There is evidence, albeit anecdotal, to be gleaned from our interviews
that these changes in the communication patterns in the home can have serious
consequences on parent-child relationships. We included a couple of
open-ended questions in the interview in which we asked the parents what
they wanted us to tell policymakers about their concerns and desires as
parents. Many parents were worried about their children losing the language
of the home. Many, but not all, did. Sad to say, there seems to be a barn
door principle at work here. The parents who expressed the greatest worry
were the ones whose children had already begun to lose the language, and
who were having trouble communicating with them. What we learned was
that this loss can be highly disruptive on family relations.
Some of the saddest stories came from the people who conducted the
interviews for this study. One of them told the story of a family that had
been referred to county social services after the father was accused of abusing
his children. Someone at school had noticed bruises on the children. When
the children were questioned, they admitted that their father had beaten
them with a stick. The children were taken into protective custody, and the
father was brought in for questioning. The story that unfolded was tragic.
The family is Korean, and its language is one that requires the marking of
many levels of deference in ordinary speech. One cannot speak Korean
without considering one's own social position and age relative to the position
and age of one's addressee because a host of lexical and grammatical
choices depend on such matters. It seems that the children in this family had
stopped speaking Korean, although the parents spoke little else. Everything
was under control at home however, even if parents and children did not
communicate easily with one another. Then one day the children's grandfather
came from Korea for a stay with the family. Because Grandfather did