The Linguistic Context of Ethnic Endogamy

Because ethnic endogamy allows the transmission of unique cultural attributes to younger generations it is a necessary feature of the persistence of ethnic descent groups in the United States. Like other patterns of in-marriage levels of ethnic endogamy can be altered by characteristics of the demographic and social contexts in which marriages occur and are maintained. This study examines 2 important aspects of the demographic environment but its major concern is with the extent to which language a particularly salient characteristic of ethnic group members and their environment is associated with ethnic endogamy. The analysis based on the 1976 Survey of Income and Education 1st shows strong relationships between endogamy and ethnic group size and geographic segregation. The 2nd part of the analysis shows that ethnic endogamy is associated with not only the language characteristics of group members but also with the relative size and vitality of the embedded non-English language subgroup. These results underscore the importance of non-English languages as sources of ethnic group cohesion and continuity. (authors)