily addressed, work in the field that is referred to by names including
"foreign" language, "second language" (L2), and "world" language education
(in this book, we use the terms "second language" or "L2"). When these
students choose to study a language that they grew up hearing and/or speak-
ing, they are usually referred to as "heritage speakers" or "heritage learners" of
their heritage language (HL). This term was widely adopted after appearing in
the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Stan-
dards of Foreign Language Learning (1996).'

'1t should be noted that some researchers reject the term "heritage"learner and prefer terms like
"bilingual" instead (e.g., Garcia, 2005).
* I
Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski

One of the most commonly cited definitions of "heritage language learner"


(HLL) or "heritage learneru-now canonical in the field--comes from Valdes
(2000). She defines the HLL as an individual who "is raised in a home where
a non-English language is spoken. The student may speak or merely under-
stand the heritage language and be, to some degree, bilingual in English and
the heritage language" (Valdes, 2000, p. 1).As we will see in more detail in
Chapter 3, this definition is referred to as "narrow" because it excludes those
individuals who were raised with a strong cultural connection to a particular
ethnolinguistic group and have a "heritage motivation" to study the language,
but who do not speak or understand the language at all. These latter individu-
als fall into the "broad" definition of HLLs and, as we will see in this book, are
often linguistically indistinguishable from traditional L2 learners (though their
affective needs may differ from those of their L2 peers). Those HLLs who fall
under Vald#slsnarrow definition have developed some proficiency in the heri-
tage language due to exposure to linguistic input in that language during child-
hood. They may be able to understand the language but not speak it, which
we acknowledge by using the term heritage learner rather than speaker; they
may be able to speak it but not read or write it; or they may have proficiency
in all areas. This definition also excludes students who arrived from a Spanish-
speaking country after the age of 12, who typically have developed adult-like
proficiency (Silva-Corval611, 1994; Montrul, 2008) and are usually considered
"native" or "homeland Spanish speakers.
Thus, the primary factor that differentiates HL from L2 learners is that
they learn their heritage language starting at birth from their family members.
What differentiates HLIs from homeland speakers is that HLLs spend a por-
tion of their prime language-learningyears immersed in an environment where
English, not the heritage language, is dominant. Many HL learners' linguistic
trajectories follow a common course: they receive input in the heritage language
in the home, sometimes exclusively, but sometimes combined with exposure to
English, until they begin preschool or kindergarten. Once schooling begins, the
amount of input changes drastically in favor of English, while the heritage Ian-
guage usually remains confined to the home and community. This means that
the HL did not have the same exposure to the wide variety of linguistic and
social experiences that a homeland speaker did, usually resulting in a different
linguistic system.
Even this narrow definition of HLLs yields a heterogeneous group. These
individuals can vary along many dimensions that will be explored in this book.

THE NEED FOR HERITAGE LANGUAGE


EDUCATION
Some people ask, "If a person grew up speaking X language (Spanish,Chinese,
Arabic, etc.), why does he need to study it in school?" A clear answer to this
question lies in an analogy with English classes: all native English speakers in
the U.S. are required to take English classes in elementary school, high school,
and college-even though they already speak English. Such classes, often
referred to as language arts, tpically focus on literature and literary analysis,
Heritage LanguageTeaching:Research and Practice i 3

formal writing, vocabulary development, spelling, grammar, and sometimes


media literacy and public speaking. Heritage learners, too, can and should fur-
ther their skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing their heritage lan-
guage, as well as broaden their cultural knowledge, through formal study of
their heritage language. It is also the case that not all native English speakers
have the same levels of proficiency in reading and writing the language. We
will see in this book that heritage learners, too, differ widely in terms of what
they can do with their heritage language.

Pause to consider. ..
. . . the areas in which heritage learners likely feel stronger and weaker in
their heritage language. For example, do you think they feel stronger in lis-
tening and speaking or in reading and writing the heritage language? Why
might this be?

Another answer to the question of why heritage speakers should study


their heritage language lies in the fact that most high schools and colleges/
universities require a certain amount of study of an L2. As a nation we invest
copious time and resources in L2 instruction, totaling nearly 1.7 million enroll-
ments in colleges and universities in 2009 according to the Modem Language
Association (Furmin, Goldberg, & Lusin, 2010). Yet consider the amount of
time it takes for the traditional L2 learner to reach high levels of proficiency.
The Foreign Service Institute estimates that the average student needs 2,400
to 2,760 hours to reach a level of working professional proficiency in Chinese.
Translated into classroom seat time, this is 80 to 92 weeks of 30 contact hours per
week (McGinnis, 1994), or 18.4 years of typical high school instruction (under-
stood as 5 hours per week for 36 weeks). Clearly such exposure is rarely possi-
ble, given the typical language-learning opportunities available in the U.S. But
students who already have a degree of naturalistically acquired competence in
a language can often be brought to very high levels of proficiency and literacy
through formal study. Many heritage learners need less time than L2 learners
to develop similar levels of proficiency, if their needs are met with appropriate
instruction. In addition, they often possess rich sociocultural knowledge that
L2 learners can develop only by spending time living abroad. Thus, it makes
great sense as a nation to maintain and develop the skills of heritage learners.
Profiles and needs of heritage learners are increasingly appearing in main-
stream news outlets. Faulx (2013), for example, quoted Professor Taoufik Ben
Amor, coordinator of the Arabic program at Columbia University in New York .
City, who claims that the popularity of the school's Arabic for heritage learner
courses has been driven by first- and second-generation Americans looking to
reclaim or maintain a link to their family's homeland. This is in part because
their families "[immigrated] at a time when the idea of the melting pot has dis-
appeared a little bit." Faulx (2013) also noted that in Portland, Oregon, a group
of Vietnamese university students in 2004 were frustrated by a lack of advanced
Vietnamese classes and started holding their own class every Saturday. This
- 4
I
_ _ ..
Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski
_. . . . . .. . . . . . . - -- .. . . - . .. . ._ -- _
.._. - ... . .. . .- . -... - - - - -

prompted the university to offer a heritage Vietnamese course and then, as


Professor Linda Godson stated: "Several other people came forward and said,
'What about us?"' Her department now offers five different heritage language
courses, including Spanish and Hindi, and the demand is growing.
Enrollments in language courses also show that the presence of heritage
learners nationwide continues to increase. According to the Modern Language
Association report (Furmin, Goldberg, & Lusin, 2010), Spanish continues to be
the most widely studied L2 in U.S. high schools and postsecondary institutions,
accounting for 52% of all postsecondary L2 enr~llrnents.~ But the greatest
growth in the number of students in 2002-2009 was in Arabic, which grew by
46% in those years, adding to the already substantial increase of 127%in the
2006 survey. In 2006, Chinese enrollments had grown by 51% (and by an addi-
tional 18% in 2009) and Korean enrollments by 37% (with another 19%growth
by 2009). Given the growth of the Arabic-, Chinese-, and spanish-speaking
populations, it is reasonable to assume that the increase in enrollments in these
three languages is due in part to an increase in the population of heritage learn-
ers of these languages. This is further attested to when one looks at the reality
of English language learners (ELLS)in this country. It has been projected that
by the year 2025, one in every four students will be an ELL, due not entirely to
an increase in immigration but to the fact that the language used in the home is
not English alone (Van Roekel, 2008). These same students often also fall into
the category of heritage language learners, and as their numbers continue to
climb, so too will their enrollment in English and other language classes.
Heritage learners are a very heterogeneous group and are different from
traditional L2 learners in ways that will be explored throughout this book.
Whether HL students are mixed into L2 courses or enrolled in separate courses
for heritage learners, educators need to accommodate instructional materials
and methodologies in order to address their needs appropriately. Although
increasing numbers of high schools and universities around the nation now
offer heritage learner courses specifically designed for these students, the
majority of heritage learners do not have access to such specialized courses.
At the secondary level, just 9% of schools surveyed in 1997 offered Spanish
heritage learner instruction (Rhodes & Branaman, 1999). In the early 2000s the
National Foreign Language Center and the American Association of Teachers
of Spanish and Portuguese found that only 18% of the college and university
programs surveyed had "Spanish for native speakers" classes (Ingold, Rivers,
Tesser, & Ashby, 2002). A more recent study (Beaudrie, 2012),however, found
that 40% of universities nationwide are now offering Spanish heritage learner
courses-an increase of 45% since 1990, but still leaving 60% of universities
without such programs.
Based on demographics, this book will make frequent reference to the
teaching of Spanish. Over 60% of all the non-English language speakers in
the U.S. (and three out of every four English Language Learning students) are
Spanish-speakers (Van Roekel, 2008). The U.S. Latino/Hispanic population
growth accounted for more than half of the increase in the total U.S. population

2 ~ h next
e most numemus are French (13% of postsecondary enrollments), German (6%), and
American Sign Language (5%).
Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice
- 5

between 2000 and 2010, and there is a long history of research and pedagogy
on Spanish as a HL. We also include specific examples from other heritage
languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Korean, and Russian.

WHAT A R E "MINORITY LANGUAGES "1


It is important to note that in the U.S., heritage languages are also considered
minority languages, because English is the numerically dominant language of
society. Despite the fact that the U.S. does not have an official language, approx-
imately 79% of the nation's population reports speaking only English in the
home (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). English is the language of government, mass
media, and, importantly for our focus, education. The most widely spoken
minority/heritage languages in the U.S.are listed in Table 1.1.
Though the U.S.does not have an official language, English is clearly the
most prevalent national language and has a great deal of power associated
with it. Much like individual people who belong to minority groups, minority
languages often suffer from prejudice. Many monolingual English speakers in
the U.S., for example, associate Spanish with poverty, immigration, and crime,
despite the fact that Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the
world and is used daily as a language of economics, literature, and government.
Often the status of a language is directly related to the status of the people that
speak it. Thus, if people view certain groups in a negative light, they usually
view the languages of those groups negatively as well. Some people, including
the almost 2 million members of the organization called Official English, wish

TABLE 1.1 Language Other Than English Spoken in the Home by Those 5
and Older in the U.S.
% of Total U.S. Metropolitan Areas with
Number of Population High Concentrations of
Language Speakers (308,745,538) Speakers
Spanish 37,579,787 12.2% Los Angeles, New York,
Miami, Chicago
Chinese 2,882,497 0.9% New York, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, San Jose
Tagalog 1,594,413 0.5% Los Angeles, San Francisco,
New York, San Diego
Vietnamese 1,419,539 0.5% Los Angeles, San Jose,
Houston, Dallas
French 1,301,443 0.4% New York, Washington,
DC, Boston, Miami
Korean 1,141,277 0.4% Los Angeles, New York,
Washington, Chicago
German 1,083,637 0.4% New York, Chicago,
Los Angeles, Washington
Source: Based on U.S. Census Bureau, "Language Spoken at Home" table, Americail
r ?,..C I \ I - _ . .P-1: ...-L - - / m n - I l \
6 Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski

to see the U.S. as an "officially English" nation, regardless of their opinions on


any particular non-English languages; they do not value the idea of public edu-
cation taking place in any language other than English (interested readers can
consult Crawford, 2000; Pavlenko, 2000).
As a result of this landscape, almost all children receive their formal edu-
cation in the U.S. entirely in English. Speakers of non-English languages-
particularly when they are young children--often internalize strong messages
about the inferiority of their family's language. It is no surprise, then, that with
very few exceptions the grandchildren of immigrants to the U.S. (commonly
referred to as the third generation) use English exclusively and retain very little
productive proficiency in the heritage language. We will explore the processes
of language loss in greater detail in Chapters 2 and 3.

Pause to consider. ..
...the ways in which linguistic repression takes place. Have you ever heard
someone say "You're in America, speak English" (or "speak American") or
other signals that non-English languages are not welcome in the U.S.?What
might be the historical and ideological basis of such messages? How does
the educational system promote the superiority of English?

ORIENTATIONS TO LANGUAGE
According to Ruiz (1984),societies tend to view languages from one of three per-
spectives: (1) language-as-problem, (2) language-as-right, and (3) language-as-
resource. It is useful to consider the ways in which these three perspectives can
manifest within the H L classroom, because they result in very different out-
comes. The language-as-problem orientation can manifest itself negatively in
the classroom in many ways:
When H L students lack some of the academic skills valued in formal
school settings, their home language is often incorrectly blamed, lead-
ing some educators to argue that these students should take additional
English classes instead of HL classes.
When teachers are trained only in methods designed for L2 learners,
which often do not work well with HL learners (as we will see through-
out this book), they tend to view Hl.students as problematic because their
language skills do not match those of the textbook or the other students.
As we will see in Chapter 2, the variety of the language spoken by many
heritage learners is sometimes stigmatized. Teachers who view stu-
dents' variety of the language negatively can unintentionally contribute
to students' decision to abandon it altogether rather than suffer shame
through criticisms of their ways of speaking.
An example of the language-as-problem orientation comes from the 19th
century. The U.S. treated indigenous languages as a problem and created
boarding schools to eradicate students' native languages and replace them with
Heritage LanguageTeaching:Research and Practice 1I
!

English. Our aim in this book is to help all language educators, L2 and HL
alike, to see the value of understanding the H L as a resource. The language-
as-resource orientation acknowledges that all natural forms of language have
value and can be used as resources in a number of different ways, including but
not limited to:

Intellectual resource: All human knowledge is constructed in and through


language. Thus, intellectual functioning of any high order is inextricably
involved with language. Research on the intellectual effects of bilingualism
consistently finds that when bilinguals also develop biliteracy, they reap
significant cognitive advantages beyond those of nonliterate bilinguals.
Cultural resource: Language is a critical resource of cultural vitality, both
for the arts and for developing ways to appreciate, speak about, and par-
ticipate in understandings of new forms of representation. Having insider
knowledge of another culture gives one access to different ways of viewing
and understanding the world around them, typically leading to improved
communication between diverse groups.
Economic resource: Globalization has spread wealth away from the 20th-
century colonial powers. New economic powerhouses have emerged in
Asia and in non-English native-speaking parts of Europe. In fact, most of
the world's economy does not function primarily in English. Thus, pro-
ficiency in non-English languages is an important economic and social
resource for heritage learners.
Social resource: Many political, legal, personal, and familial problems reside
in difficulties of communication. Popular culture frequently references
problems of youth and teenagers, family conflict, and political alienation
due to communication difficulties. Language is a central feature in a com-
munity's psychological and organizational well-being, so it deserves direct
attention and cultivation.

There have been some recent advances on the national level of the
language-as-resource orientation toward heritage languages. Starting in the
1990s, grassroots movements to promote HL teaching became more wide-
spread. The late Russ Campbell helped organize a series of meetings to discuss
current knowledge about heritage language maintenance, development, and
revitalization, as well as establish a research agenda. That momentum led to
the first national Heritage Languages in America conference in 1999. A year
later came the Heritage Language Research Priorities conference, followed
by the second National Heritage Languages Conference. Soon thereafter, the
Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages was officially estab-
lished. In 2002 the Heritage Language Jourrzal was founded. Finally, in 2006, the
National Heritage Language Resource Center was founded as one of the fifteen
language resource centers funded by the U.S.Department of Education, with
yearly research institutes, multiple conferences and workshops, and online
resources. Clearly, heritage languages are gaining increased recognition in this
country, and it is important that they garner the same respect and recognition
within our classrooms.
- 8
-- - --
Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski
- - - ..

Pause to consider. ..
How can teachers-not only heritage language teachers but also teachers
of other content areas-promote the orientation of language as a resource?
Think of several concrete ways in which we can help the following groups
understand the value of all languages as well as the benefits of bi(or multi)
lingualism: students, colleagues, parents, the larger community.

HERITAGE LANGUAGE EDUCATION


As we have mentioned, in the U.S.it is unfortunately still common that non-
English languages are treated as a problem. Even most programs labeled
"bilingual education" have as their primary goal to transition the children to
all-English instruction as soon as possible; that is, there is no simultaneous goal
for students to maintain or develop their heritage language. Most elementary
school years in the U.S.are thus devoted entirely to education through English.
By the time students get to high school and are permitted to study a second lan-
guage, their heritage language has often atrophied considerably (this pheno-
menon will be explored in greater detail in Chapters 2 and 3). Such a policy of
neglect is counterintuitive when we consider how greatly individual students
as well as the nation collectively could benefit from HL speakers who are also
formally educated in their HLs.
Even though the language-as-right philosophy embraces students' heritage
languages as something they have a right to speak, many language teachers
still view heritage learners' varieties of that language as a problem, often "cor-
recting" them with criticisms such as "You don't say X; you say Y." We will
discuss an in-depth approach for how to deal with the variation present in HL
learners' language varieties in Chapter 2. Traditional L2 courses are especially
ill-suited to these students' strengths and needs, and can even be detrimental to
their self-esteem. This issue is explored in greater depth throughout this book.

Pause to consider. , .
. ., the case of a proficient English speaker who seeks; to fulfill his Eng-
lish requirement in high school or college through an English as a Second
Language (ESL) course. Would the school permit him to do so? Would the
student necessarily get an "easy A" because he already speaks English? Do
you think this is similar to the case of a heritage learner with strong profi-
ciency in the heritagelanguage taking a course designed for second
language learners?

There is a growing presence of educational programs designed for heritage


learners of many different languages. To date there has not been a national sur-
vey of the presence of heritage language programs at different course levels
--
Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice
~ ..
9

and in different languages. We mentioned earlier that 9% of high schools and


40% of U.S. colleges and universities offer Spanish as a heritage language
(Rhodes & Branaman, 1999; Beaudrie, 2012). At the elementary school level,
researchers have estimated 84 hoshuukoo Japanese programs (Kataoka, Koshi-
yama, & Shibata, 2008), 600 Chinese programs (Chao, 1997) with approxi-
mately 258,000 students enrolled (Kondo-Brown et al., 2013, p. 29), and 1,000
Korean programs (Shin, 2005) in the U.S. Some of these are within state school
districts; others are community-based. As these types of educational oppor-
tunities continue to grow, along with the population of students who benefit
from them, addressing the pedagogical concerns of HL students and teachers
becomes an important issue.
Despite their linguistic and cultural potential, heritage language students
present a number of daunting challenges to language programs. This book
addresses many of the issues and questions that teachers of heritage learners
should consider, including the following:

What is my role as a language instructor for heritage learners? How do I


help them strengthen their HL? Should I correct their language produc-
tion, and if so, how do I do so without sending a message that their way
of speaking is a problem rather than a resource?
How do I help heritage learners transfer academic and linguistic skills
from English to their heritage language?
How do I meet the needs of my heritage learners when they have no alter-
native but to enroll in L2 classes and are mixed together with L2 learners?
What teaching approaches would work best for heritage learners?

As we will explore throughout this book, HL students have different lin-


guistic and affective needs than L2 students, and as a result, instruction should
occupy itself with a very different knowledge base and set of skills. However,
there is a perturbing erroneous assumption evident in schools throughout the
United States: that teachers who have studied second language acquisition
and have been trained in L2 methodology will automatically make good HL
teachers. This occurs even at institutions that are responsive enough to heritage
learners to offer a separate HL track. It is useful to illustrate the fallacy of this
assumption through a comparison with the field of English teacher training.
Nearly all postsecondary English departments maintain a clear curricular dis-
tinction between those studying to become ESL teachers and those studying to
become native English language arts teachers. It is not assumed that ESL teach-
ers will be successful native language arts teachers, nor vice versa. In fact, state
requirements demand separate coursework and award different endorsements
and certifications in these two fields.
The L2 field is in dire need of recognizing a similar important distinction.
Table 1.2 suggests the content areas in which HL teachers should be knowl-
edgeable in order to teach successfully, using examples from Spanish but likely
applicable to other HLs as well.
Based on these descriptions of teacher competencies, Potowski and Carreira
(2004) sought to determine whether traditional L2 teacher training programs
are adequate to prepare teachers to work with heritage learners. They analyzed
10 Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski

TABLE 1.2 Necessary Teacher Competencies for Teaching Heritage Learners of Spanish
Teachers of heritage learners should meet the requirements expected of all teachers of
Spanish. In particular, teachers of heritage learners should demonstrate the following
competencies:
1. Advanced language proficiency
2. Knowledge of appropriate pedagogical principles in language expansion and
enrichment
3. Theories of cognitive processes that underlie bilingualism
4. Theories of social and linguistic processes that underlie bilingualism and
languages in contact
5. Knowledge of the sociolinguistic dynamics of the heritage language around the
world and as a viable system of communication in the United States
6. Knowledge and understanding of the connections of the students' home culture
with those of their families' countries of origin
7. Understanding the social, political, and emotional issues associated with having
various degrees of proficiency in one's heritage language
8. Ability to elicit and respond appropriately to students' attitudes toward studying
their heritage language
9. Differentiatinginstruction to respond to the diierent proficiencies and learning
styles of students
10. Knowledge of sound procedures in language course placement
11. Advocating for heritage learners and promoting the importance of the heritage
language program within the school
12. Knowledge of literacy development theories and best practices
13. Knowledge of theories and pedagogies related to the acquisition of formal registers
14. Knowledge of the local heritage cominunities with whom they will be working
Source: Based on Garcia and Blanco (2000), Potowski (2005), Webb and Miller (2000),
and AATSP (2000).

37 L2 methods course syllabi in 23 states3 and found that only one syllabus
mentioned heritage language issues, even though some of the universities were
located in areas with heritage Spanish-speaking populations large enough to
support Spanish HL courses for undergraduates at those very universities. Of
the seven most popular textbooks used in those syllabi, only two mentioned
HL issues, totaling eight pages of material. Thus, most of the areas in Table 1.2
appear not to be covered in typical L2 methodology courses, nor are these top-
ics likely to have been studied by teachers when they were undergraduates or
graduate students (particularly when their language degrees were awarded
from predominantly literature-based language departments).The present book
seeks to improve heritage language education by addressing these necessary
teacher competencies.
3~lthoughthe sample of syllabi is not large enough to make generalizationsabout L2 methods instruc-
tion across the United States, the courses represented by these syllabi are clearly insuffiaent to prepare
teachers who work with heritage language speakers. In addition, an informal survey taken of teach-
ers in twelve states revealed that only one state had requirements for HL teachers, and no state had
standards for heritage language instruction (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2001). No state currently
offers certification or endorsement for public school teachers who teach heritage language courses.
Heritage LanguageTeaching:Research and Practice 1 11

Pause to consider. . .
. . . the fourteen areas of competency recommended in Table 1.2 for teachers
of heritage learners. Which three do you feel are most important, and why?
In what ways can teachers learn about those areas?

SUMMARY
Of the three views of linguistic diversity proposed by Ruiz (1984)-language as
a resource, language as a right, and language as a problem-the first two, language
as a resource and as a right, are the ones most commonly espoused by success-
ful modem educators. Using these perspectives to recognize and address the
linguistic and affective needs of heritage learners-which include developing
confidence in their heritage language skills, reconnecting with family members,
maintaining cultural traditions, and communicating with the larger heritage
community-are of primary importance. There are additional potential ben-
efits to working effectively with heritage learners. Their linguistic and cultural
skills can play a vital role in the security and economic prosperity of the nation.
Heritage language learners also represent a large potential source of enrollments
to L2 programs in the U.S., particularly in Spanish. Most importantly, equipping
HL students with additional skills in their HL will better prepare them for a
future in which they can effectively serve their own HL community as well as
interact with larger global communities that speak their HL.Encouraging stu-
dents to see the value in their HL and culture is a primary goal of I-IL education.
The fact that today's second language classrooms are increasingly popu-
lated by heritage language learners provides a strong argument that all lan-
guage teachers should receive professional preparation for working effectively
with these students - not just those assigned to the HL classroom. This is simi-
lar to recent movements in K-12 education that advocate for all teachers, not
just "bilingual" or ESL teachers, to receive professional preparation in working
with English language learning children (Samson & Collins, 2012). Valdes and
her colleagues caution us that "inappropriate instruction may actually have a
much greater impact on the abandonment of home languages by young peo-
ple" (Vald&s,Fishman, et al., 2008, p. 22), meaning that there is a lot riding on
effective heritage language instruction.
In this book we seek to offer concrete ideas on how to achieve this goal
of effective heritage language instruction. Wherever possible, we cite relevant
research on heritage learners. However, some areas of HL language develop- .
ment and instruction have not yet received research attention. In those areas
we cite research with L2 learners and sometimes with L1 native language arts
instruction as well, in an attempt to offer informed hypotheses about best class-
room practices with heritage learners. We hope to create dialogue between
teachers with their valuable classroom experiences and researchers who can
carry out qualitative and quantitative research on the many important aspects
of heritage language learning and development.
12
- .
I Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski - -
-- -

KEY CONCEPTS
1.Second/ World language 5. Official language/minority
education language
2. Heritage speaker/learner 6. Language as a problem/resource/
3. L2 learner right
4. Heritage language education

DISCUSSION QUESnONS
1. Think about the minority languages that are common in the area of the U.S.
in which you live. Are these languages generally treated as a problem, a
right, or a resource in the community and in the schools?
2. It is often the case that second language learners are praised for the language
skills they develop in Spanish, Chinese, French, Korean, and so on, while
heritage learners of these languages are criticized for the ways they speak
these languages. Why do you believe this occurs? How can this be changed?
3. Consider how you might justify to administrators, fellow teachers, and par-
ents the need for heritage language speakers to formally study their HL.
How might you use the ideas of language as a problem, right, or resource
to present your case? See the TEDx talk by Potowski called "No Child Left
Monolingual" for additional ideas.
4. Examine the websites of the National Heritage Language Resource Center
and/or the Alliance for Heritage Languages. Report on two or three concrete
activities of these groups that you find interesting.

FOR FURTHER READING


Brecht, R., & Ingold, C. (2002). Tapping a national resource: Heritage languages
in the United States. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC:ERIC Clearinghouse
on Languages and Linguistics. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/
fulltext/ED464515.pdf
Pavlenko, A. (2002). "We have room for but one language here": Language
and national identity in the US at the turn of the 20th century. Multilingua,
21(2/3), 163-196.
Peyton, J., Ranard, D., & McGinnis, S. (2001). Heritage languages in America:
Preserving a national resource. McHenry, IL: Delta Systems.
Potowski, K. (2011). Language diversity in the United States. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Valdbs, G. (1995). The teaching of minority languages as academic subjects:
Pedagogical and theoretical challenges. Modern Language Journal, 79(3),
299-328.
Webb, J., & Miller, B. (2000). Teaching heritage language learners: Voices frarn the
classroom. Yonkers, NY: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages.
I
Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice

CHAPTER 2

General Sociolinguistic
Considerations

Chapter 1 introduced the idea that for teachers to work effectively with heri-
tage learners, their knowledge base must include sociolinguistic considerations.
This chapter explores such concepts, including dialects, registers, "standard"
language, languages in contact, and language shift. Throughout this chapter
we offer suggestions about how teachers can best apply knowledge of these
concepts to heritage language teaching.

"LANGUAGES" VERSUS "DIALECTS"


Some people understand the difference between "languages" and "dialects"
to be as follows. If two speakers can understand each other-say, an English
speaker from Canada and another English speaker from South Africa-then
they are speaking different dialects of the same language. This is referred to
as nzutual intelligibility. But if two speakers cannot understand each other-for
example, a French-only speaker from Paris and a Norwegian-only speaker from
Oslo-they are said to speak two different languages because they have zero
mutual intelligibility. Spanish is one of the languages with the greatest number
of different dialects in the world (for example, see http://dialectos.osu.edu/
default.cfm). Yet speakers from all Spanish-speaking nations can communicate
with each other with relatively minimal intelligibility issues.
However, this definition has several problems. First, there are situations
such as in China, where some parties, including the government, claim that
every mainland Chinese person speaks "a dialect of Chinese," although many
of these people cannot understand each other. This is an example of what are
really different languages being called dialects of one language, in an attempt
to create a sense of national unity. It must be recalled, however, that these
languages use a common orthography, which means they are "more related"
to each other than are other "unrelated" languages. A somewhat opposite
example comes from Catalonia (the northeast region of Spain that includes
Barcelona), where the Catalan language is widely spoken. Some people who
14 Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski

live in the Catalonian region of Valencia say that they speak "Valencian" and
claim that it is a separate language from Catalan, although there is almost
100% mutual intelligibility with the Catalan spoken in the rest of Catalonia. In
this example, opposite from the Chinese example, people are seeking to distin-
guish themselves from others with whom they share the same language.
There are at least two additional problems with the "mutual intelligibility"
yardstick. Many speakers of Spanish and Italian say that they can communi-
cate rather well with each other-but linguists typically agree that Spanish and
Italian are in fact two different languages. Finally, there can be asymmetrical
degrees of "intelligibility" between groups of speakers. For example, Norwe-
gians report understanding Danish and Swedish much better than Danes and
Swedes report understanding Norwegian.
Another approach to understanding the difference between language and
dialect is that of power and prestige. Yiddish sociolinguist Max Weinreich is
credited with popularizing the phrase "A language is a dialect with an army
and navy." This underscores the role of social and political conditions in the
way people understand the status of ways of speaking: when a group of people
controls military power, their way of speaking enjoys elevated status. Similarly,
it is sometimes mistakenly thought that the prestigious variety of a language is
"the language" in some true sense of the word (for instance, a more pure or
more correct version), while less prestigious varieties are called "dialects" of
that language. This is not true. In linguistic terms, everyone speaks a dialect of
a language.
The following analogy about ice cream can be helpful in understanding
the linguistic relationship between dialects and language. If you walk into
an ice cream store and simply order "ice cream," the person working behind
the counter will not be able to serve you anything. This is because you did
not specify whichflavor you want. "Ice cream" is a generic concept, and while
we can all agree, in a general sense, on what ice cream is, it really only exists
and can be consumed through its different flavors. Similarly, "language" is a
generic concept, and while we can all agree on what "Vietnamese," "Italian,"
and "English are, these languages only exist and can be spoken through their
dialects. For example, the "English language" (like "ice cream") is an abstract
concept that no one actually speaks! You can only speak a dialect, such as
Australian English, U.S. English, Indian English, or Irish English. Dialects are
like ice cream flavors; everyone speaks at least one of them.
Furthermore, national dialects can be broken down further into regional
and ethnic dialects. U.S.English has many dialects, such as New York English
or Chicano English, and UK English includes dialects like Yorkshire English
and Black Country English. A few other examples, with some concrete gram-
matical differences, are shown in Table 2.1. An asterisk "*" before a sentence
means that it is not grammatical in a particular dialect.
Thus, every single person who speaks a language by definition speaks a par-
ticular dialect of that language. Linguists have long underscored that all dialects
are rule-governed and equal in value (we will return to specific examples later
in this chapter). But from a sociopolitical perspective, some dialects are accorded
higher prestige than others. This chapter explores the relevance of this issue in
the HL classroom because, in the case of HL learners, the dialect acquired in the
Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice iI 15
I

TABLE 2.1 Dialectal Differences in Grammatical Systems


Language Dialect Construction
English United States Which teariz is losirzg?
*Whichtearit are losing?
England Whiclr teanz are losirig?
*Whicfrtearrl is losirtg?
Spanish Mexico No s t si tierles fienzpo. = Ifclause
No st si tengas tiernpo. = Indirect question
Most other Spanish- No s t si tierzes tierlzpo. = Ifclause
speaking countries *No st si tertgas fientpo.
Arabic Egyptian Ma ba ha bbesh el-ahwa = I don't like coffee.
*Ba ha bbesh el-ahwa
Jordanian Ba ha bbesh el-ahwa = I don't like coffee.
*Thesentence is not grammatical in a particular dialect.

home is sometimes a stigmatized variety of the language. In other words, relat-


ing back to our ice cream analogy, it is often the case that one flavor is considered
less prestigious than another. Why are some dialects stigmatized, while others
are considered prestigious? A group's way of speaking can be stigmatized and
considered "inferior" for at least three reasons. Dialects may:
Be common to rural areas. In many parts of the world, things that are
urban are deemed more prestigious than those that are rural. This
often goes hand in hand with levels of formal education, whereby it is
assumed (often incorrectly) that rural features represent less "educated"
ways of speaking.
Be associated with marginalized social/etlznic groups. For example,
African American English (AAE) in the U.S. is often (incorrectly) consid-
ered less valid than other forms of U.S. English. AAE is equally as valid,
but it is stigmatized and viewed negatively in most formal contexts.
Exhibit features that indicate direct and recent contact with another lan-
guage, including phenomena such codeswitching and borrowings, to
which we will return later in this chapter.

I Pause to consider ...


1 . . .examples of dialect variation in any of the languages you speak. Have
I speakers of other dialects ever showed a surprised or negative reaction to the
1 way you said something? What did that person say and how did you react?
Why is it important to understand the concept of dialect when teaching
heritage learners? Many heritage learners speak stigmatized dialects. Sociolin-
guistically well-informed teachers recognize that, while some dialects are stig-
matized, they are all equally valid. To continue the ice cream analogy, we can
probably all agree that vanilla and chocolate are more common or "standard"
--.-..--16
- - - .
Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski

flavors of ice cream--but this does not mean that rocky road or mint chocolate
chip are "incorrect" in any way, Applying this analogy to language, educators
must recognize that there are many different ways of speaking, and that one
"flavor" or dialect is no more correct than another. In Chapter 4 we will return
to ways in which teachers can fruitfully address issues of dialect prestige.

WHAT IS "REGISTER"?
In addition to the fact that we all speak a geographic and social dialect of a
language, practically every speaker also moves between various styles of speak-
ing. Register is the term used to describe the different levels of formality we use
with different interlocutors (that is, our listeners or readers). When we give a
formal speech to an assembly or to classmates, we tend to speak in a more for-
mal register. Likewise, when we "hang out" with friends, we use a very different
style of speaking. Adjusting our register refers to our ability to adapt our speech
to our interlocutors and the communicative event. Even people who have not
received a formal education in their native language(s) are able to use different
registers; for example, in all dialects of English, it is fairly common knowledge
when it is appropriate to use "Could you please pass the salt?" versus "Girnme
the salt." Different registers of speech are learned as part of the normal language
acquisition and socialization process that all children go through.
Heritage speakers are usually aware of the fact that a different style of
speaking is required with certain people. However, they sometimes do not have
the repertoire in their heritage language in order to carry out more formal reg-
isters. The following analogy is useful in understanding why heritage speakers
typically have a preponderance of informal language features, and the way that
we as teachers can respond in a sociolinguistically informed way. Think about
what you typically wear to a beach, versus what you wear to a formal wedding
in a cathedral, temple, or some other formal locale. Before continuing, take a
moment to fill in the chart below with some of your ideas.

Clothes Commonly Worn To the Beach Clothes Commo~tlyWon1 To a Weddittg


Women Men Women Men

I
Heritage LanguageTeaching: Research and Practice 17

You probably listed very different articles of clothing for the beach (includ-
ing sandals, shorts, bathing suits) versus the wedding (possibly including a
gown, suit and tie, formal shoes). Now consider what would happen if a couple
were to show up at the formal wedding wearing the beach attire. What might
the other people in attendance say? "What, are they crazy?! Look at what they're
wearing! That is totally inappropriate." Next consider what would happen if
the couple were to show up at the beach, but wearing the formal wedding attire
(and for this example, they are not attending a beach wedding!). What might
the other beachgoers think? "Wow, those people must be uncomfortably hot!
Why are they wearing those clothes? That is totally weird."
What do these reactions have in common? In both cases the couple was con-
sidered to be dressed in a way that was unexpected. Notice that it was never
suggested that the bathing suit, the tie, the high heels, or the tuxedo were "incor-
rect." This is because an article of clothing cannot be incorrect. Clothing can be
unexpected, inappropriate, ill fitting, out of fashion, mismatched, and maybe
even ugly, but we cannot call any garment inherently "incorrect." Garments of
clothing simply exist; there is nothing "correct" or "incorrect" about them.
It is similar with language. While it is certainly true that learners (both L2
and HL) produce language uses that are grammatically incorrect, when an entire
community uses a particular way of speaking, as sociolinguistically informed
teachers we cannot label it incorrect. It may represent an unexpected use of lan-
guage in certain communicative events, and we should engage our students in
an analysis of why it is considered as such. For example, writing "cuz" instead of
"because" in a school essay is an instance of an unexpected use of language, not
because "cuz" is "incorrect" but rather because it is too informal for the specific
academic writing assignment. And despite the fact that it is not incorrect, its use
will likely have negative consequences for a student who produces it in a formal
essay. In another example, saying "She don't want none" is not incorrect either
(despitewhat "official" grammar books say; we will return to the concept of pre-
scriptive grammar later in this chapter), but it will likely not be well received in
most formal speeches. It is also true that when we bump into a friend in the hall-
way, it would be bizarre to ask, "At what time is our engagement this evening?"
instead of "When are we meeting later?" Thus, using language in an unantici-
pated way-language that is either too formal or too informal for the particular
communicative exchange-may result in reactions ranging from an odd look
to costing someone a position during a job interview. Understanding these lan-
guage differences and making our students aware of them and of their commu-
nicative consequences is, we feel, one of the central jobs of the HL teacher.
Let us take the beach/wedding analogy a bit further. Heritage speakers
often show up to our language classes with knowledge of "beach Arabic,"
"beach Korean," or "beach Spanish." That is, they have bathing suits, sandals,
and shorts in their heritage language. However, they do not have "wedding
Arabic/Korean/Spanish," such as a suit and tie or a gown. Why is it often the
case that, particularly when they were raised in the U.S.from a young age,
heritage speakers have both beach and wedding attire in English, but they have
only beach attire in the heritage language? It is likely because every formal
communicative event they have had to carry out in their lives has taken place
in English. That is, almost every time they wrote a school essay, spoke to an
18 Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski

elder stranger, or carried out a bank transaction, it was in English. Thus, their
"wardrobe" in English contains a wider variety of clothing that is useful for
both formal and informal events. However, they typically did not have many
opportunities to "attend formal events" (such as writing essays, speaking with
strangers, or going to the bank) in their heritage language. The informal context
of their homes, much like the "beach" in our analogy, allowed them to develop
only an informal "wardrobe" (register) in the heritage language.
As heritage language teachers, what should our reaction be when students
show up to the "wedding" that is our classroom, but they are wearing bath-
ing suits? Do we wonder, "What, are they crazy?! Look at what they're wear-
ing!" and tell them that their ways of speaking are "incorrect"? Think back to
the Pause to consider. . . box on page 3 in this chapter-how might such com-
ments make our students feel? In contrast, a teacher who is sociolinguistically
informed could ask their students to carry out an informal investigation on a
particular language use so that they can arrive themselves at the notion that
certain forms are used more frequently in certain settings.
Here is an example from Spanish, where the verb haber can be realized in
the present subjunctive as either haiga (stigmatized) or lraya (prestigious).After
alerting our students to the two forms, without further explanation, we could
assign our students to observe pre-prepared clips of lectures, news, and other
formal events as well as telenovelas (soap operas) or media that use more infor-
mal speech, all of which include the use of lzaiga and haya. Students could then
be asked to discuss their results with each other the following class period. This
activity exposes students to more formal uses of the H L as well as having them
critically examine which forms are used in which context. The teacher can then
lead the students in a discussion that includes ideas such as these:
As you can see, haiga and Izaya, despite sharing the same meaning and
deriving from the same verb, are used in different contexts. We saw
that most formal contexts use haya. But this does not mean that we
never hear haya in informal contexts. Nor does it mean that we never
hear haiga in formal contexts, although it is less frequent. Choosing
which form to use when, and understanding the implications of your
choices and what reactions they might cause, are our primary goals in
this class. Being able to use both forms will make you a more versatile
speaker and writer of the language.
Next the teacher might have the whole class read some formal texts and
underline the uses of Izaya. He might spend time explaining the origins of the
form haiga and how it became stigmatized in modern Spanish. He could also
send students to Mark Davies's Spanish corpus and have them search for the
word haiga (http://www.corpusdelespanol.org/). Allowing students to dis-
cover first-hand the high frequency of this word in both the past and the present
likely legitimizes their varieties more than hearing the teacher's explanations.
Importantly, the teacher can also encourage students not to eliminate haiga
from their Spanish. When we attend a wedding wearing formal clothes, no one
expects us to throw away our bathing suits! We need our bathing suits when-
ever we go to the beach. In the same way, our students might prefer to use lzaip
when they speak informally with family and community members. Finally, this
I
Heritage LanguageTeaching:Research and Practice j 19

teacher would be patient while the student "tries on" and acquires the appro-
priate use of the new article of clothing to see how it fits (that is, how it is used
in formal contexts)'.

Pause to consider ...


What are two examples in the heritage language you teach that should be
approached in a similar way as the form haiga in the example above?

LANGUAGES IN CONTACT
In the previous section we mentioned that a linguistic use can be stigmatized
because it suggests recent contact with another language. Language contact is
almost as old as humanity itself. There are a number of linguistic phenomena that
typically result from language contact, including codeswitching, borrowing, and
extensions. We will briefly explain examples of each of these phenomena and dis-
cuss their role in the HL classroom (for a more complete discussion of language
contact terminology and phenomena, see Thomason & Kaufrnan, 1988).

Phenomenon I : Codeswitching
Codeswitching refers to the use of two (or more) languages in a single turn or
speech act. It can happen at the boundary between two sentences (intersenten-
tial) or within the same-sentence (intrasentential), as shown in Examples 2.1
and 2.2 below. Note that intrasentential codeswitching does not need to involve
a large phrase, nor does it require that one remain in the "switched" language.

Example 2.1 : Intersentential codeswitching

"I have to be home by 4:OO. Si no, mi lzermano sale sin mi."


Example 2.2: Intrasentential codeswitching

"If I don't get home by 4:00, mi hermano sale sin mi."

Some people think that codeswitching happens because speakers do not


know how to say particular words in one of their languages. This can certainly
be true at times, but a study carried out by Zentella (1997) showed a different
picture. The author recorded five Puerto Rican girls speaking in a variety of dif-
ferent contexts over a period of 10 years. She found that 75% of the time, when
the girls codeswitched, they did in fact know how to say the word in the language
they had been speaking before they codeswitched. Evidence for this was that the
girls had produced those words in the other language in earlier recordings.

'We must also acknowledge that some forms that are in fact used by groups of speakers in formal
contexts would be considered inappropriate by other speakers. In our analogy: Different comrnuni-
ties consider different kinds of attire appropriate for a wedding.
20 - Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski
- . .

Why do people codeswitch, then, if they know how to say the words they
need in the language they had been speaking first? There are many different
reasons that bilinguals engage in codeswitching: to quote what someone else
said, either directly or indirectly; to provide emphasis or clarification; to change
topics; or to convey a meaning that is culturally tied to one language more than
the other, to name a few. In the same way that an English monolingual exer-
cises communicative options when choosing words like "huge," "massive," or
"humongous," a bilingual exercises communicative options in going back and
forth between languages. Chinese HL scholar Anges He's study showed how
bilinguals mixed English and Chinese at multiple levels of phonemes, mor-
phemes, syllable structures, tones, noun and verb phrases, and clauses through
a full range of verbal resources from both languages that are simultaneously
accessible to the speakers. Based on her findings, she argues that
pushing and breaking perceptible linguistic boundaries, [Chinese] HL
speakers celebrate their multi-competence, traverse invisible cultural
and identity boundaries, and employ and enjoy both languages at
all ages and proficiency levels in transient and transcendent multi-
performances, which in turn can become a rich resource for heritage
language socialization across the lifespan. (He, 2013, p. 304)
It is important to note that codeswitching is a constraint-governed behavior.
This means that speakers do not change languages back and forth at random
points in a sentence; there are very strong tendencies2 that govern where it is
"OK to switch languages and where not to switch. The principal tendency is
this: almost without exception, codeswitches obey the syntactical rules of both
languages at the same time. That is, the grammatical rules of neither Language
1nor Language 2 are violated. Studies have shown that most bilinguals agree
on which codeswitches sound "natural" and which do not--even though there
are no lists of rules that parents explicitly pass down to their children about
how to codeswitch. Codeswitching is just another part of the internal grammar
system that many bilinguals develop naturally as they interact with other bilin-
guals in the community.

Pause to consider , ..
.. .
the following codeswitches. In each language, Wo of the examples are
considered felicitous (they sound "OK"to most people) &d two are infelic-
itous (probably no m e would ever say them). If you speak Arabic, Russian,
or Spanish: Can you determine which two examples are infelicitous and
which two are felicitous? Can you propose what grammatical "rule" makes
certain codeswitches sound wrong? If you teach a different language, search
online for (or try to generate) a few examples that sound OK and a few that
do not, and explain what the rule might be.

'~nterestedreaders can consult sources such as Poplack (1980) to learn more about the grammatical
constraints on codeswitching.
Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice
21
--..

Arabic
1. I like to aruuh.
2. Ana mish munkin to fall in love with her.
3. She told me to go, bes ma-ha beit- sh.
4. FaWcarf innak you wanted to come.

Russian
1. Ona skazala mne to call her when I am done.
2. With any luck nasha kornanda pobedit.
3. This malchik skazal mame good-bye.
4. Ne take moju kurtku.

Spanish
1. Yo went to la store para buy the ensalada.
2. Le dijo que she didn't want to wait any longer.
3. If you don't bring a jacket te va a darfrio.
4. La ardilla no had anything else to offer his friend besides beans, but
he se lo ofreci6 con generosidad.
For additional examples in Spanish, check out the "iHablaya!" series on
YouTube.
Answers are found at the end of this chapter.

Far from being a behavior that shows a lack of linguistic proficiency,


codeswitching actually requires a high level of competency in both languages.
Some researchers, including McClure (1981), Poplack (1980), and Zentella
(1997), have shown that heritage speakers with weak proficiency in the heritage
language do much "simpler" codeswitching than those who have strong pro-
ficiency in the heritage language. In addition, many teachers have noticed that
L2 students, too, mix languages. Sometimes, particularly when the L2 students
are very advanced, these switches resemble native bilinguals' codeswitch-
ing (Liebscher & Dailey-O'Cain, 2004). However, other studies suggest that
L2 learners codeswitch differently than native bilinguals (Potowski, 2009).
As HL educators, we must recognize the normalcy of the practice of
codeswitching within bilingual communities. Far from being random, indica-
tive of "lazine~s,"~ or proof of a lack of linguistic knowledge, codeswitching is
evidence of a strong level of proficiency in both languages. Because codeswitch-
ing is typically used in informal contexts with people the speakers know well,
and recalling our earlier analogy of wedding (formal) versus beach attire, it
may be considered an example of "beach" language. Thus, like our favorite
pair of jeans, it is not something teachers should disparage or seek to eradicate.

3~ilingualPuerto Rican comedian Bill Santiago writes, "I happen to speak two languages and use
them both. What's so lazy-brained about that? I happen to have two legs, too, but nobody ever
accuses me of being perezoso [lazy] because I don't hop around on just one!"
22 Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski

Teachers working from an informed sociolinguistic approach respect students'


codeswitching while trying to encourage them to generate more formal (in this
case, monolingual) speech and writing in the classroom context. These teach-
ers also understand that bilinguals are not two monolinguals "rolled into one."
Linguists long ago rejected this idea, because in order to develop a monolin-
gual system, one must live a monolingual life. It is simply not tenable for one
person to live one life in one language and a parallel life, complete with all
of the same experiences, in another language. Although some bilinguals may
seem "balanced" in their two languages, most are more proficient or comfort-
able talking about particular topics in one of their languages. Thus, teachers
should not have as a goal for heritage learners to "pass" as monolingual speak-
ers of the HL.
Interestingly, some research suggests tangible benefits when students
learn about when codeswitching is permitted. Nichols and Colon (2000), for
example, found that heritage speakers who were permitted to write first drafts
of their compositions in codeswitched language and later transform them
into monolingual Spanish texts produced much higher quality essays in both
content and organization. Similarly, although most teachers prefer to use the
heritage language 100%of the time, Macaro (2001) points out that "there is vir-
tually no research demonstrating that staying in the L2 vs. switching to the L1
in specific circumstancesleads to better learning." In other words, there may be
tangible learning benefits for students when the teacher makes judicious use of
codeswitching in both the L2 and the HL contexts.

Pause to consider .. .
.. .what the role of codeswitching might be in the HL classroom. Should it
be completely excluded or promoted by the students and by the teacher? At
what levels of instruction, and in what activities, might codeswitching serve
as a useful bridge for students studying an academic variety of the heritage
language?

Phenomenon 2: Borrowings
The second phenomenon of languages in contact to be described here are lexical
borrowings. This refers to taking a word from Language B that did not previ-
ously exist in Language A and "dressing it up" so that it looks and sounds like
it belongs to Language A. There are many borrowings in English from other
languages, such as mammoth, sputnik, and vodka (from Russian), bandanna, guru,
and jungle (from Hindi/Urdu), and patio, corral, and mustang (from Spanish).
There are several reasons why borrowings happen. Psycholinguistic
research has shown that the human mind produces language based on
frequency-the more often we hear or use a word, the more likely we are to
produce it. Because the dominant language of the United States is English, it is
not uncommon to hear many words that are of English origin make their way
into non-English languages. In addition to frequency effects, sociolinguistic
Heritage LanguageTeaching: Research and Practice
I
23

researchers have suggested that there may be cultural motivations for lexical
borrowings. For example, Otheguy and Garcia (1993)conducted interviews with
25 bilingual individuals who had moved to New York City as adults. They had
lived their own childhoods entirely in Spanish in Latin America, and had raised
their children in the U.S.When talking about their own childhoods, they used
Spanish words like el comedor escolar (lunch room), ellla director(a1 (school
principal), and el edificio (building). But when talking about their children's
experiences, they used the English borrowings el lunclz room, ella principal, and
el bildin. Obviously these borrowings were not due to any lack of knowledge
of the monolingual Spanish variant, which they had produced several months
prior. The authors proposed that these pairs of concepts did not, in fact, refer to
the same thing in the minds of these speakers. For example, a comedor escolar
is culturally different from el lunch roam in that a comedor is a space devoted to
eating at any time of day, both in homes and in institutions, while a lunchroom's
primary purpose is a midday meal and is found only in institutions. Thus, in
this explanatory account, culturally different concepts require different names.
Whatever the underlying reasons for lexical borrowings, research has
shown that the lexical base of the HL is quite similar to the lexical base of other
monolingual varieties of the language (Carreira, 2000). That is, U.S. Korean is
still highly lexically similar to the Korean language as spoken in Korea. Yet
many people judge lexical variation in bilingual varieties more harshly than
they do in monolingual varieties. For example, if a British person says, "This
queue is too long," although American listeners might not initially understand
the word "queue," they will quickly gather that a "queue" is a line. In addition,
they will not likely judge the person as "speaking poorly." Yet heritage speak-
ers are routinely criticized by monolinguals (including teachers) for employing
lexical borrowings, even if they are perfectly comprehensible.
A sociolinguistically informed HL teacher makes students aware of lexical
differences and, again invoking the beach versus wedding analogy, lets them
know that there are more formal ways to express certain ideas. It merits repeat-
ing that our job is not to tell students that el high sclzool or el bildin are incorrect-
quite the opposite, in fact, because not only are these words not incorrect, they
are the most appropriate choice in various communicative contexts. Instead,
teachers can help students understand that monolingual speakers of the HL
might not understand these words and offer different options to express simi-
lar (though not always equal) concepts. This is aligned with the language-as-
resource approach outlined in Chapter 1 because it does not require students to
abandon ways of speaking, but rather adds on to an already established base of
communicative knowledge.

Pause to consider . ..
What are some common lexical borrowings in your students' speech
or writing? How should these borrowings be treated in the classroofn?
How can teachers use these borrowings as stepping stones in expanding
students' language skills?
24-
- - -- -~
- -
Beaudrie, Ducar, Potowski
- - -- - - -

Phenomenon 3: Extensions (Lexical and Grammatical)


The third phenomenon of language contact involves extensions, either of
semantic meaning or of grammatical structure. As described earlier, borrowings
are words that did not exist in Language A (the heritage language) before con-
tact with Language B (English).An extension involves taking a word or structure
that already exists in Language A and extending it (hence the term "extension")
so that it takes on new meanings that are influenced by Language 8. This often
happens because a word or phrase in Language A looks very similar to the
meaning in Language B. Table 2.2 shows some examples of lexical extensions
in a few languages.
It is easy to find examples of lexical extensions in the heritage languages of
the U.S.Grammatical extensions, however, are relatively less common. Gram-
matical extensions occur when a new meaning is incorporated to a structurally
similar form. These typically consist of more than one word. Some examples of
grammatical extensions appear in Table 2.3.

TABLE 2.2 Examples of Lexical Extensions


New, Extended Used in
Meaning in Meaning in U.S. English Word Monolingual
Language Word Monolingual Varieties Variety It Resembles Varieties
Spaizish form Physical parameters Paperwork to be form formulario
filled out
aplicar To dedicate oneself To seek to apply solicitar
to an activity, or to employment
spread on
To agitate or move To change to move mudarse,
a physical object msidence cambiarse
gospital Military hospital Hospital hospital bol'nitsa
trjuk Circus trick Trick trick sposob, hitrost'
bunmga Piece of paper College essay paper rabota,
sochinenie
Arabic To put To put on labas
clothes
akhadh To take To take a class - daras

TABLE 2.3 Examples of Grammatical Extensions


English Construction It Used in Monolingual
Language U.S.Varieties Resembles Varieties
Spanish* Estd bien conmigo. It's fine with me. Me parece bien.
i Cdmo te gustd? How did you like it? i Te p s t 6 ?
Voy a estar dos mds meses. Two more months. Voy a estar dos meses mbs.
Chinese Wo fang shu zai shubao (li) I put the book in the Wo ba shu fang zai
backpack. shubaoli.
*Examplesfrom Silva-Corvalln (1994).
Heritage LanguageTeaching: Research and Practice
.. 25-.

These three phenomena that result from language contact are summarized
in Table 2.4 with examples from Korean and Spanish in contact with English.
In summary, when languages are in contact, these three phenomena often
result. Given the fact that English has much more prestige and use in the U.S.
than the heritage languages, it is common for heritage languages to show more
influence from English than vice versa4. Some of these phenomena constitute
simplifications of the heritage language. Just as children naturally try to make
language as systematic as possible, so do bilinguals-in particular because man-
aging two languages is an increased cognitive load. Research has shown that
even when a language is not in direct contact with another language, it tends
to simplify its grammar over time. The bilingual mind, like all human minds,
strives to make the most efficient use of its time and resources. As a result, it is
common for the less dominant language to show processes of simplification.
Despite the fact that these phenomena have occurred in almost every
language contact situation throughout time and around the globe, they are
often stigmatized. We saw in Chapter 1that non-English languages are often
viewed with suspicion and negativity in the U.S.What this section has shown
is that, in addition, the particular ways that heritage learners speak these lan-
guages are often stigmatized as well--sometimes by their own family and
community members-because they manifest these three contact phenom-
ena. Thus, the doubly negative message that heritage speakers often receive
is: "Chinese/Hindi/Arabic/Spanish (etc.) is not valued here in the US.,but
especially not the way you speak it." Often, popular speech even refers to U.S.
language varieties by names like Chinglish, Franglais, Japish, or Spanglish.

TABLE 2.4 Three Common Results of Language Contact


Examples from U.S.
Phenomenon Definition Korean Examples from U.S. Spanish
Codeswitching Switching between Pogoshipunde, but No qztiero ir but I don't
languages, either I don't have time today. have much choice.
between two
sentences or in the
middle of a sentence.
Borrowing The language "borrows" grocery shopping, pari for party, rlicle for
or imports a word or a garage, gas nickel, nldizacher for
grammatical use from manager
another language.
Extension The language takes Lexicon: nagada Lexicon: aplicnr for
an already existing ("go out with" -+ date) "to apply" (for a job),
word or phrase and try heba "try it out" Grammar: Gerund in
extends it to encompass subject position: Fuma?ido
a new meaning. es malo para la salud.
C o r m para presidente
"run for president"

4Note,however, that it is not uncommon for the HL to influence heritage learners' English, as in the
Spanish example "Lastnight I dreamt with my grandmother" (Lynch201393).
Another random document with
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not unusual for parties organized for robbery to leave their posts in
violation of the express orders of the general. Of these marauders
few returned, but their fate failed to deter others; the love of plunder
prevailed over every other incentive; and the safety of the troops was
often jeopardized by the misconduct of unprincipled adventurers,
whose insolence and insubordination even the highest authority
seemed unable to restrain. These breaches of order and discipline
were by no means confined to the ranks; every grade of the military
was affected; and no less a personage than the Marquis de los Velez
himself assumed the right to act independently of the commander-in-
chief, and to disregard all orders from head-quarters unless they
suited his convenience or promoted his interest.
The army of Ibn-Abu amounted to twelve thousand men, of whom
four thousand were thoroughly drilled arquebusiers. This force,
though for the most part well equipped, experienced in war, aided by
the advantages of situation, and fighting for liberty on its own ground,
was unable to accomplish any important result, even when engaged
with a demoralized enemy. The achievements of the Moriscoes,
limited to the blockade of a few fortresses and to marauding
expeditions that harassed the cultivators of the Vega, are scarcely
worthy of notice, still less of detailed narration. In the vicinity of
Orgiba and Baza their troops appeared in force, but retired at once
at the approach of the Christians. It was only by the practice of
treacherous methods that the Moorish tactics ever prevailed. The
want of stability and resolution which had proved fatal to the
permanence of the Hispano-Arab empire survived in the final
operations of the Morisco rebellion. The superior steadiness of the
Spanish infantry invariably carried the day, even against
overwhelming odds. The Moors were easily disheartened; after a
trifling repulse it was impossible to rally them; and, even when
protected by fortifications, they could not withstand the dogged
pertinacity which was a prominent trait of the Castilian.
With the appearance of Don John of Austria in the field, hostilities
were prosecuted with more rigor and with greater cruelty. The
unimportant but bloody successes of the Moors had infused into the
Spanish soldiery an even more pitiless spirit than before. The
Austrian prince, at first disposed to leniency, soon became, through
association and prejudice, as unfeeling as the meanest soldier in the
ranks. The siege and assault of Galera, which was the turning-point
of the war, exemplified, in a striking degree, the dominant principle
which actuated the minds of those who directed the campaign. That
town, situated upon an isolated rock, was one of the most strongly
fortified places in Spain. In addition to its position, its facilities for
defence were excellent. Its garrison was composed of three
thousand veterans. Its supplies were ample, and the prudence of
Ibn-Abu, who fully appreciated its value, had long before filled to
overflowing its magazine and its arsenal. Two falconets, one of
which had been captured from the Marquis de los Velez, defended
the castle, an unusual advantage, for the Moriscoes were generally
unprovided even with such insignificant artillery. A concealed gallery
cut through the mountain, and extending below the bed of the river at
its base, provided the inhabitants with water, whose existence,
unknown to the enemy, made its destruction impossible. In addition
to the garrison, the walls of Galera sheltered a population of five
thousand, including residents and refugees.
Every precaution that skill and experience could suggest had
been adopted to strengthen the defences of a place regarded as
already impregnable. Barricades were erected at frequent intervals
in the streets, and between them the houses were pierced with
openings, to facilitate communication and afford means of retreat.
The town, built in terraces upon the sloping rock, offered an
ascending series of lines of resistance. Those ordinarily considered
as non-combatants were animated by a spirit of determination equal,
if not superior, to that of the garrison, and their presence promised to
be an important aid rather than a drawback in the impending contest.
Twelve thousand men, commanded by Don John of Austria in
person, invested Galera on the eighteenth day of January, 1570. The
approaches to the town were defended with stubborn resolution.
When forced behind the walls, it became evident that the position of
the Moriscoes was so strong that ordinary methods of assault must
prove useless. Mining was therefore resorted to; and a passage,
terminating under the citadel, was cut with infinite trouble through the
solid rock. As soon as it was completed, a storming party was
detailed for the attack, and the explosion of forty-five barrels of
gunpowder announced that the mine had been sprung. Little
damage was done to the castle, however; the walls remained intact;
and the Spaniards were driven back with heavy loss. Two other
mines were opened and exploded, and three assaults were made
simultaneously. One explosion effected some injury, but the ruins
raised by the other counteracted it; the loss of the insurgents was
trifling; and again the Spaniards sustained a bloody and serious
repulse.
Another charge, in which the besiegers—infuriated by the fall of
their general, who was struck by a bullet which his armor of proof
fortunately deflected—succeeded in passing the ramparts, procured
for them admission into the streets. Here they were met by scarcely
less formidable obstacles, and their advance was, foot by foot,
contested. Amidst these frightful scenes, the people of Galera vied in
gallantry with the soldiers of the garrison. Old men fought bravely in
the foremost line for the preservation of their homes. The wounded
and dying received the grateful ministrations of delicate women, who
fearlessly exposed themselves to fire in the discharge of the offices
of mercy. Even children of tender years, undismayed by the smoke
and din of battle, carried missiles to repel the enemy. The contest
soon assumed the character of a hand-to-hand encounter. The
barricaded streets, the battlemented houses—built of stone and with
few openings—checked at each step the progress of the assailants.
For nine hours with incessant fury the battle raged. At length the
survivors were driven into an angle of the fortifications from whence
there was no escape. Here, in the face of a relentless foe, the
Moriscoes made their final stand, without the hope of clemency or
the fear of death. Young girls died, scimetar in hand, with a
resolution foreign to their age and sex. Fathers deliberately killed
their wives and children, and then rushed forward to perish on the
weapons of the Spaniards. Even the veterans of Italy, accustomed to
the atrocities characteristic of the wars of the sixteenth century, were
sickened by the frightful carnage. The population was almost
annihilated. Of eight thousand persons who had composed it, fifteen
hundred women and children alone survived the final assault, which,
not inclusive of the losses of the besiegers, cost thirty-six hundred
lives. The avarice of the victors had spared four hundred helpless
captives, whom Don John of Austria, enraged at the casualties which
his army had suffered, caused to be butchered in his presence. In
this diabolical massacre the halberdiers of the royal guard took a
conspicuous part, encouraged by the approving gestures of their
commander, who regarded with pious complacency the
extermination of these rebellious infidels.
The siege of Galera is memorable, not only on account of the
gallantry of the defence, but also from the fact that it indicates the
true beginning of the military career of the future hero of Lepanto.
While in reality reflecting but little credit upon the reputation of that
prince, the popularity he acquired by the achievement discloses the
moral perversity of the public mind in that fanatical age. Not a word
was uttered in censure of the savage vindictiveness directed against
the aged and the helpless, a class whose condition appeals to the
most generous impulses of mankind, but whose fate was universally
applauded by bigots of every degree, as one step more towards the
extirpation of heresy. A spirit of inherent deviltry seemed to
distinguish for centuries the princes of the monarchy established by
Ferdinand and Isabella. The progressive decadence of that
monarchy from the day of its foundation—imperceptible at first, and
concealing the incurable defects of the Castilian polity by the
spurious glory of unprofitable wars and ruinous triumphs, and the
genuine splendors of unparalleled discoveries, whose proceeds
were employed for the oppression and debasement of countless
millions of human beings—is one of the most significant and
instructive events in the history of mankind.
The capture of Galera was a dearly purchased victory. The
character of the resistance offered by its defenders did not afford a
flattering prospect for the success of similar enterprises in the future.
Many important strongholds, as difficult of approach, of equal
strength, and of larger population, were still in the hands of the
insurgents. The fate of the place, while a warning, served rather to
confirm the obstinacy than to arouse the trepidation of the
Moriscoes. Their dauntless courage had left hundreds of their
enemies on the field. The bodies of Moor and Christian alike strewed
the ramparts; and in the streets through which had surged the ever-
advancing tide of battle had fallen many of the most distinguished
nobles in the Spanish service. Realizing the difficulties he was liable
to encounter, Don John made a demand upon the King for men and
money. Reinforcements were easily obtained, but only through the
clergy, who, as a rule, were always ready to profit by a crusade, but
who generally regarded their spiritual aid as abundantly sufficient,
and were never eager to furnish substantial contributions, could
funds for the prosecution of the war be procured. This was
accomplished by the establishment of religious brotherhoods in
every diocese, whose members, by the purchase of indulgences,
could thus perform a service of signal merit to the Church and, at the
same time, secure absolution for their sins. The scheme proved
remarkably successful; and larger sums were eventually collected
than those yielded by the sale of similar concessions issued for this
purpose directly from the Holy See.
Papal influence, at that time predominant in European politics,
had, immediately after the storming of Galera, tendered to the
Austrian prince, through Philip, the place of generalissimo of the
Holy League against the Turks. The vast international interests which
depended upon the proper exercise of this office could not be
neglected or their protection deferred until after many months had
been consumed in suppressing the revolt of a few thousand rebels.
By that time the Ottoman fleet would have obtained the supremacy
of the Mediterranean, and an innumerable horde of bloodthirsty
fanatics have descended upon the continent of Europe. While
military prestige was presumably essential to one accepting a
position of such responsibility and power, the risks were too great
and the field too narrow to seek it in a campaign of such doubtful
results as that against the Moriscoes. Peremptory orders were sent
Don John to hasten by diplomacy what it had been demonstrated
would be both difficult and tedious to secure by arms. An attempt
was therefore made to corrupt the fidelity of Fernando-al-Habaqui,
the favorite councillor of Ibn-Abu, whose wisdom and discernment,
like those of many statesmen of his time, were superior to his
patriotism and integrity. In various interviews, nominally appointed for
purposes relating to the exchange of prisoners, the co-operation of
this influential personage was obtained; he was promised an
unconditional pardon; and the lives of those who surrendered
voluntarily were to be spared. As second in command, he was
enabled to control a large extent of territory in the accomplishment of
his treacherous design; all the detachments of Morisco troops
outside the Alpujarras and within his jurisdiction were suddenly
withdrawn; the dismayed inhabitants were abandoned to their fate;
many of those taken were reduced to slavery or sent to the galleys;
some succeeded in escaping to the mountains; and the entire district
of the River Almanzora, thus driven to submission, yielded such a
multitude of captives that the general, unable to feed or control them,
was compelled to leave them unmolested until arrangements could
be made for their final disposition. A royal decree recently
promulgated had ordered the removal of all the Moriscoes of the
lately conquered districts to Castile. This measure, nominally
adopted for public security, had, in fact, its origin in more ignoble
motives; in the country of the insurgents a considerable number of
Moorish proprietors had succeeded, amidst the general confusion, in
retaining their estates; and the effectual means of disposing of
obnoxious neighbors by enforced migrations had demonstrated its
value when the Moriscoes of the Albaycin had perished miserably on
the highways. The unfortunate victims of state policy and religious
persecution were surrounded and herded like cattle; their number is
unrecorded, but it must have amounted to thousands; the few effects
which they possessed they were generously permitted to sell for a
trifle; and, shelterless and almost naked, they were distributed over
the deserts of La Mancha, where the savage peasantry, considering
them as intruders, inflicted upon these wretched exiles every outrage
which malignity could devise or lawlessness execute. The presence
of the Moriscoes in Castile, at that time a recent event, no doubt
suggested to the fertile mind of Cervantes one of the most
entertaining episodes in the crowning masterpiece of Spanish
literature.
The remaining Morisco strongholds, contrary to general
expectation, and discouraged by the treason of Al-Habaqui, were far
from emulating the heroic example of Galera. Seron, Purchena,
Tijola, all well-fortified towns, submitted without serious resistance.
Negotiations, now authorized by Ibn-Abu, were still carried on with
Al-Habaqui, whose treachery does not seem to have destroyed the
harmony existing between himself and his sovereign. The
impatience of Don John for the termination of hostilities induced him
to publish a proclamation of partial and conditional amnesty. Its
terms granted life to all, without distinction, who within twenty days
should surrender; promised that men between the ages of fifteen
and fifty, who within the specified time should deliver to the proper
officials an arquebuse or a cross-bow, should not be sold as slaves;
and required that the leaders of the revolt, and such as were
unwilling to take advantage of the proclamation, should be given up
as an indispensable preliminary to leniency towards those who
submitted. The ambiguity which pervaded the document caused it to
be regarded with suspicion, and the Moriscoes, who had learned by
repeated experience the duplicity of their enemies, declined to
accept conditions whose uncertainty offered such inducements to
abuse and misconstruction, even if they had not been actually drawn
up for that purpose.
Unable any longer to cope with his adversaries in the open field,
Ibn-Abu adopted the more effective policy of guerilla warfare. His
army, divided into strong detachments, was posted at advantageous
points whence the operations of the enemy could be observed and
communication easily maintained. In this way the invaders were
placed at a great disadvantage. The Moors retired before their
advance; the towns were evacuated; all property was removed or
concealed; convoys were cut off; and the army of the Duke of Sesa,
who commanded the Christians, was almost reduced to extremity by
famine. It became absolutely necessary to establish a base of
supplies, and the Marquis of Favara was despatched with a
considerable force to Calahorra. The Spaniards reached their
destination in safety; but their movements had not escaped the
vigilance of the mountaineers; and their return march, conducted
without the precautions adopted by every wise commander,
encountered an ambuscade in the valley of Ravaha. Here the road,
so constructed that four men could with difficulty move abreast, was
blocked by loaded beasts of burden, purposely left there by the
Moors; and the soldiers, tempted by the hope of plunder, broke into
disorder to seize them. The measures of Ibn-Abu had been taken
with consummate skill. The Spaniards, hopelessly entangled in the
narrow defile and completely surrounded, were ruthlessly
slaughtered. In former attacks the mountains had always resounded
with the piercing war-cries of the assailants, but now not a sound,
save the scattering reports of arquebuses and the whistling of
arrows, broke the ominous stillness of the scene. The advance guard
and the centre had been destroyed before the Marquis was even
apprized of the presence of an enemy. He effected his escape only
by superhuman exertion, and of the sixteen hundred soldiers who
composed his command fourteen hundred atoned for the military
crimes of official negligence and disregard of discipline. On the
Moorish side not a man was killed, and less than twenty were
wounded. History affords but few parallels to the battle of Ravaha
when both the numbers engaged and the immunity of the victors are
considered.
This disaster compelled a precipitate retreat, and, unmolested by
the enemy, who had ample opportunities to intercept them, the
Spaniards fell back upon Adra. Such was their desperate condition
from hunger that the gardens and orchards in the neighborhood
were stripped of everything edible, and the chronicles relate that not
even a leaf remained. The capture of the insignificant fortress of
Castil-de-Ferro, whose garrison numbered less than a hundred, was
the only exploit which relieved the disastrous monotony of the Duke
of Sesa’s campaign. The Alpujarras, although still occupied by the
Moriscoes, were practically untenable. Every hostile army which had
entered their defiles had marked with utter devastation an area of
many square leagues. The fields were laid waste. The villages were
burned. Information of the hidden magazines of the inhabitants was
sold by their countrymen, and the stores destined for the winter were
carried away or destroyed. At many points the peasantry had sought
refuge in caves. It was a favorite diversion of the Spaniards to stifle
these wretches with smoke, like so many wild animals in their
burrows. The survivors were hunted like game through the
mountains. On a single occasion, Don John received a most
acceptable gift of four hundred heads and eleven hundred captives.
It was a remarkable circumstance when any considerable body of
insurgents were taken, for indiscriminate massacre was the rule of
every campaign. It was considered a peculiarly pious and
meritorious action to ransom prisoners and present them to the
Inquisition. The fate for which these unfortunate victims were
reserved made the most shocking enormities of open warfare seem
trivial in comparison.
The relations of Al-Habaqui with the Christians were now
generally known; his influence was constantly solicited by his
countrymen; and his power became so great that even Ibn-Abu
himself was compelled to pay court to his minister, and countenance
proceedings of which he heartily disapproved to avoid incurring the
hostility of a favorite in whom was practically vested the supreme
authority. The latter considered that the time had at last arrived for
the conclusion of his treasonable negotiations. With the countenance
of Ibn-Abu, and accompanied by seventeen Moriscoes of rank, he
met the commissioners of Don John at Andarax. Nothing came of
the conference, but the secret understanding between the minister
and the Spaniards was carried out as pre-arranged. An adroit
substitution of a document embodying the concessions of the
Spaniards for the one containing the demands of the Moriscoes
completed the deception of the latter; the arrogance of the Castilians
caused a withdrawal of the envoys; and Al-Habaqui, with a single
companion, appeared before Don John and, in the name of Ibn-Abu,
gave up his own scimetar and answered for the surrender of the
insurgents. This farce had but little effect, and was speedily
repudiated by the Morisco king. Then Al-Habaqui received eight
hundred gold ducats from the Spanish general, with which to raise a
company whose especial mission it was to bring in Ibn-Abu, dead or
alive. The prominence of Al-Habaqui had turned his head. His
imprudent boasts betrayed him; he was seized by the Turks,
imprisoned, and strangled. The treaty he had negotiated at the
sacrifice of every principle of honor and patriotism died with him. Ibn-
Abu used every expedient to keep the execution of his treacherous
minister from obtaining publicity. Still resolved on resistance, he
hoped by temporizing with the enemy to procure better terms. His
resources were by no means exhausted. Five thousand well-
equipped veterans were under his command. He entertained hopes
of assistance from Africa—that ignis fatuus of every Moslem
revolution, which promised so much and always ended in nothing. In
the mean time all was uncertainty in the Christian camp. Although a
formal capitulation by an authorized functionary had been formally
signed, no insurgents surrendered. The whereabouts of Al-Habaqui
were unknown, and, while his death was unsuspected, his absence
could not be explained. Under a safe-conduct an envoy was
despatched to the Morisco king; he soon ascertained the truth and
carried back a message of defiance. Preparations were at once
made for a renewal of hostilities; the Spanish army, in three
divisions, advanced upon the Alpujarras from as many different
directions, and every effort was exerted to close the war by a
vigorously prosecuted campaign. The situation of Ibn-Abu now
became critical. The country in which he was compelled to operate
had been stripped of everything that could sustain life. Much of it that
a few years previously exhibited a high degree of cultivation had
been transformed into a primeval solitude, where only the charred
remnants of once flourishing settlements attested the former
presence of man. His army was discouraged by the unrelenting
pursuit of the enemy. As usual, the faithfully promised support from
Africa proved a delusion.
The Moorish prince sent his brother, Mohammed-al-Galipa, an
experienced captain, to direct the insurrection in the Serrania de
Ronda. Betrayed by a Christian guide, who led him within the
Spanish lines, he was killed, and his escort of two hundred picked
soldiers destroyed. In Valencia, a conspiracy formed in collusion with
the Moriscoes of the Alpujarras was detected before it had time to
mature, and its instigators were punished with merciless cruelty.
Encompassed by a numerous and powerful foe, Ibn-Abu recognized
the impossibility of resistance and disbanded his army. A few of his
adherents took refuge among their kindred in Barbary. The majority,
however, unable to escape and disdaining submission, which implied
a slavery worse than death or inquisitorial torture, remained with
their sovereign. All were scattered through the mountains and found
shelter in the caves of that region, which were known only to
shepherds and to those whose haunts were in the wildest and most
rugged parts of the sierra. The march of the Spaniards was
accomplished amidst the silence of desolation. In the distance at
times could be seen flying parties of scouts, but no resistance was
encountered. Whatever had escaped the destructive progress of
former expeditions was now annihilated. Soldiers wandering in quest
of plunder occasionally stumbled upon an inhabited cavern; its
inmates were driven out by fire, and the infliction of torture soon
disclosed the location of others. In one of these the wife and
daughters of Ibn-Abu were suffocated, while he, with two
companions, escaped through a secret opening in the mountain. The
insatiable thirst of blood and booty which urged on the invaders
rendered protracted concealment impossible. With each new
discovery, other places of refuge were successively revealed through
the unsparing and diabolical torments devised by the Castilians. The
women were spared and condemned to slavery. Male captives under
twenty, as a rule, shared a similar fate; all over that age were put to
death, some amidst prolonged and frightful sufferings. Rank,
innocence, the helplessness of age, the touching infirmity of disease,
important services previously rendered to the royal cause, the
prospect of future loyalty which might result from clemency
judiciously bestowed, considerations of public welfare, dependent
upon the preservation of an industrious people, afforded no
exemption from the inexorable decree of destruction, enforced with
every circumstance of savage malignity. The tracking of fugitive
Moriscoes was as exciting and far more profitable than the chase of
wild beasts. It was no unusual occurrence for a party of these
terrified wretches to be pursued for a distance of fifty miles. No
obstacles were sufficient to deter the Spaniards in the tireless search
for their prey; the more arduous the hardships undergone, the
greater the enjoyment when the victims, vainly suppliant for mercy,
were put to the sword or burned at the stake. This time no organized
enemy was left in the Alpujarras to disturb in future the peace of the
monarchy. More than ten thousand insurgents were murdered or
enslaved in the space of a month. Wherever the soldiery could
penetrate, every vestige of human life and artificial vegetation were
alike swept away. The terraced slopes of the mountains, reclaimed
by infinite toil to profitable culture, the once smiling and fertile
valleys, were restored to their native wildness. No voice remained in
that infinite solitude to dispute the dogmas of the Church or to offend
the scruples of the orthodox by the celebration of the profane and
detested rites of Islam.
In the Serrania de Ronda the rebels still continued active, but the
ambition of rival chieftains aiming at supreme power frustrated each
other’s plans and eventually caused the discomfiture of all. The
reputation for valor which the mountaineers of Ronda had attained
was national; military operations in that locality were not prosecuted
with the same energy as elsewhere, but the irreconcilable spirit of
faction, ever so fatal to the progress and stability of the Arab race,
again interposed as a potent factor of disorganization. A sharp
campaign directed by the Duke of Arcos scattered the forces of the
rebels, and the Serrania de Ronda, while not actually conquered, no
longer contained a force capable of even temporary resistance.
The war now substantially ended, it was announced by royal
proclamation that every Morisco, without a single exception, should
be forever expelled from the kingdom of Granada. The order was
carried out to the letter, under the supervision of Don John of Austria.
The number of the exiles was from fifty to a hundred thousand.
Superior discipline and the personal attention of the prince prevented
the horrors that had attended the banishment of the residents of the
Albaycin. Some were sent to Seville and Murcia, others to
Estremadura, La Mancha, and Navarre. The Castilian peasantry
resented their appearance among good Christians and resisted the
soldiers, whose presence alone prevented a massacre. As usual, the
lands which the Moriscoes possessed were seized for the benefit of
the crown; their personal property was sacrificed for much less than
its value, and many hitherto accustomed to luxury, plundered of the
little they had saved from Spanish rapacity, reached their new homes
in a state of absolute destitution. The remote fastnesses of the
Alpujarras still concealed a number of fugitives, who cherished the
fallacious hope that amidst the rejoicings incident to victory they
might remain unnoticed and forgotten. Among them was Ibn-Abu,
whose followers, the infamous monfis, alike inaccessible to honor or
pity, were ready for every act of treachery, and some of whom had
already discussed the expediency of obtaining pardon by the
sacrifice of the King. These homeless wanderers soon realized that
they were still the objects of Spanish animosity. The establishment of
regular garrisons and the disbanding of the rest of the army were
coincident with the formation of bands of scouts, whose duty it was
to scour the country and capture every Morisco that could be found.
In order to stimulate their activity, a reward of twenty ducats was
offered for each insurgent. The chase of Moriscoes now became a
more lucrative diversion than ever. The wildest portion of the sierra
was examined foot by foot. Large numbers of fugitives were taken,
and the prisons soon became too small to contain the multitudes that
crowded them to suffocation. The utmost diligence of the authorities
was unequal to the task of providing quarters for the new-comers,
even by the wholesale execution of the old. The most distinguished
prisoners were hung. Others were tortured. Many were handed over
to the Inquisition, which, while never unsupplied with victims, was
glad of the opportunity to make a signal example of such
troublesome heretics. The majority were condemned to the galleys,
which, all things being taken into account, was perhaps the most
severe punishment that a prisoner could undergo. To be considered
a mere machine, almost without identity and destitute of feeling,
chained for days to the oar, exposed alike to the burning sun and the
tempest, subject to hourly laceration by the scourge of a brutal
overseer; ill-fed and unprotected from the weapons of an enemy, no
fate to which unfortunate humanity is liable would not seem
preferable to the lot of the galley-slave. Finally, the available facilities
of Granada proved totally inadequate for the disposition of captive
Moriscoes; extraordinary powers were conferred upon the
commanders of the fortresses and outposts; the scenes of carnage
were transferred from the capital to every accessible point of the
Alpujarras, and the objects of national hatred and intolerance daily
paid by hundreds the extreme penalty of misfortune and defeat.
The capture or death of Ibn-Abu now alone was necessary for the
full gratification of Christian vengeance. With trifling difficulty
Gonzalo-al-Seniz, who enjoyed his confidence and had shared his
tent, was persuaded to betray him. The rewards of treachery were
definitely stipulated in advance, the principal inducements being a
pension of a hundred thousand maravedis and a promise of
amnesty. An attempt to take the unfortunate prince alive failed of
success; he was killed in the struggle; of his faithful companions,
some were cut to pieces, some implored the doubtful clemency of
the Christians, and others, after many perilous adventures,
succeeded in escaping to Africa. The body of the Morisco king,
strapped like a bale of goods upon a beast of burden, was
transported to Granada and deposited at the door of the municipal
palace. Then preparations were made for a ceremony unparalleled
in the history of civilized nations, and whose character shows to what
a depth the base descendants of Castilian chivalry had fallen.
Proclamation was issued for the celebration of a travesty of regal
authority and the offer of a public insult to the dead. At the appointed
time a vast multitude of people, attracted by the novelty of the
spectacle from every corner of the city and for a distance of many
leagues around, crowded the streets and squares of the picturesque
old Moorish capital. The line of march led from the Plaza de la Bab-
al-Rambla to the foot of the Alhambra hill, a route which in the
glorious days of the emirs had been the scene of many a martial
triumph. The procession was headed by the corpse of Ibn-Abu, held
erect by a concealed wooden framework, which was fastened upon
the back of a mule. To insure its preservation, the body had been
opened, the viscera extracted, and the cavity filled with salt; it was
dressed in the scarlet and gold habiliments of royalty; upon its head
was the turban of the khalifs; the face was uncovered, and the pallid,
ghastly features seemed, in their fixed and mournful expression, to
gaze reproachfully upon the jeering throng. By the side of the mule
walked the traitor Gonzalo-al-Seniz, bearing the splendid arms of the
king he had betrayed, a cross-bow and a scimetar embossed and
damascened with gold. In the rear marched a company of
Moriscoes, exempted from the general proscription for participation
in this ceremony, laden with the personal effects and the baggage of
the Moslem prince. A numerous escort of arquebusiers enclosed the
cortége, which was received with becoming pomp by the captain-
general and all the military and civil functionaries of the kingdom. As
Gonzalo-al-Seniz delivered to the Duke of Arcos the glittering
weapons which he carried, he remarked in the figurative language of
the Orient, “The shepherd could not bring the sheep alive, but he has
brought the fleece.” In the presence of the assembled dignitaries of
the realm the head of Ibn-Abu was cut off, and afterwards, placed in
an iron cage, was fixed upon the battlements of the gate of Bab-al-
Racha, which faced the Alpujarras. The trunk was abandoned to a
mob of children, who amused themselves by hacking and disfiguring
it until, wearied of this extraordinary pastime, they consumed it in a
bonfire.
Such was the unworthy fate of the last of the imperial line of the
Ommeyades. Eight hundred years before, Abd-al-Rahman, hunted
like a wild animal through the Libyan Desert, had been summoned
from a life of obscurity and danger to found a great and powerful
empire. Although it rapidly reached its meridian, that empire required
many centuries for its final overthrow. The proud dynasty of the
Western Khalifate ended as it had begun, in proscription, in exile, in
treachery, in violence. The causes which hastened its maturity also
contributed largely to its decay. The aspirations of its sovereigns
were, on the main, noble and generous. Their services to humanity
were of incalculable value and of far-reaching effect. The fire and
sword of tyranny and persecution could not efface the lasting
impression made by the ideas they promulgated, the science they
developed, the literature they created. These survived the tortures of
the Inquisition, the anathemas of the Pope, the turmoil of revolution,
the funeral pyres of Ximenes. It is a remarkable fact that while the
Hispano-Arabs brought within the sphere of their influence and
culture the most remote nations, their nearest neighbors were
incapable of appreciating their attainments or profiting by their
knowledge. The inveterate prejudice against every phase of Moorish
life and manners entertained by the Spanish Christians was fatal to
their intellectual development. They regarded the intruders as
barbarians, as, indeed, the majority of their descendants do even to
this day. They were brought in intimate contact with no other form of
civilization, and, rather than adopt what their ignorance and
fanaticism prompted them to detest and despise, they chose to rely
on their own limited resources. In consequence, their mental and
social condition, so far from improving, gradually retrograded. The
Goths of the age of Roderick were more polished, more intelligent,
actuated by better motives, capable of higher aspirations,
susceptible to nobler impulses than the Spaniards governed by
Charles and Philip. In their progress from the banks of the Vistula to
the shores of the Mediterranean, they had encountered many
nations long subject to the civilizing influence of Rome. Not a few of
them had visited the Eternal City itself. Some had served in the
armies of the decaying empire; all had been impressed by the grand
and imposing monuments of its magnificence and power. In the court
of the last of the Gothic kings were men not unfamiliar with the
masterpieces of classic literature. Its publicists had framed a code of
laws which is the foundation of every modern system of
jurisprudence. In the mechanical arts Gothic skill and industry had
made no inconsiderable progress. While feudalism had retarded the
development of society, its privileges, contrary to the practice of
subsequent times, had not as yet seriously encroached upon the
dignity and prerogatives of the throne. The institution of councils
under ecclesiastical influence was not entirely subservient to the
interests of superstition, and often exercised a wholesome check
upon the arbitrary designs of a tyrannical sovereign.
With the Spaniards of the sixteenth century, everything was
subordinated to a single principle, the exaltation of the Church. Its
servants were the chosen confidants of the monarch; its policy
guided his movements, controlled his actions, furnished his ideas,
inflamed his prejudices. Whatever was worthy of the name of
learning the clergy monopolized and perverted. They diligently
fostered the ignorance of the masses, until in all the continent of
Europe there is not at the present time a more benighted class than
the peasantry of the Spanish Peninsula. The treasures of the world
were lavished with unparalleled prodigality upon religious institutions
and edifices. A tithe of the wealth squandered upon these vast
foundations, whose history is tainted with scandal, would have
sufficed, under intelligent direction, to have transformed the entire
country into a garden and to have rendered Spain one of the richest
of nations. Ecclesiasticism promoted crime and idleness by making
beggary respectable, and by countenancing the indiscriminate
bestowal of alms as a cardinal virtue. The expulsion of the Jews and
the Moriscoes were acts entirely consistent with the general scheme
of its polity. They were indispensable for the realization of religious
unity, to which every consideration of national welfare, public faith,
and individual probity were unhesitatingly sacrificed. The atrocities
which accompanied these violent and disastrous measures were
regarded as peculiarly meritorious and most acceptable to an
avenging God. Upon such insecure foundations was the splendid but
unsubstantial fabric of Spanish greatness erected. A sad inheritance
has descended to the progeny of those stern warriors who founded
an empire on the wreck of civilization, the repudiation of treaties, and
the obliteration of entire races from the face of the earth.
The war which had effected the conquest and enslavement of the
Moriscoes lasted a little more than three years. No period of the
same duration in the history of the Peninsula was fraught with more
important consequences. The Spaniards lost by the casualties of
battle, exposure, and disease sixty thousand men. The losses of the
Moors were much greater; twenty thousand were killed with arms in
their hands, but no account has survived of those who were
massacred in cold blood. The expense involved in the destruction of
the most useful element of the population appalled the corrupt and
incompetent financiers of the kingdom. Extraordinary and unwise
fiscal methods, devised to remedy the evil, only rendered it more
aggravated and desperate. Repeated campaigns of desolation had
turned the whole country into a waste. Not only was the material
wealth annihilated, but the means of recuperation were forever
removed. Under the iron hand of remorseless persecution, industry
had vanished. In vain the government offered alluring inducements
to immigrants and colonists,—fertile lands, moderate rents, nominal
taxation. Few accepted these offers and still fewer remained. The
provinces of the South continued a prey to the brigands of the
mountains and the corsairs of Barbary. Life and property were
notoriously insecure. Castilian pride and indolence were unequal to
the patient drudgery which had made hill-side and valley blossom
with teeming vegetation; and men whose chosen trade for ages had
been war were wholly destitute of the agricultural experience and
skill necessary to reproduce these marvellous effects. The royal
demesnes, in 1592, yielded annually a sum equal to fifteen thousand
dollars; during the closing years of Moslem rule, when the kingdom
had been exhausted by incessant war and rebellion, the revenues
from this source produced by territory of equal area and fertility had
been more than ten times as great. Plundered, tortured, expatriated,
the Moriscoes were still subjected to innumerable vexations; the
curse of their race was ever upon them. But they were at last
comparatively exempt from the odious imputation of heresy. After
1595 the most rigid inquisitorial vigilance was unable or unwilling to
detect any heterodox opinions or breaches of ecclesiastical
discipline among these unpromising proselytes. And yet it was
notorious that they were ignorant of the doctrines of the Church, and
that competent persons were not appointed to instruct them. Some
zealots, indeed, maintained that they should not be permitted to
communicate, and that the exposure of the Host in their churches
was a desecration; others, on the other hand, refused absolution to
such as would not acknowledge apostasy. Their confessions were
often regarded as feigned, and the priests who received them did not
hesitate to violate the obligations of their order by divulging
privileged confidences to the magistrate. The Morisco could not
change his residence without permission; he was not allowed the
possession of arms; the approach within forty miles of the kingdom
of Granada was punishable with death. Notwithstanding these
severe regulations, many succeeded in evading the vigilance of the
authorities. Some took refuge in Valencia, where the feudal lords still
protected their brethren; others concealed themselves in the
Alpujarras; many escaped to Africa. In their new homes they were
generally treated with far more indulgence than in the old. Prelates
and nobles who profited by their industry not infrequently interposed
their influence to prevent persecution, interested officials connived at
breaches of the law, and it was a common occurrence for the
alguazil appointed to prevent the observance of the feast of
Ramadhan to pass his time carousing with those whom it was his
office to restrain. The condition of the Moriscoes was also rendered
less intolerable by the secret employment of both civil and
ecclesiastical dignitaries of high rank and extensive influence, at a
regular salary, to guard their rights and frustrate the iniquitous
designs of their enemies.
The once flourishing land of Granada was a desert, but the
demands of orthodox Christianity at last were satisfied. The devout
regarded with unconcealed complacency the fertile territory formerly
rich in every variety of agricultural products, and now abandoned to
sterility, but which was defiled no longer by the contaminating
presence of the heretic and the infidel. But, while the Faith was
vindicated by the expulsion of these objects of pious detestation, the
secret of prosperity had departed with them. The imported colonists
were unable, under new and unfamiliar conditions and heedless of
the frugality and patience which insure success, to render their
undertakings profitable; indeed, most of them could hardly exist.
Their taxes had, in violation of contract and on account of the
pressing exigencies of the state, been gradually increased; the
demands of importunate creditors and tyrannical officials made them
desperate; and these exactions, which exhausted the scanty returns
of an ill-conducted cultivation, kept the unfortunate immigrants in a
state of hopeless penury. They either abandoned their farms or were
forcibly ejected, and in 1597 the royal estates were sold because it
was found impossible to operate them at a profit.
While in Granada such discouraging conditions prevailed, those
portions of the kingdom which had unwillingly received the banished
Moriscoes experienced the beneficial results of their labors. The
hitherto barren regions of La Mancha and Estremadura began to
exhibit signs of unexampled fertility. The new settlers were
peaceable, frugal, industrious. In Castile they were generally
farmers; in Aragon, merchants; in Valencia, manufacturers. Not a
few attained great distinction in the practice of medicine and surgery;
and, like the Jews of former ages, they were frequently employed by
the court and the family of the sovereign. The life of Philip III. when a
child was saved by the skill of a Moorish physician, a service which
was ill-requited by the deeds of his manhood. The exiles practically
contributed the funds which supported the monarchy. The insatiable
rapacity of adventurers had soon exhausted the available wealth of a
magnificent colonial empire. Official corruption constantly drained the
ordinary sources of revenue. In all financial difficulties taxation of the
Moriscoes afforded an unfailing and profitable means of replenishing
the treasury. Their burdens were first doubled, then quadrupled.
Every species of imposition was practised upon them. Their debtors
paid them in spurious coin, struck for their benefit. False jewels were
pledged with them for loans. The chicanery of the law was employed
to defraud them with impunity, while the most severe penalties were
inflicted upon them for trifling breaches of trust. They were
systematically swindled by cheats and usurers. In all possible ways
they were made to feel the unmerited degradation of their caste and
the utter hopelessness of relief. Yet under this weight of malevolence
and injustice they prospered and preserved at least the appearance
of equanimity. Nothing could, with truth, be alleged against their
morals. They were nominally good Christians. They attended mass.
They conformed to the customs of their rulers, wore their dress,
participated in their festivals, spoke Castilian. Their regular and
temperate lives and their buoyant spirits under misfortune promoted
extraordinary longevity. It was by no means unusual to encounter
individuals whose age had passed the limit of a century. Early
marriages and polygamous unions caused the population to increase
with amazing rapidity. The census taken regularly by the Moriscoes
to ascertain the proportion of taxes to be levied upon them and to
insure its equitable distribution demonstrated conclusively that this
growth was in a progressive ratio that was phenomenal in its
character. The enumeration made at Valencia in 1602 showed an
increase of ten thousand in three years. Modern investigation has
established the fact that a population existing under the most
favorable economic conditions will double itself every twenty-five
years. The Moriscoes were far exceeding that estimate, for their rate
of increase was triple. This wonderful augmentation must have been
coincident with the highest degree of prosperity, otherwise
subsistence could not have been provided for the multitudes of
children. This condition was not peculiar to Valencia: it was the same
in Aragon, in Castile, in Estremadura, in Andalusia. The Moors who
had failed to conquer their enemies by arms now threatened to
overwhelm them by sheer force of numbers. The Spaniards, not
being sufficiently civilized to take their census regularly or accurately,
were ignorant of the numerical strength of their own population, as
compared with that of their Moorish subjects; but it was evident that
there was a tremendous preponderance in favor of the latter.

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