International Journal of Bilingual
Education and Bilingualism
Editor: Colin Baker, University of Wales, Bangor
Review Editor: Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University, Philadelpia
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Volume: 1 Number: 2 Page: 100–118
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Differential Effects of Linguistic Imperialism on Second Language Learning: Americanisation in Puerto Rico versus Russification in Estonia
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Arlene Clachar
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The paper essentially explores how Americanisation and Russification differed in terms of their imperialist language policies and how these policies led two colonised societies, Puerto Rico and Estonia,
to respond in dramatically different ways to the pressures to learn English and Russian respectively. Puerto Rico has been under the sovereignty of the US for almost a century, however, only 20% of the
island's population claims fluency in English despite an expressed positive attitude toward the learning of English and the prestige and status conferred on English by Puerto Ricans. Puerto Rico, therefore,
bears a striking and interesting contrast to Estonia where most nationals, under the sovereignty of the Soviet Union, became fluent speakers of Russian in a relatively shorter period of time and with less
favourable attitudes toward Russian. A comparison of the linguistic imperialist policies of the two superpowers reveals that the learning of Russian by Estonians and the unsuccessful Americanisation (particularly
Anglicisation) of Puerto Ricans were due to such major factors as linguistic tolerance versus linguistic hegemony; instrumentalities of tight control versus non-totalitarianism; and Russian and English
control over industry and mass media.
© Multilingual Matters 1998
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