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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Silverback (talk | contribs) at 11:53, 10 April 2006 (Races add up to more than 100%?). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Article Clean-Up

The page is becoming slightly messy. Reviewing the standards and revising the page may help. Abqwildcat 04:35, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

Didn't help much - just got messier despite efforts. Adding to cleanup. Layout is messy, doesn't follow standards for other state pages, and some images just don't make sense (tierra o muerte gets no blurb and no text introduction, for example). It just looks messy - like a webpage a teenager might make instead of a page about a US State. --ABQCat 05:31, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It's a little better, but despire User:68.35.24.246's removal of {{cleanup}}, it's still messy compared to other state pages. If someone has a case for removing the cleanup tag, thinks it's fine, or whatever, post it here. Since the tag was removed without discussion, I'm putting it back up. --ABQCat 00:15, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The addition of lists and images which are not referenced in the text of the page doesn't help for the cleanup effort. Again, compare to other US States, and you'll be surprised how this state's entry seems to be a mish-mash of random lists, images, and factoids. If and or when I have more time, I plan to try to overhaul this page, probably at New Mexico/Temp.

--ABQCat 23:42, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Official language

Hi! I did some searching but was unable to find a governmental reference to English and Spanish being the official languages of New Mexico. Does anyone have such a reference? Thanks. :) kmccoy (talk) 01:05, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I live in New Mexico and can't confirm it either - I'll check around in the printed materials I have. A cursory check online finds only other wikipedia mirrors citing Spanish as an "official language" of New Mexico (About.com also, but rather non-authoratatively). While Spanish is a protected language in NM and discrimination on the basis of language spoken is illegal, that's not the same as "official language." For a short(ish) history on Spanish in New Mexico, see ourwold.compuserve.com. I think the state constitution states that NM is a bilingual state, but I don't have the citation available. It's possible, but I've found no decent citation one way or another. --ABQCat 05:17, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I live in New Mexico, and in the state Capital! The State Constitution states that New Mexico is a bilingual state, and both Spanish and English are official state languages. However, it should be noted, the State Legislature does almost all of it's actions in English. Hope I could be of help! :) YourNickname 8 Mar 2005

I should note that since the date of my previous posting, I have actually confirmed this to a point. YourNickname is correct in that Spanish is protected by the state constitution. However, that is the limit of the language. The constitution protects the status of the Spanish language in the state and prohibits discrimination on that basis. Nowhere, however, is Spanish cited as an "official language", but NM is certainly an officially bilingual state. One thing that leads me to believe Spanish may not be an official language (as French is in Canada) is that the state homepage is unavailable in Spanish - something which wouldn't fly if Spanish were truly an official language of the state. Anyhow, read the text of the constitution (searchable at state.nm.us) and you'll see that the term "official language" is never used, but that Spanish is protected. --ABQCat 05:30, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Official language. I searched through the New Mexico Constitution, and I did a quick (but not through) search through the New Mexico statutes. I could find no reference to any official language, neither Spanish or English. I think the myth that New Mexico has two official languages started from the fact that when New Mexico became a state, Spanish was given protection for a period of time (since expired). I can find no evidence that any language is either official or "protected" in New Mexico at present. I'll leave it to someone else to decide if I am correct and edit the page 70.176.142.8 21:21, 20 October 2005 (UTC) Jack Quinn

English is the predominant language spoken in the state of New Mexico today. The Reference Department has checked the state statutes and confirmed with the Supreme Court Law Library that New Mexico does not have an official language.

The first state constitution, which went into effect in 1912, had several provisions in it which provided for a transition from the formerly prevalent Spanish to the acknowledged adoption of English. The provisions were stated in Article XII, sections 8 and 10, addressing the need for the training of teachers in normal schools to become bi-lingual, and the rights of Spanish-descent children to equality in education; and Article XX, section 12, which provides for the publication of laws in both English and Spanish for the first twenty years of effect, and thereafter as the legislature may provide.

Currently election ballots are published in both English and Spanish, the pledge to the New Mexico flag is available in both English and Spanish, and after allowing the Spanish Drivers Manual to become obsolete a new edition has been published. There is an official state song in English "O Fair New Mexico" and a different official state song in Spanish, "Asi es Nuevo Mejico." In 1995, an official "State Bilingual Song" was adopted by the state legislature, titled "New Mexico - Mi Lindo Nuevo Mexico."

Currently about 42.1 percent of New Mexicans are Hispanic according to the census of 2000. 28.7 percent of New Mexicans over the age of 6 counted in the census speak Spanish at home. You can look at the table with that information and other useful language statistics for the state at:

Census.gov

Does this completely answer your question? Please e-mail us again if we can be of further assistance.

Reference Desk/bjm

1209 Camino Carlos Rey

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507

505-476-9702

refer@state.nm.us

Thanks to the refdesk. WikiDon 17:23, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

External links

216.138.232.51 just added this link:

-http://www.eachtown.com/state_info.php/stateid/32 New Mexico State Information

I am not seeing much value-added with this one, this person just went through and added a bunch of links to each state, two counties, and one town. Also if you follow the link (s) it has a link that is not correct for New Mexico, and may not be correct for other states as well. WikiDon 15:13, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Totally agree. They've been spam linking every state page. But I've dropped them a note and reverted all the links (a couple of the earlier ones had already been done) . -- Solipsist 16:11, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

• Looks like Boris Krylov, User:Bidiot, is doing a commercial plug for his own site. WikiDon 19:05, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

History of New Mexico / Article Size

It looks like a new article needs to be started: History of New Mexico. Then a summary of history needs to be in this article. A timeline would also be nice. The article is now at 39 k, just slightly over the 36 k limit, so something will need to be done soon. Comments? WikiDon 19:45, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

US Army

The snippet U.S. Army (Fort Bliss) I think should also mention WSMR.

--70.59.96.25 02:23, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

New Mexico song

When I was growing up in Grants we sang what I thought was the New Mexico state song. It went, in part, "...from the Carlsbad Caverns to Old Santa Fe, from the White Sands to the Rio Grande, I am proud to be New Mexican, New Mexico: the Enchanted Land!" I loved singing this song. I was wondering why it isn't listed? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.53.192.153 (talk • contribs) .

nm

Εi am doing a report on new mexico can you help me

Reference to "fluent in Spanish"

I have concerns about the sentence, "At least one-third of New Mexicans are also fluent in a unique dialect of Spanish. New Mexican Spanish is rife with vocabulary often unknown to other Spanish speakers."

• Is there a source for this statement?
• I know that there is a unique dialect influenced by medieval and Mexican Spanish as well as indigenous languages, but, as discussion elsewhere states, most people speak English and not Spanish.
• I know many "New Mexicans" who are Hispanic/Spanish/Mexican "culturally" but not "lingustically" (i.e. they don't speak any Spanish).

I think the sentence should be changed to, "There are New Mexicans who speak a unique dialect of Spanish..." with a link to "New Mexico Spanish" (where you can see my recommendations for changes to that article). —This unsigned comment was added by Ron habla hispana (talk • contribs) 3:52, 31 March 2006.

Races add up to more than 100%?

Is this a mistake or is there a citation or explanation?--Silverback 11:53, 10 April 2006 (UTC)