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This paper summarizes the findings of the Neuropsychological Norms for the U.S.-Mexico Border Region in Spanish (NP-NUMBRS) Project and offers a roadmap for future research. The NP-NUMBRS project represents the largest and most comprehensive co-normed neuropsychological battery to date for native Spanish-speaking healthy adults from the U.S. (California/Arizona)-Mexico borderland region (N = 254; ages 19–60 years). These norms provide demographic adjustments for tests across numerous domains (i.e., verbal fluency, processing speed, attention/working memory, executive function, episodic memory [learning and delayed recall], visuospatial, and fine motor skills). This project: 1) shows that the NP-NUMBRS norms consistently outperformed previously published norms for English-speaking non-Hispanic (White and African-American) adults in identifying impairment; 2) explores the role of Spanish-English bilingualism in test performance; and 3) provides support for the diagnostic validity of these norms in detecting HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment. Study limitations include the limited assessment of sociocultural variables and generalizability (e.g., other Latina/o populations, age limit [19 − 60 years]). Future research is needed to: 1) investigate these norms with U.S.-dwelling Spanish-speakers of non-Mexican heritage and other clinical subpopulations; 2) expand coverage of cognitive domains (e.g. language, visuospatial); 3) develop large normative datasets for children and older Latina/o populations; 4) examine how sociocultural factors impact performance (e.g., bilingualism, acculturation); 5) investigate these norms' diagnostic and ecological validity; and 6) develop norms for neurocognitive change across time. It is hoped that the NP-NUMBRS norms will aid researchers and clinicians working with U.S.-dwelling Spanish-speakers from the U.S.-Mexico borderland to conduct research and evidence-based neuropsychological evaluations in a more culturally responsive and ethical manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper describes the methodology and sample characteristics of the Neuropsychological Norms for the U.S.-Mexico Border Region in Spanish (NP-NUMBRS) Project, which aimed to generate demographically-adjusted norms for a battery of neuropsychological tests in this population. The sample consisted of 254 healthy Spanish-speakers, ages 19-60 years, recruited from the U.S.-Mexico border regions of Arizona (n = 102) and California (n = 152). Participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery assessing multiple domains (verbal fluency, speed of information processing, attention/working memory, executive function, learning and memory, visual-spatial skills and fine motor skills). Fluency in both Spanish and English was assessed with performance-based measures. Other culturally-relevant data on educational, social, and language background were obtained via self-report. Demographic influences on test performances were modeled using fractional polynomial equations that allow consideration of linear and non-linear effects. There were no significant demographic differences between participants tested in Arizona and California. Age and gender were similar across education ranges. Two thirds of the sample were Spanish dominant and the remainder were considered bilingual. Individual articles in this Special Issue detail the generation of demographically adjusted T-scores for the various tests in the battery as well as an exploration of bilingualism effects. Norms developed through the NP-NUMBRS project stand to improve the diagnostic accuracy of neuropsychological assessment in Spanish-speaking young-to-middle-aged adults living in the U.S.-Mexico border region. Application of the present norms to other groups should be done with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistic landscape (LL) studies in bilingual regions can reveal power dynamics between two languages, providing important information regarding their status and vitality. To analyze the relationship between Spanish and English in Ciudad Juárez, a city on the south side of the U.S.-Mexico border, we collected 1649 pictures of public signs in several sections of the city, whose "wellness levels" differ from each other. Pictures were coded for several factors, including language choice, business type, sign type, and the main and informative section, amongst others. Results show that while Spanish is the most frequently used language, English has a strong presence in the LL of Ciudad Juárez. The main factor affecting language choice is "business type". Certain businesses within the "beauty" category tend to favor the use of English, while businesses within the "home" category favor the use of Spanish. An analysis of socio-economic status (SES) and language choice revealed a direct relationship between them: English is favored in high-income neighborhoods, while Spanish is favored in low-income areas. The analysis of the main and informative sections on signs further confirmed the prestige assigned to English, which appears mostly in the main and most prominent sections of a sign. Our research shows that although Spanish vitality in Ciudad Juárez is strong, English is used in advertising because it is prestigious and increases the value of products and services, making them more appealing to shoppers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how implied speaker nationality, which serves as a proxy for bilingual/monolingual status, influences social perception and linguistic evaluation. A modified matched-guise experiment was created with the speech of eight bilingual U.S. Spanish speakers from Texas talking about family traditions; the speech stimuli remained the same, but the social information provided about the speakers–whether they were said to be from Mexico (implied monolingual) or from Texas (implied bilingual)–varied. Based on 140 listeners' responses (77 L2 Spanish listeners, 63 heritage Spanish listeners), quantitative analyses found that overall listeners evaluated 'Mexico' voices as more able to teach Spanish than 'Texas' voices. However, only heritage listeners perceived 'Mexico' voices as being of higher socioeconomic status and of more positive social affect than 'Texas' voices. Qualitative comments similarly found that heritage listeners evaluated 'Mexico' voices more favorably in speech quality and confidence than 'Texas' voices. The implications are twofold: (i) the social information of implied monolingualism/bilingualism influences listeners' social perceptions of a speaker, reflecting monoglossic language ideologies; and (ii) there exists indeterminacy between language and social meaning that varies based on differences in lived experiences between L2 and heritage Spanish listeners. Extending on previous findings of indeterminacy between linguistic variants and meaning, the current study shows this also applies to (implied) language varieties, demonstrating the role of language ideologies in mediating social perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a large proportion of Mexican Indigenous speakers, it is common for the use of their native languages to shift across generations towards Spanish, the majority language in Mexico. This specific population can be defined as heritage speakers (HS) of their indigenous language, since many of them are Spanish-dominant bilinguals with a strong connection to their minority native language and culture, both of which they might only maintain in their family home where they were raised. The present study investigates the perceptual sensitivity of HS of Santiago Mexquititlán Otomi (Hñäñho) towards sounds of their native language to examine if these HS can accurately categorize Hñäñho vowels or whether their categorization is influenced by their dominant Spanish vowel system. Twelve Hñäñho HS (HHS) and twelve Mexican Spanish monolinguals (MSM) listened to the Hñäñho-specific vowel contrasts /a – ɔ/ and /ɔ – o/ and categorized them among the vowels of their respective mother tongue. Our results indicate that HHS correctly categorize vowels /a/ and /o/, which exist in both Hñäñho and Spanish, but do not accurately categorize the Hñäñho-specific vowel /ɔ/. Moreover, HHS and MSM showed similar patterns in terms of the proportion of /ɔ/ categorized as either /a/ and /o/. These results have implications for the maintenance of language-specific vowel contrasts and the vowel system of a minority language, such as Hñäñho, in the context of language shift towards Spanish in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico almost ten million people speak an indigenous language. Recognizing the pluralistic nature of the nation, the Mexican Constitution mandates bilingual-intercultural education; in reality, however, the school system typically imposes the Spanish language and dominant culture on indigenous children. For these children their academic success comes at the expense of their own language and culture. In this article we share the case study of Yadira, a Mayan girl living in Yucatan, Mexico, whom we met when she was in first grade. Using ethnographic tools we document the different literacy events in which Yadira participates at home and at school, and how these shape her understandings about print. We discuss how Yadira negotiates between two worlds using informal sources of Maya and Spanish to construct meaning from written language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article reports on the sociolinguistic situation of towns in the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico, where the Nahuatl language known locally as Mexicano is spoken by a rapidly diminishing group of speakers. Ongoing ethnographic research in the indigenous region that skirts the Malinche (Malintsi) volcano in Central Mexico on language shift and linguistic ideology shows varying degrees of language retention and shift. Here I focus on the nature of code restriction to particular social spheres, contrasting language use contexts that are intimate, sometimes “private,” with more power-laden ones, locally viewed as “public.” I consider the types of contexts in which Mexicano and Spanish are spoken, including the disjuncture that can occur when private, intimate family languages are brought into the institutional, public sphere such as schooling for language revitalization purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which described the attitudes of a middle-class family in Mexico toward the Spanish of a Chicano bilingual teacher from Arizona. Expectations of the Mexican family; Perceptions and linguistic characteristics of the teacher; Examples of the stigmatized linguistic phenomena that trigger language and culture clash.