Actitudes de (in)tolerancia hacia identidades bilingües

Abstract

Language variation is a universal phenomenon and bilingualism characterizes a great majority of countries in the world. However; and in spite of the ever growing amount of international contact; most states; educational and law systems treat bilingualism as an exceptional or undesirable situation. When bilingualism is considered as a manifestation of diversity; that diversity makes up an undeniable part of each bilingual individual's identity. At the same time it posits the social validness of several communicative codes. To what degree does society take into account bilinguals in their whole identity and how can attitudes of tolerance towards bilingualism be defined? In order to find answers to these questions; the article discusses two concrete and mutually distant contexts; one involving an author who writes in a foreign language; and the other involving the situation of Spanish speakers in the United States.