Editing Languages of the United States (section)

==Historic languages==
{{bar box
|title= Main languages spoken at home in the United States<ref name="CIAPAPUANEWGUINEA">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states/|title=North America :: UNITED STATES|date=October 20, 2022 |publisher=CIA The World Factbook}}</ref>
|titlebar=#ddd
|left1=Language
|right1=percent
|float=left
|bars=
{{bar percent|[[English language|English]]|Blue|77.5}}
{{bar percent|[[Spanish language|Spanish]]|Orange|13.7}}
{{bar percent|Other [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]|Yellow|3.9}}
{{bar percent|[[Asian language|Asian]] and [[Oceanic languages|Pacific island]]|Green|3.6}}
{{bar percent|Other |Red|1.3}}
}}

[[File:Seattle trash lese rac basura 200511.jpg|thumb|A [[trash can]] in [[Seattle]] labeled in four languages: [[English language|English]], [[Chinese characters|Chinese]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] (written as "ràc" instead of "rác"), and [[Spanish language|Spanish]]. ''Basura'' also exists as a [[loanword]] in [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], spoken in the city.]]
Some of the first European languages to be spoken in the U.S. were English, [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[French language|French]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Swedish language|Swedish]].

From the mid-19th century, the nation had large numbers of immigrants who spoke little or no English. The laws, constitutions, and legislative proceedings of some states and territories appeared in the languages of politically important immigrant groups. There have been bilingual schools and local newspapers in such languages as [[German language|German]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Yiddish]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Cantonese]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and others. These flourished despite English-only laws in some jurisdictions prohibiting church services, telephone conversations, and even conversations in the street or on railway platforms in a language other than English, up until the first of these laws was ruled unconstitutional in 1923 (''[[Meyer v. Nebraska]]'').

Typically, immigrant languages tend to be lost through assimilation within two or three generations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Portes |first1=Alejandro |last2=Schauffler |first2=Richard |date=1994 |title=Language and the Second Generation: Bilingualism Yesterday and Today |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/019791839402800402 |journal=International Migration Review |language=en |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=640–661 |doi=10.1177/019791839402800402 |issn=0197-9183}}</ref>

Several states and territories have native populations who spoke their own language prior to joining the United States, and have maintained their original languages for centuries. The languages include [[Alaskan Russian]], [[Louisiana French]], [[New Mexican Spanish]], [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]], and [[Puerto Rican Spanish]].

===English (245.69 million  speakers)===
[[File:English USC2000 PHS.svg|thumb|Distribution of English-speaking households in the United States in 2000.]]
{{Main|American English|List of dialects of English#United States}}

[[English language|English]] was inherited from [[British colonization of the Americas|British colonization]], and it is spoken by the majority of the population. English has become increasingly common; when the United States was founded, just 40% of Americans spoke English.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shell |first=Marc |date=2001 |title=Language Wars |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/50577/pdf |journal=CR: The New Centennial Review |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=6 |doi=10.1353/ncr.2003.0059 |s2cid=201784628 |issn=1539-6630}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}}. In 2002, 87% of Americans spoke English as their first language.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lake |first=Nell |date=2002-03-01 |title=Language Wars |url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2002/03/language-wars.html |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=Harvard Magazine |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tamir|first=Yael (Yuli)|date=2019-05-11|title=Not So Civic: Is There a Difference Between Ethnic and Civic Nationalism?|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|language=en|volume=22|issue=1|pages=419–434|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-022018-024059|issn=1094-2939|doi-access=free}}</ref> It serves as the [[de facto]] national language, the language in which government business is carried out. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 80% spoke only English at home and all but approximately 13,600,000 U.S. residents age 5 and over speak English "well" or "very well".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-22.pdf|title=Detailed Languages Spoken at Home by English-Speaking Ability for the Population 5 Years and Over: 2011|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=October 20, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109200819/http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-22.pdf|archive-date=November 9, 2015}}</ref>

[[American English]] is different from [[British English]] in terms of spelling (one example being the dropped "u" in words such as color/colour), grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and slang usage. The differences are not usually a barrier to effective communication between an [[American English]] and a British English speaker.

Some states, like [[California]], have amended their constitutions to make English the only official language, but in practice, this only means that official government documents must ''at least'' be in English, and ''does not'' mean that they should be exclusively available only in English. For example, the standard California Class C [[driver's license]] examination is available in 32 different languages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm|title=Driver License and Identification Card Information|publisher=Dmv.ca.gov|access-date=January 18, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140930113026/http://dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm|archive-date=September 30, 2014}}</ref>

===Spanish (42.03 million speakers)===
[[File:Spanish USC2000 PHS.svg|thumb|Spanish language distribution in the United States.]]
{{Main|Spanish language in the United States}}
[[Spanish language|Spanish]] was also inherited from colonization and is sanctioned as official in the commonwealth of [[Puerto Rico]], where it is the general language of instruction in schools and universities. In the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all territories except Puerto Rico, Spanish is taught as a foreign or [[second language]]. It is spoken at home in areas with large Hispanic populations: the [[Southwestern United States]] along the border with Mexico, as well as in [[Florida]], parts of [[California]], the [[District of Columbia]], [[Illinois]], [[New Jersey]], and [[New York (state)|New York]]. In Hispanic communities across the country, bilingual signs in both Spanish and English may be quite common. Furthermore, numerous neighborhoods exist (such as [[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights]] in [[New York City]] or [[Little Havana]] in [[Miami, Florida|Miami]]) in which entire city blocks will have only Spanish-language signs and Spanish-speaking people.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="float:right; margin-left:1em;"
|+ Spanish speakers in the United States
|-
!Year
!Number of Spanish speakers
!Percent of<br />U.S. population
|-
| 1980
| style="text-align:right;" | 11 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 5%
|- 
| 1990
| style="text-align:right;" | 17.3 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 7%
|- 
| 2000
| style="text-align:right;" | 28.1 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 10%
|- 
| 2010
| style="text-align:right;" | 37 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 13%
|- 
| 2020
| style="text-align:right;" | 41.3 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 13.7%
|- 
| 2023
| style="text-align:right;" | 42.0 million
| style="text-align:right;" | 13.4%
|-
| colspan=3 | Sources:<ref name=language2000/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/05/what-is-the-future-of-spanish-in-the-united-states/|title=What is the future of Spanish in the United States?|date=September 5, 2013|work=Pew Research Center|access-date=January 18, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118052039/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/05/what-is-the-future-of-spanish-in-the-united-states/|archive-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/Castro1.htm|title=The Future of Spanish in the United States|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=January 18, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118005805/http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/Castro1.htm |archive-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_S1601&prodType=table|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212214642/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_S1601&prodType=table|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 12, 2020|title=American FactFinder - Results|author=Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS)|publisher=Factfinder2.census.gov|access-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Explore Census Data"/>
|}

Younger generations of non-Hispanics in the United States choose to study Spanish as a foreign or second language in far greater numbers than other second-language options. This might be due in part to the growing Hispanic population and the increasing popularity of Latin American movies and music performed in the Spanish language. A 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the [[United States Census Bureau]], showed that Spanish was spoken at home by over 35 million people aged 5 or older,<ref name="2009 survey">{{Citation |url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/population/ancestry_language_spoken_at_home.html|title=Table 53. Languages Spoken At Home by Language: 2009|work=The 2012 Statistical Abstract|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=December 27, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225193634/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/population/ancestry_language_spoken_at_home.html|archive-date=December 25, 2007}}</ref> making the United States the world's fifth-largest Spanish-speaking community, outnumbered only by [[Mexico]], [[Colombia]], [[Spain]], and [[Argentina]].<ref>Instituto Cervantes (Enciclopedia del español en Estados Unidos)</ref><ref name="Más 'speak spanish' que en España">{{cite web|url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/speak/spanish/Espana/elpepucul/20081006elpepicul_1/Tes|title=Más 'speak spanish' que en España|access-date=October 6, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520111353/http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/speak/spanish/Espana/elpepucul/20081006elpepicul_1/Tes|archive-date=May 20, 2011}}</ref> Since then, the number of persons reported on the ACS to speak Spanish at home has increased (see table).

====New Mexican Spanish====
{{main|New Mexican Spanish}}
[[File:New Mexico in United States.svg|thumb|The [[State of New Mexico]].]]
In [[northern New Mexico]] and southern [[Colorado]], Spanish speakers have been isolated for centuries in the southern [[Rocky Mountains|Rockies]], and developed a distinct dialect of Spanish spoken nowhere else: [[New Mexican Spanish]]. The dialect features a mix of [[Castilian language|Castilian]], [[Galician language|Galician]] and, more recently, [[Mexican Spanish]], as well as [[Pueblo]] loan words. New Mexican Spanish also contains a large proportion of English loan words, particularly for technological words (e.g. ''bos'', ''troca'', and ''telefón'').

[[Nuevomexicanos|Speakers of New Mexican Spanish]] are mainly descendants of Spanish colonists who arrived in New Mexico in the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. During this time, contact with the rest of Spanish America was limited, and New Mexican Spanish developed on its own course. In the meantime, Spanish colonists coexisted with and intermarried with Puebloan peoples and Navajos. After the Mexican–American War, New Mexico and all its inhabitants came under the governance of the English-speaking United States, and for the next hundred years, English-speakers increased in number.

====Puerto Rican Spanish====
{{main|Puerto Rican Spanish}}
[[File:Map of USA PR.svg|thumb|The [[Commonwealth of Puerto Rico]].]]
Puerto Rican Spanish is the main language and dialect of the people of [[Puerto Rico]], as well as many people descended from Puerto Ricans elsewhere throughout the United States.

====Spanglish====
'''[[Spanglish]]''' is a [[code-switching]] variant of Spanish and English and is spoken in areas with large bilingual populations of Spanish and English speakers, such as along the [[Mexico–United States border]] ([[California]], [[Arizona]], [[New Mexico]], and [[Texas]]), [[Florida]], and [[New York City]].

===Chinese (3.4 million speakers)===
{{Main|Chinese language in the United States}}
The population of Chinese speakers in the United States was increasing rapidly in the 20th century because the number of Chinese immigrants has increased at a rate of more than 50% since 1940.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/languagesinameri00dick|url-access=registration|quote=chinese.|title=Languages in America: A Pluralist View|last=Dicker|first=Susan J.|date=January 1, 2003|publisher=Multilingual Matters|isbn=9781853596513|language=en}}</ref> Some 2.8 million Americans speak some [[Varieties of Chinese|variety of Chinese]], which combined are counted by the federal census as the third most-spoken language in the country. Until the late 20th century, [[Yue dialects]], including [[Cantonese]] and [[Taishanese]], were the most common dialects among immigrants and the descendants of immigrants, especially in [[California]]. Since the opening of the [[China|People's Republic of China]], [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]], the official language in the PRC and [[Taiwan|Republic of China]] (Taiwan), has become increasingly prevalent.<ref name="Lai">{{Citation | last = Lai | first = H. Mark | title = Becoming Chinese American or Taiwanese American: A History of Communities and Institutions | publisher = AltaMira Press | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-7591-0458-7}}</ref> Many Americans of all ethnic backgrounds are also learning Mandarin and, to a far lesser extent, Cantonese.<ref name="Lai"/>

In [[New York City]] in 2002, Mandarin was spoken as a native language among only 10% of Chinese speakers but was predicted to replace Cantonese as the [[lingua franca]] among Chinese speakers.<ref>{{Citation | last1 = García | first1 = Ofelia | last2 = Fishman |first2 = Joshua A. | title = The Multilingual Apple: Languages in New York City | publisher = Walter de Gruyter | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-3-11-017281-2}}</ref>

[[Chinese-Americans in the California Gold Rush]] and their descendants spoke a variety of the [[Cantonese language]] influenced by American English and American societal concepts foreign to Cantonese speakers in Modern China, either through direct English translations such as "Alpine" borrowed from ([[Alpine County, California]]), or neologisms such as "Yellow Eagle" ([[Dollar coin (United States)|Gold dollar]]), "Emancipated Woman" (Feminist), and "Telephone". It also maintains older [[Qing Dynasty]] Cantonese vocabulary that has fallen out of use in Cantonese spoken in Modern China.<ref name="chinesehistoricalsociety">{{cite book |title=Chinese America: History and Perspectives 1988|author=Chinese Historical Society|year=1988|publisher=Chinese Historical Society|location=United States of America|pages=115}}</ref>

===French (1.18 million speakers; 2.07 million including Haitian Creole)===
{{Main|French language in the United States}}
[[File:French USC2000 PHS.svg|thumb|French language distribution in the United States.]]
[[French language|French]] is the seventh most spoken language in the United States according to the 2020 ACS. It is the fourth most common if [[Haitian Creole]] (a French-based dialect that is not mutually intelligible with standard French) is combined and counted as French. The ACS lists Haitian Creole separately from French, which encompasses standard French, Louisiana Creole, and Louisiana Cajun varieties. In the United States, French is spoken mainly by the [[Louisiana Creole people|Louisiana Creole]], native [[France|French]], [[Cajuns|Cajun]], and [[French Canadians|French-Canadian]] populations, along with more recent immigrants from Haiti. It is widely spoken in [[Maine]], [[New Hampshire]], [[Vermont]], and in [[Louisiana]], with notable Francophone enclaves in [[St. Clair County, Michigan]], many rural areas of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the [[North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)|northern San Francisco Bay area]].{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} Because of its legacy in Louisiana, that state is served by the [[Council for the Development of French in Louisiana]] (CODOFIL), the only state agency in the United States whose mission is to serve a linguistic population. In October 2018, Louisiana became the first U.S. state to join the [[Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hasselle |first=Della |date=October 13, 2018 |title=Louisiana Joins International Organization of French-speaking Governments |language=en |work=NOLA.com |url=https://www.nola.com/news/article_302082ef-9b0e-59de-8583-4e320c5c792a.html}}</ref>

Three varieties of French developed within what is now the United States in colonial times including [[Louisiana French]], [[Missouri French]], and [[New England French]] (essentially a variant of [[Canadian French]]).<ref>{{cite book|title= Status and Function of Languages and Language Varieties|last= Ammon|first= Ulrich|author2= International Sociological Association|year= 1989|publisher= Walter de Gruyter|isbn= 978-0-89925-356-5|pages= 306–308|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=geh261xgI8sC|access-date=April 23, 2012|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121220231510/http://books.google.com/books?id=geh261xgI8sC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0 |archive-date= December 20, 2012}}</ref> French is the second-most-spoken language in the states of [[Louisiana]] and Maine. The largest French-speaking communities in the United States reside in [[Maine|Northeast Maine]]; [[Hollywood, Florida|Hollywood]] and [[Miami, Florida|Miami]], [[Florida]]; [[New York City]];{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} certain areas of [[Louisiana|rural Louisiana]]; and small minorities in Vermont and New Hampshire. Many of the New England communities are connected to the dialect found across the border in Quebec or New Brunswick. More than 13 million Americans possess primary French heritage, but only 2 million speak French, or any regional creoles and variations language at home. The largest concentration of French speakers in the country is in Louisiana.

====Louisiana French====
{{further|Louisiana French|Louisiana Creole}}
[[File:Cajun USC2000 PHS.svg|thumb|Cajun language distribution in the United States.]]
Louisiana French ({{langx|frc|français de la Louisiane}}; {{langx|lou|françé la lwizyàn}}) is an umbrella term for the dialects and [[varieties of French|varieties of the French language]] spoken traditionally in colonial [[Lower Louisiana]]. As of today Louisiana French is primarily used in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Louisiana]], specifically in the southern [[Parish (administrative division)|parishes]].

French is spoken across ethnic and racial lines by [[Louisiana French people]] who may identify as [[Cajuns]] or [[Louisiana Creole people|Creoles]] as well as [[Chitimacha]], [[Houma people|Houma]], [[Biloxi people|Biloxi]], [[Tunica people|Tunica]], [[Choctaw people|Choctaw]], [[Acadian]]s, and [[Métis|French Indian]] among others.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities |last=Valdman |first=Albert |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2009 |isbn=978-1604734034 }}</ref><ref>[http://houmatoday.com/article/20071209/NEWS/712090329 ''Three Local Tribes Await Federal Decision''], December 8, 2007, ''Houma Today.''</ref> For these reasons, as well as the relatively small influence [[Acadian French]] has had on the region, the label Louisiana French or Louisiana Regional French ({{langx|fr|français régional louisianais}}) is generally regarded as more accurate and inclusive than "Cajun French" and is the preferred term by [[Linguistics|linguists]] and [[Anthropology|anthropologists]].<ref name="Neumann-Holzschuh 2014">{{Cite journal |last=Neumann-Holzschuh |first=Ingrid |date=2014 |title=Carrefour Louisiane |journal=Journal of Language Contact |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=124–153 |doi=10.1163/19552629-00701006|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Acadians and Cajuns: The politics and culture of French minorities in North America |last=Klingler |first=Thomas A. |publisher=Innsbruck University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-3902571939 |editor-last=Mathis-Mosen |editor-first=Ursula |location=Innsbruck |pages=91–103 |chapter=How much Acadian is there in Cajun? |editor-last2=Beschof |editor-first2=Günter}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=If I could turn my tongue like that : the Creole language of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana |last=Klingler |first=Thomas A.|date=2003|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=978-0807127797 |location=Baton Rouge|oclc=846496076}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/38807 |title=New Perspectives on Language Variety in the South: Historical and Contemporary Approaches|last=Klingler|first=Thomas A. |publisher=The University of Alabama Press|year=2015 |isbn=9783110196351|editor-last=Picone |editor-first=Michael D. |location=Tuscaloosa|pages=627–640|chapter=Beyond Cajun: Toward an Expanded View of Regional French in Louisiana|editor-last2=Evans Davies|editor-first2=Catherine Evans Davies}}</ref> However, "Cajun French" is commonly used in [[Laity|lay]] discourse by speakers of the language and other inhabitants of Louisiana.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Klingler |first=Thomas A. |title=Language labels and language use among Cajuns and Creoles in Louisiana |editor1=T. Sanchez |editor2=U. Horesh |journal=Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=9 |issue=2 |date=2003 |pages=77–90 |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol9/iss2/8/}}</ref>

===German (857,000 speakers; 1.29 million including Yiddish and Pennsylvania German dialects)===
{{Main|German language in the United States}}
[[File:Americans with German Ancestry by state.svg|thumb|upright=1|[[German American]] states.]]
[[German language|German]] was the 13th most common language spoken at home, according to the 2020 ACS survey. If German-related dialects such as Yiddish and varieties such as Pennsylvania German (Amish) are included, German ranks among the top ten languages spoken in U.S. homes. (The ACS lists both Yiddish and Pennsylvania German separately from German.) In the United States, German was a widely spoken language in some American colonies, especially Pennsylvania, where a number of German-speaking [[Protestantism|Protestants]] and other religious minorities settled to escape persecution in Europe. Another wave of settlement occurred when Germans fleeing the failure of 19th-century German revolutions immigrated to the United States. Throughout the century, a large number of these immigrants settled in urban areas, where entire neighborhoods were German-speaking and numerous local German-language newspapers and periodicals were established. Germans also took up farming around the country, including the [[Texas Hill Country]], at this time. The language was widely spoken until the United States entered [[World War I]].

In the early twentieth century, German was the most widely studied foreign language in the United States, and prior to [[World War I]], more than 6%{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} of American schoolchildren received their primary education exclusively in German, though some of these Germans came from areas outside Germany. Currently, more than 49 million Americans claim [[German American|German ancestry]], the largest self-described ethnic group in the U.S., but less than 4% of them speak a language other than English at home, according to recent [[American Community Survey]]s.<ref name="2005 ACS German">{{Cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:535&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |title=United States - Selected Population Profile in the United States (German (032-045)) |access-date=November 27, 2008 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090403034514/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:535&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-date=April 3, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Amish]], concentrated in the State of [[Pennsylvania]], speak a dialect of German known as [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]]; it is widely spoken in Amish communities today.

Waves of colonial Palatines from the Rhenish Palatinate, one of the Holy Roman states, settled in the [[Province of New York]] and the [[Province of Pennsylvania]]. The first Palatines arrived in the late 1600s but the majority came throughout the 1700s; they were known collectively as the [[Palatine Dutch]]. The [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] settled other states, including Indiana and Ohio.<ref name="newyorkstate">{{cite book |title=Proceedings of the Senate of the State of New York on the Life, Character and Public Service of William Pierson Fiero|author=New York (State). Legislature. Senate|year=1915|pages=7}}</ref><ref name="homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com">{{cite web|url=http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~brobst/chronicles/chap2.htm|title=Chapter Two – The History Of The German Immigration To America – The Brobst Chronicles|website=Homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com|access-date=August 28, 2017}}</ref> For many years, the term "Palatine" meant [[German American]].<ref name="jodiescales">{{cite book |title=Of Kindred Germanic Origins: Myths, Legends, Genealogy and History of an Ordinary American Family|author=Jodie Scales|year=2001|publisher=iUniverse|pages=46}}</ref>

There is a myth (known as the [[Muhlenberg legend|Muhlenberg Vote]]) that German was to be the official language of the U.S., but this is inaccurate and based on a failed early attempt to have government documents translated into German.<ref>{{Citation
|url=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_026.html
|title=Did Hebrew almost become the official U.S. language?
|date=January 21, 1994
|access-date=February 22, 2008
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213081707/http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_026.html
|archive-date=February 13, 2008
}}</ref> The myth also extends to German being the second official language of Pennsylvania; however, Pennsylvania has no official language. Although more than 49 million Americans claim they have German ancestors, only 1.24 million Americans speak German at home. Many of these people are either Amish and Mennonites or Germans having newly immigrated (e.g. for professional reasons).

====Pennsylvania Dutch====
[[File:Pennsylvania Dutch map distribution.svg|thumb|[[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]] areas of the [[United States]]]]
{{main|Pennsylvania Dutch language}}
[[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]] or Pennsylvania German is a dialect of [[Palatine German language|Palatine German]] that is traditionally spoken by the [[Pennsylvania Dutch]], and has settled the Midwest, in places such as Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and other states, where many of the speakers live today. It evolved from the [[German dialects|German dialect]] of the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]] brought over to America by [[Palatines]] from the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in the 1600s.<ref name="First German-Americans">{{Cite web|url=http://www.germanheritage.com/postal/germansettlers/|title=First German-Americans|website=Germanheritage.com|access-date=October 5, 2006|archive-date=May 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509091415/http://www.germanheritage.com/postal/germansettlers/|url-status=dead}}</ref> They settled on land sold to them by [[William Penn]]. Germantown included not only Mennonites, but also Quakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/historic-germantown-new-knowledge-in-a-very-old-neighborhood-2/|title=Historic Germantown – Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia|website=Philadelphiaencyclopedia.org|access-date=August 28, 2017}}</ref> The Pennsylvania Dutch speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and adhere to different Christian denominations: [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]], [[German Reformed]], [[Mennonite]]s, [[Amish]], [[Schwarzenau Brethren|German Baptist Brethren]], [[Catholicism|Roman Catholics]]; today Pennsylvania Dutch is mainly spoken by [[Old Order Amish]] and [[Old Order Mennonite]]s.

====Texas German====
[[File:Map of USA TX.svg|thumb|The [[State of Texas]]]]
{{main|Texas German}}
Texas German is a group of High German dialects spoken by Texas Germans, descendants of German immigrants who settled in Texas in the mid-19th century.

====Yiddish====
[[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] has a much longer history in the United States than Hebrew.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joshua A. Fishman|title=Yiddish: turning to life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MKJFx1b3xAC|year=1991|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=978-90-272-2075-2|pages=148–159|chapter=Appendix: The Hebrew Language in the United States|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MKJFx1b3xAC&pg=PA148 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102091443/https://books.google.com/books?id=4MKJFx1b3xAC|archive-date=January 2, 2016}}</ref> It has been present since at least the late 19th century and continues to have roughly 148,000 speakers as of the 2009 American Community Survey. Though they came from varying geographic backgrounds and nuanced approaches to worship, immigrant Jews of Central Europe, Germany and Russia were often united under a common understanding of the Yiddish language once they settled in America, and at one point dozens of publications were available in most East Coast cities. Though it has declined by quite a bit since the end of WWII, it has by no means disappeared. Many Israeli immigrants and expatriates have at least some understanding of the language in addition to Hebrew, and many of the descendants of the great migration of [[Ashkenazi Jews]] of the past century pepper their mostly English vocabulary with some Yiddish loan words. Yiddish remains the lingua franca among American [[Haredi Jews]] (particularly [[Hasidic]] Jewry), whose communities are concentrated in Los Angeles, Miami, [[New York City]], and the suburbs of New York.<ref>{{Citation
 |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/a-yiddish-revival-with-new-york-leading-the-way/ 
 |title=A Yiddish Revival, With New York Leading the Way 
 |author=Sewell Chan 
 |date=October 17, 2007 
 |work=The New York Times 
 |access-date=August 15, 2008 
 |url-status=live 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930033940/http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/a-yiddish-revival-with-new-york-leading-the-way/ 
 |archive-date=September 30, 2008 
 }}<br />
+ {{Citation 
 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jul-07-me-yiddish7-story.html
 |title=Yiddish Program Aims to Get Beyond Schmoozing 
 |author=Patricia Ward Biederman 
 |date=July 7, 2005 
 |work=Los Angeles Times 
 |access-date=August 15, 2008 
 |url-status=live 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221210206/http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/07/local/me-yiddish7 
 |archive-date=February 21, 2009 
 }}<br />
+ {{Citation 
 |url=http://yiddishkaytla.org/index.html 
 |title=Yiddishkayt Los Angeles 
 |publisher=yiddishkaytla.org 
 |access-date=August 15, 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724032322/https://www.yiddishkaytla.org/index.html 
 |archive-date=July 24, 2008 
 }}</ref> A significant diffusion of [[List of English words of Yiddish origin|Yiddish loan words]] into the non-Jewish population continues to be a distinguishing feature of New York City English. Some of these words include ''glitch, chutzpah, mensch, kvetch, klutz'', etc.

===Russian (1.04 million speakers)===
{{Main|Russian language in the United States}}
In the United States, the [[Russian language]] is spoken mostly in urban areas of the states of [[New York (state)|New York]], [[California]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[New Jersey]], [[Illinois]], [[Massachusetts]], and [[Pennsylvania]]. It is also spoken in isolated areas of [[Alaska]] originally settled in the 18th and 19th centuries by Russian ''[[promyshlenniki]]''; these were largely [[Siberians|Siberian]] fur hunters, river merchants, and mercenaries who later worked as [[sailor]]s, [[carpenter]]s, [[artisan]]s, and craftsmen. In the 21st century, Russian is especially spoken in immigrant neighborhoods of larger U.S. cities: [[New York City]], [[Boston]], [[Los Angeles]], [[San Francisco]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Chicago]], [[Seattle]], [[Sacramento]], [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]], [[Miami, Florida|Miami]], [[Portland, Oregon]], and two Portland suburbs, [[Vancouver, Washington]] and [[Woodburn, Oregon]].

From 1799 until 1867, the [[Russian-American Company]] owned most all of what became [[Alaska Territory]]. This changed with the formal [[Alaska Purchase|sale of Alaska to the United States]] on March 30, 1867, after the final resolution of the [[Crimean War]]. The presence of Russian speakers in the United States has always been limited in numbers, and even more so after the assassination of the [[House of Romanov|Romanov dynasty]] of [[tsar]]s. However, beginning in the late 1970s and continuing until the mid-1990s, many [[Soviet Jews in America|Russian-speaking Jews from the Soviet Union]] (and later from its independent constituent republics of [[Russia]], [[Moldova]], [[Ukraine]], [[Belarus]], and [[Uzbekistan]]) have immigrated to the United States, increasing the use of Russian in the country.

The largest Russian-speaking neighborhoods in the United States are found in [[New York City]] (specifically the [[Brighton Beach, Brooklyn|Brighton Beach]] area of Brooklyn,  [[Forest Hills, New York|Forest Hills]] and [[Rego Park, New York|Rego Park]] in Queens, and parts of [[Staten Island, New York|Staten Island]]), [[Los Angeles]] (especially [[West Los Angeles]] and [[West Hollywood]]), neighborhoods of [[Philadelphia]] (notably the [[Far Northeast Philadelphia|Far Northeast]]), and parts of [[Miami]] ([[Sunny Isles Beach]]).

The Russian-language media group [[Slavic Voice of America]], based in [[Dallas, Texas]], serves Russian-speaking Americans.

====Alaskan Russian====
{{main|Alaskan Russian}}
[[File:Map of USA AK.svg|thumb|The [[State of Alaska]]]]
Alaskan Russian, known locally as Old Russian, is a dialect of [[Russian language|Russian]] influenced by the [[Alutiiq language|Alutiiq]] language spoken by [[Alaskan Creole people|Alaskan Creoles]]. Most of its speakers live on [[Kodiak Island]] and in the [[Ninilchik]] ([[Kenai Peninsula]]). It has been isolated from other varieties of Russian for over a century.<ref>Evgeny Golovko (2010) [http://www.ninilchikrussian.com/documents/Golovko.pdf 143 Years after Russian America: the Russian language without Russians.] Paper read at the 2010 Conference on Russian America, Sitka, August 20, 2010.</ref>

Kodiak Russian was natively spoken along the Afognak Strait until the [[Great Alaskan earthquake]] and tsunami of 1964. It has become moribund, spoken by only a handful of elderly people, and is virtually undocumented.<ref name=NSA>{{cite web |author= Michael Kraus |title= IPY-Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages |date= 2016 |url= https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0732787}}</ref>

Ninilchik Russian has been better studied and is more vibrant. It developed from the [[Russian colonization of the Americas|Russian colonial settlement]] of the village of Ninilchik in 1847.<ref>[https://www.rbth.com/society/2013/05/29/russian_languages_most_isolated_dialect_found_in_alaska_26519.html Russian language's most isolated dialect found in Alaska.] ''Russia Beyond'', 2013 May 13.</ref><ref>[http://www.ninilchikrussian.com/index.html Ninilchik Russian] (with dictionary)</ref>

Ninilchik Russian vocabulary is clearly [[Russian language|Russian]], with a few borrowings from [[English language|English]] and [[Alaska Native languages|Alaskan native languages]].

In [[Nikolaevsk, Alaska]], 66.57% of the population still spoke Russian at home as late as 2017.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nikolaevsk, Alaska|date=May 25, 2017 |website=MLA Language Map Data Center |url=https://apps.mla.org/map_data_results%26SRVY_YEAR%3D2000%26geo%3D%26state_id%3D2%26county_id%3D%26mode%3Dplace%26lang_id%3D%26zip%3D%26place_id%3D54085%26cty_id%3D%26region_id%3D%26division_id%3D%26ll%3D%26ea%3Dy%26order%3D%26a%3Dy%26pc%3D1|access-date=October 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525064035/https://apps.mla.org/map_data_results%26SRVY_YEAR%3D2000%26geo%3D%26state_id%3D2%26county_id%3D%26mode%3Dplace%26lang_id%3D%26zip%3D%26place_id%3D54085%26cty_id%3D%26region_id%3D%26division_id%3D%26ll%3D%26ea%3Dy%26order%3D%26a%3Dy%26pc%3D1 |archive-date=May 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Dutch (142,000 speakers)===
[[File:Dutch USC2000 PHS.svg|thumb|Distribution of U.S. households that speak Dutch at home in 2000]]
In a 1990 demographic consensus, 3% of surveyed citizens claimed to be of Dutch descent. Modern estimates place the [[Dutch American]] population (with total or partial Dutch heritage) at 3.1&nbsp;million, or 0.93%,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |year=2021 |title=Table B04006 - People Reporting Ancestry - 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates |url=https://data.census.gov/table?g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B04006 |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=[[United States Census Bureau]]}}</ref> lagging just a bit behind [[Norwegian Americans]] and [[Swedish Americans]],<ref name=":0" /> while 885,000<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |year=2021 |title=Table B04004 - People Reporting Single Ancestry - 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates |url=https://data.census.gov/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B04004 |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=[[United States Census Bureau]]}}</ref>&nbsp;Americans claimed total Dutch heritage.

An estimated 141,580 people, or 0.0486%,<ref name=":4">{{Cite web   |title=Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over: 2009-2013 |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2013/demo/2009-2013-lang-tables.html |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=Census.gov |ref=census0913}}</ref> in the United States still speak the Dutch language, 
including its [[Flemish dialects|Flemish variant]], at home as of 2013. This is in addition to the 23,010 and 510 speakers, respectively, of the [[Afrikaans]] and [[West Frisian language|West-Frisian]] languages, both closely related to Dutch.<ref name=":4" /> Dutch speakers in the U.S. are concentrated mainly in [[California]] (23,500), [[Florida]] (10,900), [[Pennsylvania]] (9,900), [[Ohio]] (9,600), New York (8,700) and [[Michigan]] (6,600, residing almost entirely in the city of [[Holland, Michigan|Holland]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mla.org/map_data_results&mode=lang_tops&SRVY_YEAR=2010&lang_id=610|title=Dutch : Source: American Community Survey : 5-Year Estimates, Public Use Microdata Sample, 2006–2010|publisher=Mla.org|access-date=January 18, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113032530/http://www.mla.org/map_data_results%26mode%3Dlang_tops%26SRVY_YEAR%3D2010%26lang_id%3D610|archive-date=November 13, 2013}}</ref> In 2021, 95.3% of the total Dutch-American population aged 5 years and over spoke only English at home.<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |year=2021 |title=Table S0201 - (Dutch) Selected Population Profile in the United States - 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates |url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=Dutch&t=Language+Spoken+at+Home |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=[[United States Census Bureau]]}}</ref>

====Low Dutch====
{{further|Jersey Dutch language}}
{{further|Mohawk Dutch}}

There has been a Dutch presence in North America since establishment of 17th-century colony of [[New Netherland]] (parts of New York, New Jersey and Delaware), where Dutch was spoken by the [[New Netherlander]], the original settlers, and their descendants. It was still spoken in the region at the time of the American Revolution and thereafter. For example, [[Alexander Hamilton]]'s wife, [[Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton|Eliza Hamilton]], attended a Dutch-language church during their marriage. African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist [[Sojourner Truth]] (born "Isabella Baumfree") was a native speaker of Dutch. [[Martin Van Buren]], the first president born in the United States following its independence from Great Britain, spoke Dutch as his [[native language]]. He is the only U.S. president whose [[first language]] was not English.

Vernacular dialects of Dutch were spoken in northeastern New Jersey (Bergen, Hudson, Passaic county) and the Capital District of New York until they gradually declined throughout the 20th century.