The Cosmopolis is a Tower of Babel

I will state in brief that I am opposed to making English or any other language official in the legal sense. I believe the official postion of the United States Government should be one of neutrality, as in matters of religion. Any national legislation of language I believe is unnecessary and destructive. The issue of whether a document should be published in other languages should be decided on as local a level as possible, for reasons pragmatic and expedient, and not a matter of symbolic politics ("our language is officially recognized or legally enforced, and therefore we are an important and powerful group", etc.).

The best argument put forth by the Official English advocates is usually some variant of the "Tower of Babel". This states that a society needs one language shared by all, at least in public matters if not in private, in order to function efficiently and coherently. I think these people misunderstand the causality between language and civil society. Do we associate because we have a common language, or do we have a common language because we associate? I think it is the latter.

In the LSA's resolution on "English Only", Geoff Nunberg states, "American unity has never rested primarily on unity of language, but rather on common political and social ideals." True, and I would add that unity of language derives not from political ideals but rather practical social goals held in common: in a word, commerce. From Marckwardt's American English we learn that most foreign words enter the lexicon from some form of trade. Most cosmopolitan and multilingual cities throughout history have been centers of trade. This is how languages change. It is the reason native English speakers are not speaking a minor variant of German, and native Spanish speakers aren't speaking Latin.