‘Our People is Divided, Yes, and Torn Asunder …’: The Sorbian Language Community and Its Internal Divisions

2016 ◽  
pp. 206-229
Author(s):  
Roland Marti
Keyword(s):  
Language Community

Assamese vowels and vowel harmony

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-183
Author(s):  
Diana B. Archangeli ◽  
Jonathan Yip
Keyword(s):  
Physical Properties ◽  
Principal Components Analysis ◽  
Principal Components ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Apparent Loss ◽  
Root Position ◽  
Components Analysis ◽  
Open Question

AbstractBased on impressionistic and acoustic data, Assamese is described as having a phonological tongue root harmony system, with blocking by certain phonological configurations and over-application in certain morphological contexts. This study explores physical properties of the patterns using ultrasonic imaging to determine whether the impressionistic descriptions match what speakers actually do. Principal components analysis (PCA) determines that most participants produce a contrast in tongue root position in the appropriate contexts, though there is less of an impact on tongue root with greater distance from the triggering vowel. Analysis uses the root mean squared distance (RMSD) calculation to determine whether both blocking and over-application take effect. The blocking results conform to the impressionistic descriptions. With over-application, [e] and [o] are expected; while some speakers clearly produce these vowels, others articulate a vowel that is indeterminant between the expected [e]/[o] and an unexpected [ɛ]/[ɔ]. No speaker consistently showed the expected tongue root position in all contexts, and some speakers appeared to have lost the contrast entirely, yet all are considered to be speakers of the same dialect of Assamese. Whether this (apparent) loss is a consequence of crude research methodologies or accurately reflects what is happening within the language community remains an open question.

The speakers of minority languages are more multilingual

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110231
Author(s):  
Nina Dobrushina ◽  
George Moroz
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
First Language ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Research Questions

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The paper tests the hypothesis that the larger the population of language speakers, the smaller the number of second languages mastered by these speakers. Design/methodology/approach: We match the size of the population of 29 Dagestanian languages and the number of second languages spoken by the speakers of these languages from 54 villages, and run a Poisson mixed effects regression model that predicts the average number of second languages spoken by speakers from first-language communities of different size. Data and analysis: Data for this study comes from two sources. The information on the population of Dagestanian languages is based on the digitalized census of 1926. The information on the number of second languages in which the residents of Dagestan are proficient is taken from the database on multilingualism in Dagestan (4032 people). Findings/conclusions: The study supports the hypothesis that the size of language population is negatively correlated with the multilingualism of the language community. Originality: The paper is the first to test the correlation between the size of language population and the level of multilingualism of its speakers using statistical methods and a large body of empirical data. Significance and implications: Population size is a factor that could have influenced patterns of language evolution. The population is interrelated with other factors, one of which is long-standing multilingualism. The methodological lesson of this research is that there is a difference in the level of multilingualism within a range of populations where the largest was about 120,000 people. Limitations: The data is limited to one multilingual region. The revealed correlation probably does not hold for areas where language communities do not interact with their neighbors and even speakers of minority languages can be monolingual, or for the territories where many people migrated and the area where a language is spoken was discontinuous.

scholarly journals Afrikaans as universiteitstaal: Onlangse ontwikkelinge in historiese en internasionale perspektief

Literator ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Steyn
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Official Status

A study of the history of South African universities from 1918 to 1948 showed that six factors influenced the use of a particular language as a language medium at a university, namely economic and political power, as well as the number of people in the language community (which determines matters such as the official status of the language and the availability of money for universities), lecturers' and students ’ knowledge of the language, its position as scholarly language, language loyalty and attitudes toward other languages and the support enjoyed by language and related ideologies. Whereas these factors were reasonably favourable for Afrikaans universities in the past, they currently pose a threat to the survival of Afrikaans-medium universities. The standpoint is defended that retaining Afrikaans as educational and scholarly language should be an important factor when making decisions on universities. The tension between internationalisation and retention of the own language and culture is also topical in Europe, and steps have been taken to try to protect the retention of Dutch as language medium at Dutch and Flemish universities.

Wörterbücher mit Slowenisch. Historische, kulturelle und sprachpolitische Aspekte

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-157
Author(s):  
Vida Jesenšek
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
National Language ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Basic Attitude ◽  
Cultural Status

AbstractLexicography is traditionally associated with its significant social and cultural role and consequently corresponding tasks and functions. Dictionaries have several, partially overlapping functions: they serve practical lexicography to satisfy various individual needs of the speakers, hence at the same time they also serve the language documentation which addresses national, language policy, administrative, economic as well as educational and scientific needs of a language community. This basic attitude to the social-cultural status of dictionaries, although simplified, is the starting point for considerations of historically significant milestones in the development of lexicography with Slovenian. Following Hausmann (1989) and his presentation of approaches to the social status of lexicography and its products, Slovenian lexicography is viewed from the perspective of the cultural-historical development of Slovenian-speaking society.

Some Slavonic loanwords in the Vilnius dictionary

Proglas ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Dąbrowska-Kamińska ◽  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Slavic Language ◽  
Language Community ◽  
The 19Th Century

The study outlines some of the problems related to the description of foreign elements in cognate languages from the Polish dictionary i.e. Słownik wileński. In borderland areas there are differences specific to Polish, Belorussian, Ukrainian and Russian languages, which come from the Proto-Slavic language community. The article proposes to interpret and specify the semantics of separate lexemes functioning in the eastern borderlands during the 19th century.

Marine Ecolexicon of Noun-Verb of the Coast Community in Pesisir Barus, Central Tapanuli

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Rosliana Lubis ◽  
Dwi Widayati
Keyword(s):  
Marine Environment ◽  
Word Class ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Environmental Dimension ◽  
Verb Lexicon ◽  
Marine Environmental ◽  
Environmental Activities

This study aims to describe the lingual form, which is a manifestation of the understanding of the speech community of the environment towards its environmental dimension. The theory used in this research is ecolinguistic. Data in the form of basic lexicons and affixed lexicons related to the marine environment were collected through interviews with informants. Furthermore, the data were analyzed by grouping them based on the word class, environmental category, and the affixation process contained in the affixed words. The results of the study show that many marine environmental lexicons which are divided into noun lexicon and verb lexicon. The noun lexicon is divided into four lexicon categories, namely: (1) Marine Environmental Fauna Lexicon (88 lexicons); (2) Flora of the Marine Environment Flora (9 lexicons); (3) Lexicon of Facilities / Infrastructure for Marine Environmental Activities (16 lexicons); and (4) Nominal Environmental Lexicon (7 lexicons). The number of vocabulary that is still recorded in the cognition of the Barus coastal Malay language community indicates that the community is very familiar with its environment and therefore the vocabularies are preserved.

scholarly journals Chinese Learners of Portuguese and Spanish Majors in Macau: A Comparative Case-Study of Motivation Aspects

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Oksana Kharlay ◽  
Martin Bagheri ◽  
Jeremy D. Philips
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Language Learning Motivation ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Integrative Motivation

This study investigated multiple learning motivation aspects of Chinese university students in Macau majoring in Spanish and Portuguese. A mixed methods research was employed by using questionnaires and interviews. 181 learners (96 Portuguese and 85 Spanish majors) were surveyed about ten language-learning motivation dimensions by using a questionnaire. A subset of participants from questionnaires were later given follow-up interviews. Quantitative and qualitative data indicated that the students in these majors had strong intrinsic motivation but limited integrative motivation towards the target language community. Other motivational pull-factors were the heritage connection between the language and the place of study and interest in the pop-culture associated related to the target language. Students reported a decline in motivation during the middle years of study, however, Spanish students’ interest resurged by the end of year three. There was also a gender imbalance, suggesting that career-related aspects of motivations were stronger among males. The results also revealed that language learners had an ideal-self that was multilingual and cosmopolitan but did not aspire to integrate into a specific target-language community.

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