This project uses ethnographic methodology to study language and literacy use in two concentrated Mexican American neighborhoods in Chicago. Data will be drawn from audiotapes, participant observation, and interviews of two subgroups of the larger speech community: working-class adult immigrants who have limited experience with literacy/education, and US-born adults whose Hispanic style of literacy may differ from the US mainstream model. Particular attention is paid to persuasive use of talk, focusing on those aspects of this type of speech event that contrast most sharply with the academic mainstream model of expository speech and prose. In addition to analyzing persuasive speeches as communicative events, the project investigates the literary practices in Spanish and in English, of both target groups, as well as their attitudes toward bilingualism and biliteracy. This study expands linguistic understanding of language-use in culturally non-mainstream communities in the USA and also provides information for educators adapting literacy instruction to Mexican Americans. NSF funding for this project will be supplemented by support from the US Bureau of the Census because of its interest in under-reported minorities.
