Language is defined here as a means of social control, a viewpoint by which language restrictions can be seen as a method of discriminating against speakers of minority languages. A government designates an official language to restrict access to economic and political power. This view of language is substantiated by an analysis of the United States' experience with official language designation in three areas: the school systems, in which English has been required; the political institutions, which require voting and naturalization processes in English; and economic life, in which many occupations have been open only to citizens. The patterns have been similar, in that they were affected by three historical trends: the initial period of relative tolerance toward the use of other languages (1780-1880), active development and support of English language qualifications in order to exclude (1880 through World War II), and then active questioning and reversal of these official actions. In general, language control has been evidenced in the language restrictions imposed legislatively when an ethnic group was viewed as irreconcilably alien to a prevailing concept of American culture. (LG)