Monday, March 14, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.
English may be the unofficial language of commerce, but when Southern Nevadans go home at night they may be speaking Spanish, Tagalog or even Chamorro.
The U.S. English Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group U.S. English Inc., is noting that residents of Clark County speak 84 languages, making it the 25th most linguistically-diverse county in the nation, according to Census 2000 statistics analyzed by the group.
The findings put Clark County on par with a number of other metropolitan areas, including Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania, home to 84 languages, and Massachusetts' Suffolk County, which includes Boston, where 94 languages are spoken, Rob Toonkel, a spokesman for the group, said.
"We always have to remember that we are not a two-language society," he said, referring to English and Spanish.
According to their study, titled "Many Languages, One America," more than 92 percent of the nation speaks English or Spanish at home.
Still, 322 other languages are spoken, although the most common are English, Spanish, Chinese and German, according to U.S. English.
"Certainly in this country, the important thing to realize is there are speakers of many languages, and these people speak their own language at home," Toonkel said.
Far from it, the group found.
Other languages include: Hindi; Panjabi; Chamorro, considered the official language of Guam; Basque; Bisayan, a central Phillipine dialiect; and Zuni. None of these languages is spoken by more than a quarter of one percent of the population, according to the report.
In Clark County, five of the 10 most commonly-spoken languages are Asian, with Tagalog, a language spoken in the Phillipines, a distant third behind Spanish.
The group -- which earlier this month supported the English Language Unity Act of 2005 that Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, introduced in Congress -- used the findings to underscore its call for a national language.
A similar effort was launched in the state Assembly in 1997 to make English the official language for state business in Nevada. The bill never made it past the Government Affairs Committee after uncertainty following a 1995 Arizona suit challenging the constitutionality of such laws.
U.S. English also supported that bill.
Gary Palmer, a UNLV anthropological linguistics professor who has studied local Tagalog speakers, said he was unfamiliar with U.S. English but that a national language would be "another symbol of discrimination" for minority groups who already face adversity in hiring and education.
"I don't think it's a good idea," he said.
"It (language) is something we use every day. It's like our food. There's clearly a strong ideological connection to our language."
But making English the national language "is like saying our national food is steak and potatoes," he said.
But without such legislation, local governments would potentially have to provide information in dozens -- potentially hundreds -- of languages, Toonkel said.
"Our group is very concerned about the fact that the government says we can help everyone and will provide things in every language," Toonkel said. "If they did that in Las Vegas (Clark) County they would have to do it in 84 languages. It would be quite costly."
Federal laws regulate both voting ballots and information from federal agencies or agencies that receive federal funds -- but those laws are based on the numbers and percentages of people speaking foreign languages in municipalities nationwide.
In Clark County, for example, Spanish is the only language that is spoken by enough people to meet federal requirements for voting -- 18.1 percent, according to the study.
In any case, the debate is as old as the country.
President John Adams suggested in 1780 that an official academy be created to dictate the use of English.
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