English, Spanish and ethno-racial receptivity in a new destination: A case study of Dominican immigrants in Reading, PA

• Published in: Social science research Vol. 52; pp. 132 - 146
• Main Author: Oropesa, R.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.07.2015; Academic Press
• Subjects: Acculturation; Adult; Assimilation; Continental Population Groups; Dominican Republic; Dominicans; Emigrants and Immigrants; Emigration and Immigration; Ethnic Groups; Female; Hispanics; History of medicine and histology; Humans; Immigrants; Language; Latinos; Linguistics; Male; Multilingualism; Noncitizens; Pennsylvania; Racism; Residence Characteristics; Social Discrimination; Social networks; Social science research; Social Support; Spanish language; United States; Pennsylvania; Assimilation; Dominicans; Latinos; Language; Immigrants; Hispanics
• ISSN: 0049-089X; 1096-0317
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.01.012

•Dominicans in this Hispanic majority city live in a Spanish-language milieu.•This milieu is conducive to negative experiences with both English and Spanish.•Negative experiences are neither universal nor unstructured among Dominicans.•Negative experiences with English are structured by dark skin tone and exposure.•Language plays a role with dark skin tone in hostile ethno-racial experiences. Scant information is available on experiences with language among immigrant populations in new destinations. This study provides a multi-dimensional portrait of the linguistic incorporation of Dominican immigrants in the “majority–minority” city of Reading, Pennsylvania. The results show that daily life for most largely occurs in a Spanish-language milieu, but English proficiency and use in social networks is primarily a function of exposure to the United States. This is consistent with the standard narrative of assimilation models. At the same time, negative experiences with the use of both English and Spanish suggest that the linguistic context of reception is inhospitable for a substantial share of this population. Negative experiences with English are particularly likely to be mentioned by those with dark skin and greater cumulative exposure. Lastly, language plays an important role in experiences with ethno-racial enmity more broadly. Nonetheless, the persistent effect of skin tone indicates that such experiences are not reducible to language per se.