scholarly journals Towards a Liberation Theology of Indigenous Minority Language Groups: A Case Study on the Welsh Language

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-70
Author(s):  
Wayne Morris
Keyword(s):  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Welsh Language ◽  
Indigenous Minority

scholarly journals The development of English grammar and reading comprehension by majority and minority language children in a bilingual primary school

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-442
Author(s):  
Anja K. Steinlen
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Language Background ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Language Groups

Both for the first language (L1) and for all additional languages (L2 or L3), grammatical knowledge plays a vital role in understanding texts (e.g., Grabe, 2005). However, little is known about the development and interaction of grammar and reading comprehension in beginning foreign language learning, especially with respect to children with a minority language background. This longitudinal study, therefore, examined minority and majority language children’s English grammar and reading comprehension skills. The children attended a German-English partial immersion primary school and were tested at the end of Grades 3 and 4. As expected, we found grammar to affect reading comprehension but also reverse effects. Most importantly, the results did not reveal any differences between the two language groups, irrespective of the test. Therefore, immersion primary school programs seem to be suitable for minority language children, and these children do not automatically represent an at-risk group for foreign language learning.

Acculturation, Vitality, and Bilingual Healthcare

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Y. Bourhis ◽  
Annie Montreuil
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Intercultural Relations ◽  
Linguistic Minorities ◽  
Ethnolinguistic Vitality ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
French And English

This chapter provides a conceptual framework for examining the delivery of bilingual healthcare for linguistic minorities in Canada’s Bilingual Belt. First, the chapter provides an overview of the ethnolinguistic vitality framework accounting for the sociostructural factors affecting the strength of minority and majority language communities within multilingual countries. Second, the interactive acculturation model (IAM) helps account for relations between high- and low-vitality group speakers whose intercultural relations may be harmonious, problematic, or conflictual. Third, the chapter provides a case study of a pluralist setting that offers three distinct bilingual healthcare systems for French and English communities in Canada’s Bilingual Belt. While the delivery of bilingual healthcare is cost neutral relative to unilingual healthcare systems, at issue is whether minority language patients achieve better health outcomes when they are cared for in their own language than in the language of the dominant majority.

scholarly journals Critical Mass and Insecurity in Minority Language Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-316
Author(s):  
C.F. Huws
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
Welsh Language ◽  
Minority Language Policy

This article will discuss the extent to which legislation is effective in terms of changing individual and group behaviours. The specific focus of this article will be to argue that legislation pertaining to the use of the Welsh language in Wales, despite having expanded the domains of language use in an important way, has not shifted the cycle of language non-use that may be identified.

Immersion education: applicability for nonvernacular teaching to vernacular speakers

1981 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Merrill Swain
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Background Structure ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Immersion Education ◽  
Immersion Programs

The characteristics of “immersion” education as it is practised in Canadian contexts are described in this paper. Immersion programs are outlined in terms of their background, structure, methodology, and outcomes. It is suggested that to achieve the outcomes of immersion education found for majority language groups, some minority language groups may require a program in which initial education is in the first language, and which continues in both the first and second languages.

scholarly journals Kia kaua te reo e rite ki te moa, ka ngaro: do not let the language suffer the same fate as the moa

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (162) ◽  
pp. 20190526
Author(s):  
Tessa Barrett-Walker ◽  
Michael J. Plank ◽  
Rachael Ka'ai-Mahuta ◽  
Daniel Hikuroa ◽  
Alex James
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Learning Rates ◽  
Welsh Language ◽  
Using Data

More than a third of the world's languages are currently classified as endangered and more than half are expected to go extinct by 2100. Strategies aimed at revitalizing endangered languages have been implemented in numerous countries, with varying degrees of success. Here, we develop a new model regarding language transmission by dividing the population into defined proficiency categories and dynamically quantifying transition rates between categories. The model can predict changes in proficiency levels over time and, ultimately, whether a given endangered language is on a long-term trajectory towards extinction or recovery. We calibrate the model using data from Wales and show that the model predicts that the Welsh language will thrive in the long term. We then apply the model to te reo Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand, as a case study. Initial conditions for this model are estimated using New Zealand census data. We modify the model to describe a country, such as New Zealand, where the endangered language is associated with a particular subpopulation representing the indigenous people. We conclude that, with current learning rates, te reo Māori is on a pathway towards extinction, but identify strategies that could help restore it to an upward trajectory.

scholarly journals Counting matters: quantifying the vitality and value of Basque

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (252) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Urla ◽  
Christa Burdick
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
The Public ◽  
Management Techniques ◽  
Statistical Surveys ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Collection Practices

AbstractScholars of language policy and politics have increasingly come to appreciate that there is much insight to be gained by scrutinizing data collection practices and the debates around them. What is (or is not) counted and how counting is done has consequence, but in ways that are not always self-evident. Taking the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) in Spain as a case study, this article examines the historical context in which census and other statistical surveys of language emerged and what the changing forms of quantification can tell us about the evolution of language advocacy discourse and politics more generally. We will look at how concerns with tracking marginalization led minority language advocates to experiment with measures of oral use and linguistic landscapes in the public sphere. The final section examines how economistic and quality management techniques have gained traction in recent efforts to quantify Basque value and vitality today. We conclude with a consideration of the insights to be gained by looking at quantification efforts from the point of view of minority language advocacy.

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