Morgan County

LANGUAGE

The Census asks questions about language use at home to locate groups of people who speak a language other than English. Their isolation or integration into a primarily English speaking community can be determined by their ability to speak English proficiently.

Language Spoken at Home, 1990-2000
1990 2000
Number Percent Number Percent
Only English 17,178 85.31% 18,484 74.36%
Spanish 2,499 12.41% 5,998 24.13%
Other Indo-European* 348 1.73% 310 1.25%
Asian Language** 89 0.44% 29 0.12%
Other 23 0.11% 35 0.14%
Total Population Age 5+ 20,137 100.00% 24,856 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,488 58.15%
Other Indo-European* 84 27.10%
Asian Language** 8 27.59%
Other Language 14 40.00%
Total 3,594 14.46%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,148 45.94%
Other Indo-European* 84 24.14%
Asian Language** 53 59.55%
Other Language 0 -
Total 1,285 6.38%

* "Other Indo-European" excludes English and Spanish. "Indo-European" is not synonymous with "European." French, German, Hindi, and Persian are all classified as Indo-European. Hungarian, on the other hand, is lumped into "Other Language."

** "Asian Language" includes languages indigenous to Asia and Pacific islands areas that are not also Indo-European languages. Chinese, Japanese, Telugu, and Hawaiian are all classified here.

Also note that ability to speak English "very well" is based on the self-assessment of those responding to Census questions, not on a test of language ability.

Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).

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