Amazonian linguistic diversity and its sociocultural correlates

2020 ◽  
pp. 275-290
Author(s):  
Patience Epps
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
Regional Systems ◽  
Sociocultural Practices ◽  
The One ◽  
Widespread View

Lowland South America’s striking linguistic diversity presents a major puzzle to scholars of language and human prehistory. This chapter proposes that sociocultural practices provide important clues to a solution, and that linguistic differentiation across Amazonian groups is not so much a factor of isolation, but rather of interaction. Evidence includes the recurrence of regional ‘systems’ across the Amazon basin, characterized by similarly essentializing views linking language and identity, and accompanied by restrained lexical borrowing and code-switching on the one hand, but convergence in grammar and discourse on the other. These phenomena may be grounded in the widespread view that social identity depends on the active maintenance of contrasts, including those relating to language.

scholarly journals Commercial Limits to Personality: Instagram Influencers and Commoditized Content Receptivity

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Tyler Horan
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Audience Reception ◽  
Media Audiences ◽  
Unique Identity ◽  
The One ◽  
Commercial Relationships ◽  
Network Power

Social media influencers-individuals who utilize various forms of network power on social networks occupy a unique identity space. On the one hand, their network power is often tied to their social identity as creators of engaging material. On the other hand, their ability to promote commercial products and services steps outside the traditionally distinct commercial–social, occupational–personal divides. In this work, the network morphologies of influencers are explored in relation to their delivery of sponsored and non-sponsored content. This article explores how the disclosure of content as ‘sponsored’ affects audience reception. We show how that the promotion of content on social media often generates higher levels of engagement and receptiveness amongst their audience despite the platform’s assumption of organic non-commercial relationships. We find that engagement levels are highest among smaller out-degree networks. Additionally, we demonstrate that sponsored content not only returns a higher level of engagement, but that the effect of sponsorship is relatively consistent across out-degree network sizes. In sum, we suggest that social media audiences are not sensitive to commercial sponsorship when tied to identity, as long as that performance is convincing and consistent.

scholarly journals Language politics in Nepal: a socio-historical overview

2022 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhim Lal Gautam
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Language Politics ◽  
Contact Shift ◽  
Global North ◽  
The One

Abstract This paper aims to outline the language politics in Nepal by focusing on the influences and expansions shifted from Global North to the Global South. Based on a small-scale case study of interviews and various political movements and legislative documents, this paper discusses linguistic diversity and multilingualism, globalization, and their impacts on Nepal’s linguistic landscapes. It finds that the language politics in Nepal has been shifted and changed throughout history because of different governmental and political changes. Different ideas have been emerged because of globalization and neoliberal impacts which are responsible for language contact, shift, and change in Nepalese society. It concludes that the diversified politics and multilingualism in Nepal have been functioning as a double-edged sword which on the one hand promotes and preserves linguistic and cultural diversity, and on the other hand squeeze the size of diversity by vitalizing the Nepali and English languages through contact and globalization.

scholarly journals Invisible Borders: Translation and Multilingualism in an Unequal World

1969 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva C. Karpinski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Paradoxical Effects ◽  
The One ◽  
Transnational Space ◽  
Local Languages ◽  
National Local

Inspired by Jan Blommaert’s approaches to linguistic landscaping and his studies of linguistic mobility, this article traces the changing meanings of multilingualism and monolingualism in a world fractured by uneven vectors of globalization and super-diversity. Drawing on such examples as Polish anti-racist billboards, the commercial, transnational space of the mall, or translation policies in the European Union, it is possible to see the paradoxical effects of neoliberal transformations on linguistic diversity, with the hegemony of English on the one hand, and the revival of ethno-linguistic particularity on the other. Alison Phipp’s theories of multilingualism from above and from below, as well as Yaseem Noorani’s concept of “soft” multilingualism are used to make further differentiations between assertive nationalist monolingualism from below and aggressive global monolingualism from above. These different kinds of multilingualism and monolingualism, produced at intersections of complex historical, political, and economic factors, not only uphold the existing legacies of colonialism and modernity, but also create new hierarchies of global/cosmopolitan and national/local languages and identities.

scholarly journals Protecting Linguistic and Religious Minorities: Looking for Synergies among Legal Instruments

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 706
Author(s):  
Eduardo J. Ruiz Vieytez
Keyword(s):  
Potential Role ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Management Techniques ◽  
The One

Language and religion are two main cultural markers of collective identities and articulating factors at play in the majority-minority game. However, from a legal and political point of view, language and religion work very differently as factors for determining minorities. This is due, on the one hand, to their different connection with public bodies and, on the other hand, to the different role played by the two identity markers, more substantive in the case of religion and more instrumental in the case of language. Different forms of protection of linguistic and religious diversity and minorities have been developed so far. The two fields of protection have evolved separately and there has hardly been any dialogue between them. This article aims to analyze whether and how the usual forms of protection of linguistic diversity and linguistic minorities can be useful for the management of religious-based diversity or minorities. In this respect, linguistic diversity management draws more inspiration from religious diversity management techniques than the reverse. Nevertheless, a number of techniques that have been applied to the linguistic diversity protection may also play a potential role for the protection of religious diversity, opening the door to further synergies among legal instruments.

scholarly journals TATAR LANGUAGE:

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinara S. Sultan ◽  
Tatiana G. Bochina ◽  
Atirkul Ye. Agmanova ◽  
Yevgeniya A. Zhuravleva
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethnic Identification ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The One ◽  
Linguistic Aspect

Conservation and development of minority languages in countries unique in the ethno-linguistic aspect, such as Russia and Kazakhstan, are highly relevant. Wide linguistic diversity, on the one hand, and dominance of the official Russian in Russia and the official Kazakh and Russian languages in the socio-communicative system of society in Kazakhstan, on the other hand, determine the linguistic landscape and peculiarities of multilingualism in these states. Research interest in linguistic contacts of a modern multiethnic society has determined the choice of the processes of linguistic and ethnic identification, related issues of conservation and using the native language and culture by representatives of various ethnic groups living in Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as the specifics of their interaction and mutual influence under new geopolitical conditions as the object of the study

Socially Undocumented Horizons

2020 ◽  
pp. 127-146
Author(s):  
Amy Reed-Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Double Bind ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Innovative Action ◽  
Do So

This chapter completes the argument that “being socially undocumented” entails having a real, visible social identity by exploring possible aspects of a socially undocumented interpretive horizon. It argues that the socially undocumented interpretive horizon can be characterized in terms of resistance to a “double bind” in which socially undocumented people often find themselves. On the one hand, they often have no choice but to perform under-valued labor in the United States; failure to do so could very literally result in starvation and death. On the other hand, socially undocumented people with and without legal authorization to be in the United States are “read” as “illegals,” and subjected to demeaning, immigration-related constraints, on the very basis of performing and being associated with such labor. They are, then, faced with two highly constraining options. This chapter explores ways in which socially undocumented people take innovative action to respond to this double bind.

Between two extremes

2020 ◽  
pp. 263-274
Author(s):  
Raf Van Rooy
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Level Variation ◽  
Noam Chomsky ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The One ◽  
Externalist Approach

Chapter 21 confronts two opposite perspectives on language and the language / dialect pair with roots in the 1950s and 1960s. On the one hand, it treats generative approaches to linguistic diversity. In general, generative linguists have assumed that dialect-level variation is produced by minor differences in rules, parameters, or constraints and their ordering or ranking, depending on the generative framework which they follow, whereas distinct languages are characterized by major divergences in the same. On the other hand, sociolinguists have focused on linguistic variables rather than systems. As they correlate linguistic phenomena to language-external attributes, their conceptions of the language / dialect distinction tend to be rather hybrid, being shaped by linguistic as well as sociopolitical parameters. This externalist approach has been fiercely criticized by Noam Chomsky. Other linguists have adopted more constructive attitudes, either by supplementing the language / dialect distinction or by supplanting it with an entirely new conception of language.

Verzet en rechten : Een vergelijking van Arendt, Foucault, en Young

2020 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-175
Author(s):  
Liesbeth Schoonheim
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
The Other ◽  
Total Domination ◽  
Social Agents ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
The One ◽  
Late Modern ◽  
Do So

Abstract Resistance and Rights. Comparing Arendt, Foucault, and YoungThe question if rights can be used in addressing gender-based oppression is at the center of recent debates in feminist theory. On the one hand, post-structuralist critiques have argued that differentiated rights, aimed at redressing injustices, reify the identity of oppressed groups (Brown 2000). On the other hand, proponents of differentiated rights have argued that these should be understood social-phenomenologically, as enabling social agents to counteract their oppression (Young 2011; McNay 2010). This paper argues in favor for the latter position while taking seriously the concern with regard to social identity articulated by the former. I do so by comparing Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault on the relation between resistance and rights. Starting from the observation that Arendt and Foucault agree on the need for a new law that can curtail the destructive dynamics of late-modernity, I argue that their account of resistance ascribes great importance to rights. Discussing the two authors in turn, I focus on two parallel themes. Firstly, confronted with the fight against anti-Semitic persecution (Arendt) and the struggle against governmental techniques (Foucault), they invoke rights against the near-total domination by late-modern states. Secondly, reflecting on how freedom practices require relationships with others in which one can develop one’s individual uniqueness, they hint towards rights that consolidate these relationships, of which friendship is the paradigmatic example. In conclusion, I return to the feminist debate on differential rights to show how Young’s model of communicative democracy is influenced by and is an instance of the relational rights that can be found in Arendt and Foucault.

Subsistence pattern and contact-driven language change

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patience Epps
Keyword(s):  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Systematic Assessment ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
Interactive Networks

While it is well known that processes of contact-driven language change are sensitive to socio-cultural factors, the question of whether these apply differently among hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists has engendered considerable debate. These dynamics have been particularly underexplored in the Amazon basin, where high linguistic diversity has until very recently been coupled with a dearth of quality documentation. This investigation undertakes a systematic assessment of the effects of contact on fourteen languages (representing six distinct language families/isolates), spoken by northern Amazonian peoples whose subsistence practices all involve a relative emphasis on hunting and gathering. The effects of contact are assessed via an extensive survey of lexical and grammatical data from nearly a hundred languages of this region, and take into account lexical borrowing, Wanderwort distributions, and grammatical convergence. This comparative approach indicates that most Amazonian foraging-focused peoples have been heavily involved in regional interactive networks over time, as have their more horticulture-dominant neighbors, but that the linguistic effects of contact are variable across subsistence pattern. While subsistence thus does not appear to be correlated with the degree of contact-driven change experienced by the languages of this region, it is, on the other hand, a strong predictor of the direction of influence, which favors a unidirectional farmer-to-forager linguistic transmission.

Time for Health

A Child's Day ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 59-86
Author(s):  
Killian Mullan
Keyword(s):  
Screen Time ◽  
Physical Activities ◽  
The Other ◽  
Prevalence Of Obesity ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Sport And Exercise ◽  
The One ◽  
Watching Tv ◽  
Widespread View

This chapter examines associations between children's time use and a range of different health outcomes. Concerns about the prevalence of obesity and being overweight among children, and associated health problems, have drawn attention to questions around whether children are spending too much time in sedentary screen-based activities on the one hand and not enough time in active physical activities on the other. Technological change has greatly enhanced the capacity for children to spend time in a wide variety of screen-based activities, and persistent concerns about children's safety outdoors have led to increasing restrictions on the time children spend outside. These factors have likely coalesced over recent decades, resulting in children leading lives that are less active and spent indoors focused on screens. The widespread view is that this is indeed the case. Considering the evidence for this, the chapter analyses long-term trends in screen time (comprised of time watching TV, using computers, and playing video games) alongside trends in physical activities such as sport and exercise, play outside the home, and active travel (walking and cycling).

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