Sociolinguistic Studies of Signed Language Interpreting

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Metzger ◽  
Cynthia Roy
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Underlying Assumption ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Communicative Exchange ◽  
Policy And Planning

Sociolinguistic processes are inherent in the practice of interpretation. Interpreters, within seconds, receive, interpret, and reconstruct utterances between two languages, using their linguistic, social and cultural, or sociolinguistic, knowledge to create a successful, communicative exchange. This chapter describes some major and minor sociolinguistic studies of interpretation with the underlying assumption that interpretation itself constitutes a sociolinguistic activity from the moment an assignment is accepted, including the products and processes inherent to the task, reflecting variously issues of bilingualism or multilingualism, language contact, variation, language policy and planning, language attitudes, and, of course, discourse analysis.

Overt Language Attitudes and Linguistic Identities among Multilingual Speakers in Northern Belize

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Osmer Balam
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Policy And Planning

AbstractThe current study examines Mestizo adolescent and post-adolescent speakers’ overt language attitudes towards their language varieties and bilingual/trilingual codeswitching. Results show that contrary to previous studies where code-switching has typically been negatively perceived even by the speakers themselves, codeswitching has thrived in Belize, particularly among post-adolescent speakers, because they are positively predisposed to code-switching and associate it with their multilingual identity. In contrast, the use of monolingual varieties of Spanish is marked and pejoratively perceived, especially among high school speakers. Interview data revealed that an incipient trend among younger high school speakers is to employ more Belizean Kriol and less Northern Belizean Spanish and codeswitching. This is a trend which merits further investigation as it may be pointing to the genesis of a strong pan-Afro-Belizean linguistic identity among younger Belizeans which cuts across ethnic lines, and which consequently holds implications for issues of language dominance, language shift, and language policy and planning in Belize.

Language policy and language planning in mainland Southeast Asia: Myanmar and Lisu

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
National Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
Mainland Southeast Asia

AbstractMost nations in mainland Southeast Asia and elsewhere have one national language as a focus of national identity and unity, supported by a language policy which promotes and develops this language. Indigenous and immigrant minority groups within each nation may be marginalized; their languages may become endangered. Some of the official national language policies and ethnic policies of mainland Southeast Asian nations aim to support both a national language and indigenous minority languages, but usually the real policy is less positive. It is possible to use sociolinguistic and educational strategies to maintain the linguistic heritage and diversity of a nation, develop bilingual skills among minority groups, and integrate minorities successfully into the nations where they live, but this requires commitment and effort from the minorities themselves and from government and other authorities. The main focus of this paper is two case studies: one of language policy and planning in Myanmar, whose language policy and planning has rarely been discussed before. The other is on the Lisu, a minority group in Myanmar and surrounding countries, who have been relatively successful in maintaining their language.

Language Policy and Planning in Independent Namibia

1994 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 240-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilfrid Haacke
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Policy Document ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
Local Languages

An advantage of Namibia's late attainment of independence is that it can benefit from the experience of other African countries that achieved independence some thirty years earlier. Hence Namibia is unique in that it is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa that at the time of attaining independence already provided for constitutional rights for its local languages. The major policy document of the then liberation movement SWAPO, Toward a language policy for an independent Namibia (United Nations Institute for Namibia 1981), which was published in Lusaka by the institute (UNIN) as proceedings of a seminar held in 1980, essentially set the trend for the policies pursued since independence in 1990.

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