ABSTRACT
When compared to monolingual Mexicans, many U.S.-born Mexican Americans experience a more linguistically complex reality, navigating between two languages of different sociopolitical standings depending on the context, situation, and interlocutor. In light of this distinction, the present chapter qualitatively explores these groups’ conceptualizations of language and identity based on an analysis of their written comments about Mexican and Mexican-American voices. I find that, given the diversity of Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, U.S.-born Mexican Americans allow for more inclusive membership in their community, where Spanish serves as a language of connection, culture, and intimacy. On the contrary, the Mexican participants seem to create a more exclusive definition of community, extending in-group favoritism only to Mexican voices and providing more critical comments of Mexican-American speakers. Additionally, while the Mexican Americans demonstrate a nuanced understanding of diglossia, bilingualism, and language proficiency in light of an individual’s background and heritage, the Mexican participants generally separate these concepts, using Spanish as a tool to sort individuals within a hierarchical worldview. I conclude that these attitudes reflect, to a great extent, the participants’ own experiences with language and identity, and these divergent experiences can also lead to divergent perceptions of who is considered in-group.
