ABSTRACT

Language learning and the development of language proficiency are central concerns in the study of immigrant adaptation. This paper analyzes the social construction of language proficiency among Indigenous Guatemalan Maya youth in the United States– specifically, undocumented young adults who migrated to Los Angeles, California as unaccompanied minors and who grew up as low-wage workers. Our analysis shows that youth used “percentage talk”– i.e., construing current proficiency as apercentage of idealized full proficiency– as a discursive strategy to assess their language ability and level of social adaptación (adaptation) relative to native English and Spanish speakers, other Indigenous language speakers, and their past selves. Through percentage talk, youth wrestled with social stratification and inequality in the U.S. and Guatemala and imagined themselves as future members of Spanish- and English-oriented discourse communities. While outwardly individualistic, percentage talk also allowed youth to gauge their ability to support the language socialization and social incorporation of other L1 Maya speakers in diaspora. Youth’s tricultural adaptation and contestation of an all-or-nothing ideology of proficiency shows their nuanced understanding of the role of language in immigrant socialization.

摘要

语言学习和语言能力的发展是移民适应研究的核心问题。本文分析了美国土著危地马拉玛雅青年的语言能力的社会建构，特别是作为无人陪伴的未成年人移民到加利福尼亚州洛杉矶的无证青年，他们成长为低薪工人。我们的分析表明，年轻人使用“百分比谈话”——即，将当前熟练程度解释为理想化的完全熟练程度的百分比——作为一种话语策略来评估他们相对于以英语和西班牙语为母语的人、其他土著人的语言能力和社会适应（适应）水平语言使用者，以及他们过去的自己。通过百分比谈话，年轻人在美国与社会分层和不平等作斗争 和危地马拉，并把自己想象成未来以西班牙语和英语为导向的话语社区的成员。虽然表面上是个人主义的，但百分比谈话也让年轻人能够衡量他们支持语言社会化和散居中的其他 L1 玛雅人的社会融合的能力。青年对三元文化的适应和对全有或全无的熟练意识形态的争论表明了他们对语言在移民社会化中的作用的细致入微的理解。