Article

Community-engaged research for the promotion of immigrant indigenous languages in the U.S. Southeast

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Abstract

Although recent years have witnessed an increased interest in the study of Immigrant Indigenous Languages (IILs) in the U.S., much remains unknown regarding their visibility and the different efforts that can be made in order to promote their maintenance in their respective immigrant communities. In this paper, we showcase three different, but related, community-engaged research projects inspired by the Participatory Action Research (PAR) model that explore the presence of different IILs in the U.S. Southeast.

As is well-known, immigration from Spanish-speaking countries has grown significantly in the U.S. over the last couple of decades. This has not only led to an increase in Spanish speakers in the U.S. but also speakers of a variety of Indigenous languages from Latin America. However, these languages remain largely invisible within the U.S. and even within their respective immigrant communities.

Three recent and ongoing projects have analyzed the presence of IILs and the needs their speakers face to maintain and promote their languages in immigration settings in the U.S. Southeast in a rural, suburban and urban area. These three case studies highlight the interest of IIL speakers in the preservation and promotion of these languages in their respective settings while also raising awareness of their presence within the immigrant Hispanic community.

Despite the differences observed in all these studies, there are some commonalities: all three projects highlight the importance of raising awareness of IILs in (Hispanic) immigrant settings and the lack of data that exists with regards to the presence of IILs in the U.S. Also, the suburban area project exemplifies how community-centered research can be a fruitful tool for IIL speakers to maintain their first language and to create materials that are beneficial to the community as exemplified through the creation of a multilingual visual dictionary for children, following the needs expressed by members of the community.

These experiences serve as examples of community-centered research projects that can be adapted to other areas with a significant presence of immigrant minorized languages in order to raise awareness of and promote their use among immigrant communities.

Keywords: Indigenous languages, Immigrant languages, Language promotion, Participatory Action Research, Community-engaged research

How to Cite:

Crow, M. & Viñas-de-Puig, R., (2025) “Community-engaged research for the promotion of immigrant indigenous languages in the U.S. Southeast”, Living Languages 3(2), 162–185. doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/livinglanguages.2111