Growing up Bilingual: Puerto Rican Children in New York

This book provides an inside view of the social construction of bilingualism in one of the largest and most disadvantaged Spanish-speaking groups in the United States. It walks readers through a New York Puerto Rican Community and describes the five varieties of Spanish and English that constitute the community's bilingual and multi-dialectal repertoire, the four major communication patterns that predominate in the homes of twenty families with children, and the syntactic features and discourse strategies of so-called "Spanglish".

Review: "Growing up Bilingual is a profoundly compelling account of what it means to come of age in an economically impoverished but linguistically rich cultural environment.Without romanticising an often grim situation, Zentella tells a story that has long needed to be told. It should be read by every teacher and social worker who deals with Puerto Rican children. It should also occupy a prominent spot on the bookshelf of anyone seriously interested in language policy, ethnolinguistics, applied linguistics, bilingual education, ethnic identity or Hispanic studies." Alicia Pousada, University of Puerto Rico "Along with her splendid sense of the need to portray memory and history, she brings wit, grace, and intelligence to her intimate and detailed portrayals of the life and language of Puerto Rican children and their families in New York." Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University Winner of the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists Book Award 1999 Winner of the British Association of Applied Linguistics Book Prize 1998 "Zentella's book achieves its goal of describing the social and linguistic realities of New York Perto Ricans.........those who advocate for an English-only society and the elimination of bilingual education, as well as their foes, should read this work and consider the significance of language for those who are subject to domination by a different culture."Yolanda Rivera-Castillo, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa