Florid Language: English Only and its Effect on State Services
By Teresa Rendon and Michael Duggan

Just as surely as the winter snows melt and the first tulips emerge, the English Only proposal makes its annual appearance before the Oklahoma Legislature. Last year a new hybrid blossom budded with a clever twist. In an attempt to shield itself from any potential resistance from the 37 federally recognized Indian tribes in Oklahoma,1 some of whose leaders had been vocal opponents of the bill in the past, this latest iteration carved out special protection for tribal languages for “respect and encouragement for the use and development of Native American Languages.”2

In contradiction, it also declared that bilingual or bicultural education programs which “maintain a student in a language other than English shall be presumed to diminish or ignore the role of English as the official language.”3 Ironically, many of the bilingual programs in the state are ones that teach indigenous languages. In fact, in the early 19th century the Cherokee Nation, after having been uprooted from the southeastern states, had an impressive system of bilingual education in Oklahoma which resulted in high levels of literacy in Cherokee and levels of literacy in English which were higher than those of English-speaking populations of Texas and Arkansas.4

Around 15 years ago or so, we first took a glance at English Only statutes and their impact on state services. At that time there was a growing majority of states, 26 to be exact, with some form of English Only statute. We were concerned that many of our farm worker clients at Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma Inc. were unable to pass the driver’s license exam because of their lack of fluency in English. Additionally, we were curious to see whether the state of Oklahoma was an anomaly in its failure to provide the driver’s manual and written exam in Spanish to its growing Spanish-speaking immigrant community or whether it was in the national mainstream. For those reasons, we undertook to discover what other states offered for those new immigrants seeking a driver’s license. The research was limited to comparing the services offered by the Departments of Motor Vehicles of the English Only states with those of the remaining 24 non-English Only states. What was discovered was the lack of positive correlation between English Only states and diminished foreign language services in their respective state agencies. By foreign language services, we mean the states offered the driver’s manual and/or the driver’s test in languages other than English. There, in fact, seemed to be an inverse relationship between status as English Only and diminished foreign language services. At that time, many English Only states offered the driver’s manual and test in a myriad of languages, including Spanish, while some non-English Only states had no foreign language services in their driver’s licensing agencies.

Last summer with the assistance of second-year law student Shiloh Renes from Oklahoma City University School of Law, we revisited this same research topic to see what, if any, changes had occurred. Our study was identical in its narrow scope, again limited to comparing English Only and non-English Only states in terms of foreign language services offered by those states’ Departments of Motor Vehicles. First of all, we discovered that, at the time of this most recent study, there were 30 states with some form of English Only statute or constitutional provision,5 and nine states, including Oklahoma, that had some version of an English Only bill pending before their state legislatures.6 Last year, just as so many times in the past, Oklahoma’s English Only bill briefly blossomed at the Legislature and wilted just as swiftly.

As surely as we throw trash in the trash can and store gold in a vault, where we place an object clearly indicates to us something about its value. Many of the nation’s English Only statutes find themselves in the most peculiar places.7 Mississippi’s English Only statute is located between the designation of milk as the state beverage and the naming of the state butterfly. Montana’s follows the state fossil, while North Carolina’s statute is nestled between the state’s official historical boat and its official dog. The Illinois statute can be found tucked between the weighty matters of its official insect and its state mineral. This raises the question whether this rather odd placement is coincidental or whether these English Only statutes are as symbolic as their contiguous statutes. If, for example, the Arkansas English Only statute bore great weight, one wonders whether situating it after the state bird would be the most suitable placement.

Certain similarities arise in the English Only statutory language that allow researchers to identify discrete groups of statutes. Declaring the English language to be the state’s “common language” were the states of Missouri, Alaska, South Dakota, California and Alabama. The Departments of Motor Vehicles of all these states except Alaska continue to provide driver information and testing in various foreign languages. The apparently weak statutory language used in these laws appears to leave room for continued governmental use of foreign languages as needed.

Another group of state statutes8 declare English to be the state’s “official language.” These statutes commonly require that all official proceedings, records and publications be in English and that public schools be taught in English. Even these states with this seemingly more potent statutory language do not expressly require that English will be the only language in which classes will be taught or publications printed. Among these “official English” states, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Idaho, Georgia, Arizona, Utah and Tennessee all have Department of Motor Vehicles publications in at least one foreign language.

How does current language policy affect the state of Oklahoma? The following examples do not represent an exhaustive search, but are merely a cursory list of examples. In our state schools, the medium of instruction is English,9 yet federal law requires special services to students who are not yet fluent in English,10 notice of special programs and outreach in the native tongue of the parents,11 and notice and interpreters for parents of special education students.12 In our polling places, the Voting Rights Act of 196513 mandates bilingual ballots in counties where the population of voters who are speakers of other languages reaches a certain percentage of the total population. In our courts, there is recognition of the need for state court interpreters and a statutory state certification system established for district court interpreters14 similar to that of the federal Court Interpreters Act.15 On our roads and highways, many licensed Spanish-speaking drivers benefit from having the state driver’s manual which the State Department of Motor Vehicles publishes in Spanish. One wonders what practical effect, if any, an English Only statute would have. In other words, what is it that is broken that a state English Only statute would fix? Or would the purpose of an English Only statute be merely symbolic, similar to state statutes establishing other official state emblems such as the scissortail flycatcher, the rose rock and mistletoe?16

Authors’ Note: Shiloh Renes, a second-year law student at OCU, assisted with the research for this article.

1. Vol. 7 3 CFR 66, pp. 18553-7. The 37 federally recognized Indian nations in Oklahoma are the following: Absentee Shawnee, Alabama Quassarte, Apache, Caddo, Cherokee, Cheyenne-Arapaho, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Citizen Potawatomie, Comanche, Delaware, Eastern Shawnee, Fort Sill Apache, Iowa, Kaw, Kialegee, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Miami, Modoc, Muscogee, Osage, Ottawa, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Peoria, Ponca, Quapaw, Sac and Fox, Seminole, Seneca-Cayuga, Shawnee, Thlopthlocco, Tonkawa, United Keetowah Band of Cherokees, Wichita and Wyandotte.
2. 2009 OK H.B. 2254 Sec. 2 (B).
3. 2009 OK H.B. 2254 Sec. 3 (C)(2)(e).
4. Dicker, Susan J. Languages in America. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1996, p. 17.
5. Alabama — Ala.Const. Art. 1 Sec. 36.01, Alaska — AK ST Sec. 44.12.300, Arizona — AZ. Const. Art. XXVIII Sec. 1, Arkansas — AR ST Sec. 1-4-117, California — Cal. Const. Art. 3 Sec. 6, Colorado — CO CONST Art. 2 Sec. 30a, Florida — F.S.A. Const. Art. 2 Sec. 9, Georgia — Ga. Code Ann. Sec 50-3-100, Hawaii — Const. Art. 15, Sec. 4, Idaho — ID ST Sec. 73-121, Illinois — ILCS 460/20, Indiana — IN ST 1-2-10-1, Iowa — I.C.A. Sec. 1.18, Kansas — KS St. Sec. 73-2801, Kentucky — KRS Sec. 2.013, Louisiana — enabling statute 2 U.S. Stat. 641 Sec. 3, Massachusetts — Mass. Sup. Ct. 1975, Commonwealth v. Olivo, Mississippi — Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 3-3-31, Missouri — V.A.M.S. 1.028, MO ST 1.028, Montana — MT ST 1-1-510, Nebraska — Neb.Rev.St. Const. Art. I Sec. 27, New Hampshire — N.H. Rev. Stat. Sec. 3-C:1, North Carolina — N.C.G.S.A. Sec. 145-12, North Dakota — ND ST 54-02-13, South Carolina — SC ST Sec. 1-1-696, South Dakota — SDCL Sec. 1-27-20, Tennessee — TN St Sec. 4-1-404, Utah — UT St Sec 63G-1-201, Virginia — Va. Code Sec. 7.1-42, and Wyoming — ST Code 8-6-101.
6. Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and West Virginia.
7. Arkansas — following the state song and the state bird; Alabama — followed by the “Sportsperson’s Bill of Rights; Georgia — following the designation of the state’s first Mural City; Hawaii — following the designation of the Hawaiian flag as the state flag and its state motto; Illinois — following the designation of the state insect and the state mineral; Indiana — following the designation of the state’s official stone; Kansas — following the designation of the state’s official firefighters museum; Mississippi — following the designation of milk as the state’s official beverage and the state butterfly; Missouri — following the definition of registered mail; Montana — following the designation of the state fossil and the state ballad; North Carolina — following the state’s official historical boat and the official dog; North Dakota — following the designation of the state beverage and the official railroad museum; Tennessee — followed by institutions, symbols, mascots and names; Utah — listed under State Symbols and Designations and followed by state holidays.
8. “Official English” statutes can be found in Nebraska, New Hampshire, Kansas, Iowa, Idaho, Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee and Utah.
9. OK Stat. tit. 70 Art. XV Sec.11-102.
10. Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974).
11. No Child Left Behind Act, 20 USC 6301 Sec. 118 (Parental Involvement).
12. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1415 (d) (2).
13. 42 USC Sec. 1973.
14. OK Stat. tit. 20 Sec. 1701 et seq.
15. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1827.
16. The official state bird O.S. Stat. tit. 25, Chapt. 3, Sec. 98, state rock O.S. Stat Tit 25 Chapt., Sec. 98.1, and state floral emblem O.S. Stat. tit. 25, Chapt. 3 Sec. 92 (A), respectively.

About the Authors

Teresa Rendon has been the farm worker attorney at Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma Human Rights Commission adn a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Diversity Committee. Ms. Rendon, a former bilingual teacher at Oklahoma Public Schools and current doctoral student in educational studies at OU, is an adjunct professor at OCU in the sociology/criminal justice department where she teaches courses on diversity.

Michael Duggan is a staff attorney in the Senior Division at Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma. He recieved his B.A. from Columbia Univresity, and has worked as a journalist, and then editor and publisher of an international trade magazine, before founding a related trade association and growing it to 1,100 corporate members in 22 countries. After a two-year stint driving a cab in Las Vegas, he earned his J.D. from Oklahoma City University.

Florid Language: English Only and its Effect on State Services
Published 80 OBJ 255 (Feb. 14, 2009)