Sally Boyd, Language survival: A study of language contact, language shift, and language choice in Sweden. (Gothenburg Monographs in Linguistics, 6.) Gothenburg: University of Göteborg, Department of Linguistics, 1985. Pp. 244. - Anne Pauwels, Immigrant dialects and language maintenance in Australia: The cases of the Limburg and Swabian dialects. (Topics in Sociolinguistics, 2.) Dordrecht, Holland: Foris, 1986. Pp. vi + 150.

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-402
Author(s):  
Susan Gal
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
Language Survival

scholarly journals The patterns of language choice at the border of Malaysia-Thailand

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 176
Author(s):  
Mohammad Fadzeli Jaafar ◽  
Norsimah Mat Awal ◽  
Mohammed Azlan Mis ◽  
Norhayati Lateh
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Boundary Area ◽  
Thai Language ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Border Towns ◽  
Domain Concept

Any activities conducted at the boundary area between countries will only be successful if the community of speakers has mutual understanding in terms of language, especially those involving business. This study focuses on a community in the northern part of Malaysia near the Thailand border where majority of people are bilingual in Malay and Thai. This study aims to investigate the patterns of language used by speakers in the Malaysia-Thailand border, in the context of language maintenance and language shift. Both countries use different languages; with Malaysians use Malay and the Thais use Thai language. In this cross-border context, activities pertaining to business, visit or personal matters will have an impact on the development of the two languages. This study presents the findings on the language choice from a survey involving 202 respondents that was conducted in two border towns at the Malaysia-Thailand border, namely Rantau Panjang (Malaysian side) and Golok (Thailand side). By utilizing the domain concept that was introduced by Fishman (1972), this study focuses on two domains namely, business and family. In addition to the questionnaire, participant observations and interviews were also conducted as supplements. The data on the patterns of language choice were analyzed statistically. The findings show that although Malaysians and Thais speak two different languages, Kelantanese dialect, which is a variety of the standard Malay, was the most dominant language at the border. This study also found that age was a significant factor in determining the patterns of language use. The younger generations were using Kelantanese dialect and Thai language in domains where older people would only use Kelantanese dialect. This points to the occurrence of language shift at the border. However, the community at the Thai side of the border tends to choose Kelantanese dialect in their daily activities, which seems to indicate language maintenance in this area. These findings suggest that language can serve as a marker of identity, especially for those communities in Golok as most of them are originally from Malaysia. Finally, this study has contributed empirical data on language usage at the Malaysia-Thailand border.

Language Maintenance and Language Shift among Four Immigrant Minorities in the Nordic Region: A Re-evaluation of Fishman's Theory of Diglossia and Bilingualism?

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Boyd ◽  
Sirkku Latomaa
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
North Americans ◽  
Nordic Region ◽  
Sociology Of Language ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Way

In his (1972) book, The Sociology of Language, Joshua Fishman presents his often-cited typology of language contact situations in the form of a four-cell table: + or − diglossia and + or − bilingualism. Although criticism has been made of this typology and particularly of the predictions based on it, in this paper we operationalize Fishman's concepts of diglossia and bilingualism as presented in this book. We then examine results from a comparative study of language contact among four immigrant minorities in the Nordic region – North Americans, Finns, Turks and Vietnamese. Each of these groups was studied in at least two locations in the region, making a total of nine informant groups. By comparing the results for the generations, it is possible to see if there is evidence to support Fishman's predictions in the cases studied. The relatively stable levels of bilingualism found among the Americans and the Turks are not predicted by Fishman's typology, at least as we have operationalized it. The “stability” would seem to result more from the way these minorities have been received by the host societies than from the pattern of language use within the groups.

scholarly journals Redefining Forro as a marker of identity: Language contact as a driving force for language maintenance among Santomeans in Portugal

Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Eve Bouchard
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Group Code ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Sao Tome And Principe ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Changing Attitudes

AbstractIn São Tomé and Príncipe, the language shift toward Portuguese is resulting in the endangerment of the native creoles of the island. These languages have been considered of low value in Santomean society since the mid-twentieth century. But when Santomeans are members of a diaspora, their perceptions of these languages, especially Forro, change in terms of value and identity-marking. It is possible to observe such changes among the Santomeans who learn Forro when they are abroad, who use it as an in-group code, and start to value it more. In this article, I address the role of language contact in the maintenance and expansion of Forro. I investigate the mechanisms of language maintenance by focusing on the shifts in community members’ attitudes and beliefs regarding their languages, as a result of contact. The changing attitudes and beliefs have led to a redefinition of the role of Forro in the speech community. This qualitative study is based on semistructured interviews conducted on São Tomé Island and in Portugal. Findings suggest that the change in value attributed to Forro by Santomeans as a result of contact contribute to the valorization of the language.

Cognate similarity and intervocalic /d/ production in Riverense Spanish

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692199680
Author(s):  
Michael Gradoville ◽  
Mark Waltermire ◽  
Avizia Long
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Frequency Effect ◽  
Acoustic Measurements ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects Model ◽  
Phonetic Variation ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Phonetic Realization

Aims and objectives: While previous research has shown that phonetic variation in language contact situations is affected by whether a word has a cognate in the contact language, this paper aims to show that such an effect is not monotonic. According to the usage-based model, items in memory are organized according to similarity, thus we anticipated that formally more similar cognates would show a stronger cognate effect. Methodology: This variationist sociophonetic study investigates the relationship between cognate similarity and phonetic realization. We examined this relationship in the bilingual community of Rivera, Uruguay, in which both Portuguese and Spanish are spoken with regularity. Specifically, we focused on intervocalic /d/, which in monolingual Spanish is realized as an approximant [ð̞] or phonetic zero, but in monolingual Brazilian Portuguese is produced as a stop [d] or, in most varieties, an affricate [ʤ] before [i]. Data and analysis: We analyzed a corpus of sociolinguistic interviews of the Spanish spoken in Rivera. Acoustic measurements were taken from approximately 60 tokens each from 40 different speakers. Using a linear mixed-effects model, we examined the relationship between several predictors and the degree of constriction of intervocalic /d/. Findings/conclusions: While there is an overall frequency effect whereby more frequent words exhibit less constriction of intervocalic /d/, as both frequency and cognate similarity increase, less constriction of intervocalic /d/ obtains. Therefore, frequent cognates in Portuguese that have very similar forms affect the production of intervocalic /d/ more so than other cognates. Originality: No previous study has demonstrated that the cognate effect on phonetic variation in a situation of language contact is regulated by form similarity between cognate pairs. Significance/implications: The data support the usage-based model in that similar cognates have more lexical connections and can therefore show greater influence on phonetic realization than can cognates that share less phonetic material.

scholarly journals Language maintenance and shift under pressure: Three generations of the Turkish immigrant community in the Netherlands

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (242) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeşim Sevinç
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Immigrant Community ◽  
Three Generations ◽  
Turkish Immigrant ◽  
Language Maintenance And Shift ◽  
Turkish Language

AbstractDrawing on questionnaire and interview data, this study explores the process of language maintenance and shift across three generations of Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands. It compares three generations of Turkish-Dutch bilinguals by examining age and place of language learning, self-rated language proficiency, and language choices in six domains (home, school, work, friends, media and leisure time activities, and cognitive activities). Furthermore, it investigates bilinguals’ experiences, motivations for learning languages and attitudes towards bilingualism. Findings suggest that following the typical pattern of language shift described by Mario Saltarelli and Susan Gonzo in 1977, language history, self-rated language proficiency and current language practices of third-generation children differ from those of first- and second-generation bilinguals. Consequently, possible language shift among third-generation bilinguals causes socioemotional pressure about maintaining the Turkish language, triggering intergenerational tensions in Turkish immigrant families. At the same time, the perceived need to shift to Dutch for social and economic reasons causes immigrant children to experience tensions and ambiguities in the linguistic connections between the family and other social domains (e. g. school, friendship). The findings evidence that the Turkish immigrant community in the Netherlands may no longer be as linguistically homogeneous as once observed. The dissolution of homogeneity can be a sign of social change in which maintaining the Turkish language has become a challenge, whereas speaking Dutch is a necessity of life in the Netherlands.

Language contact and multilingualism in Iran

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahrzad Mahootian
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
General Description ◽  
The Status ◽  
Bilingual Communities ◽  
The Relationship

Throughout its history, Iran has been a richly multilingual nation, with documented evidence reaching back nearly three millennia. Today, estimates of the number of languages spoken in modern Iran vary, with numbers ranging from fifty-four to seventy-six living languages. This chapter presents a general description of societal bilingualism, how bilingual communities come about, the relationship between language and identity in multilingual contexts, and how best to describe the kind(s) of bilingualism found in Iran, including the use of English. The chapter then turns to bilingualism in Iran from a historical perspective, with the goal of understanding why there are so many languages in present-day Iran. Finally, it addresses the status of English in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran and issues of language maintenance.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document