Multilingual San Diego: Portraits of Language Loss and Revitalization

The rich variety of the bilingual communities in San Diego-some of which are found in other large American cities and some of which are unique to San Diego-has never been fully documented. Multilingual San Diego comprises a series of student papers that investigate the wealth of linguistic diversity and cultural perspectives that constitute San Diego's multilingual heritage. Focusing on the efforts of families and communities across San Diego to foster language revitalization, Multilingual San Diego incorporates the voices and views of diverse community members in every chapter. This book is relevant to readers of all backgrounds across the United States and will appeal to the general reading public and scholars alike. Ana Celia Zentella (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania), Professor Emerita in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego, is an anthro-political linguist. She is a preeminent figure in the study of U.S. Latino varieties of Spanish and English, language socialization, bilingualism, "Spanglish", and "English-only" laws. Her community ethnography, Growing up Bilingual: Puerto Rican children in New York (Blackwell, 1997), won the 1998 Book Award of the British Association of Applied Linguistics and the 1999 Book Prize of the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists (U.S.). Her edited collection, Building on Strength: Language and Literacy in Latino Families and Communities (Teachers College Press, 2005) has been acclaimed by leading scholars and is widely used as a course text in the United States and Europe. Her latest research with "transfronterizos," students who have lived and studied in Tijuana and San Diego, breaks new ground by documenting bilingual practices and ideologies that challenge false notions about "ideal bilinguals," and "immigrant alien" discourses. In 1997, Professor Zentella was inducted into the Hunter College (CUNY) Hall of Fame, and in the same year she was honored by the Manhattan Borough President, Ruth Messinger, for her "leading role in building appreciation for language diversity and respect for language rights." Dr. Zentella, born and raised in the South Bronx by a Puerto Rican mother and Mexican father, lives in San Diego with her husband. When she is not advising students and lecturing in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Europe, she enjoys volunteer work in Solana Beach and Tijuana.