Elements of a sociolinguistic theory: The case of Breton

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-53
Author(s):  
Gary Manchec-German
Keyword(s):  
Language Shift ◽  
Major Elements ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Vernacular Language ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
Inside View ◽  
New Form ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract This article is a synthesis of the major elements of a sociolinguistic theory presented by Jean Le Dû and Yves Le Berre in their recent book, Métamorphoses, Trente ans de sociolinguistique à Brest (1984–2014). Given that both authors come from native Breton-speaking families in Western Brittany and have experienced the language shift to French first-hand, they provide a unique, inside view of the process as well as the reasons Breton speakers opted in favour of French. The sociolinguistic concepts they have imagined provide highly useful tools that highlight the inseparable bond between language and the social, political and economic forces that govern our choices. More specifically, they point out that the “Breton language” is splintered into as many varieties as there are social and geographic entities in western Brittany. For this reason, it should not be viewed as a monolithic entity. Far from “reviving” or “saving” the language, the authors argue that the recent creation of a phonologically, grammatically and lexically unified Breton norm is often so distant from the vernacular language that it has provoked a new form of diglossia which failed to reverse the break in the transmission of the natural language. The book provides tremendous insight into the complex issues which lead people to shift to another language. Language planners and scholars working on similar endangered language situations and who want to understand the mechanisms at work (and thus hopefully have some success in their endeavours) would do well to take heed of their experience.

scholarly journals Language shift, bilingualism and the future of Britain's Celtic languages

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1559) ◽  
pp. 3855-3864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Kandler ◽  
Roman Unger ◽  
James Steele
Keyword(s):  
Census Data ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Transitional State ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Vernacular Language ◽  
Celtic Languages ◽  
Shift Dynamics ◽  
Demographic Trajectories

‘Language shift’ is the process whereby members of a community in which more than one language is spoken abandon their original vernacular language in favour of another. The historical shifts to English by Celtic language speakers of Britain and Ireland are particularly well-studied examples for which good census data exist for the most recent 100–120 years in many areas where Celtic languages were once the prevailing vernaculars. We model the dynamics of language shift as a competition process in which the numbers of speakers of each language (both monolingual and bilingual) vary as a function both of internal recruitment (as the net outcome of birth, death, immigration and emigration rates of native speakers), and of gains and losses owing to language shift. We examine two models: a basic model in which bilingualism is simply the transitional state for households moving between alternative monolingual states, and a diglossia model in which there is an additional demand for the endangered language as the preferred medium of communication in some restricted sociolinguistic domain, superimposed on the basic shift dynamics. Fitting our models to census data, we successfully reproduce the demographic trajectories of both languages over the past century. We estimate the rates of recruitment of new Scottish Gaelic speakers that would be required each year (for instance, through school education) to counteract the ‘natural wastage’ as households with one or more Gaelic speakers fail to transmit the language to the next generation informally, for different rates of loss during informal intergenerational transmission.

at.óow OR l s'aatí át?: Language revitalization, cultural creation, and the tlingit Macbeth

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 3-29
Author(s):  
Matteo A. Pangallo
Keyword(s):  
American Indian ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
The Social ◽  
Language Recovery

This essay considers a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, produced by Alaska’s Perseverance Theatre at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in March 2007, in which the construction of a new cultural product—a Macbeth translated into the social and linguistic setting of a pre-contact Tlingit society—was claimed as part of a process of language revitalization for the endangered Tlingit language. Perseverance’s Macbeth demonstrated that language recovery might be attainable through importing an iconic text from an hegemonic language and culture and claiming it for the threatened language. At the same time, Perseverance had to confront the possibility that their project could be viewed as a colonizing activity. This inquiry examines several translational tactics the production employed, with the goal of considering the project as one potential methodology for generating linguistic life for an endangered language and reversing language shift. In addition, the study considers how translational comparison at the cultural level demonstrates how the Tlingit Macbeth operated as a two-way force in cultural creation, informing the source as much as the target.

Examining the Language of Carders

2011 ◽  
pp. 127-143
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Holt
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
Web Forums ◽  
New Form ◽  
Insight Into

The threat posed by a new form of cybercrime called carding--or the illegal acquisition, sale, and exchange of sensitive information--has increased in recent years. Few researchers, however, have considered the social dynamics driving this behavior. This chapter explores the argot, or language, used by carders through a qualitative analysis of 300 threads from six web forums run by and for data thieves. The terms used to convey knowledge about the information and services sold are explored in this chapter. In addition, the hierarchy and status of actors within carding communities are examined to understand how language shapes the social dynamics of the market. The findings provide insight into this emerging form of cybercrime, and the values driving carders’ behavior. Policy implications for law enforcement intervention are also discussed.

scholarly journals Language Shift – The Case of Punjabi in Sargodha Region of Pakistan

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barirah NAZIR ◽  
Umair AFTAB ◽  
Ammara SAEED
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Social Mechanism ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Major Language ◽  
The Social ◽  
Depth Interviews

This paper examines the linguistic scenario of Punjabi (second major language in Pakistan after Urdu) in Sargodha and the social mechanism which poses threat to the sustainability of Punjabi on a broader scale. It deals with the attitudes, causes and effects of the language shift from Punjabi to other languages due to prestige, modernity and social mobility issues. Triangulation (Questionnaires from n=80 and In-depth interviews from n=3) was used in order to observe the trends of shift. The findings exhibit that Punjabi speakers are not so loyal to their language, Punjabi language shift is a real not perceived phenomenon and a day may not be far away when Punjabi will be considered endangered language in Pakistan. 

Style, identity and language shift

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-38
Author(s):  
Maya Ravindranath Abtahian
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Central America ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Speech Events

Abstract This study is an examination of style-shifting in the speech of a single interviewer conducting sociolinguistic interviews in Garifuna (Arawak), an endangered language spoken in Belize and along the eastern coast of Central America. It provides a case study of intraspeaker variation in the context of language shift, exploring how the models and principles of intraspeaker variation hold in the social context of language shift scenarios, and framing language shift scenarios as particular contexts of performativity where cultural identity is highlighted. The focus of the paper is on the agentive use of a single phonetic variable in Garifuna as employed by the individual across speech events, as an example of how a linguistic form may become iconized in the context of language shift.

CHAM MUSLIMS IN HO CHI MINH CITY TODAY

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Phu Van Han
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Ho Chi Minh City ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
Insight Into

After more than 30 years of national reform, Ho Chi Minh City has made great changes in economy, living standards and society for all population groups, including the Cham Muslim community. The study clarifies the social characteristics, community development trends in the current sustainable development process of the Cham Muslims. At the same time, explore the adaptability of the community, clarify the aspects of social life and the development of Cham Muslims in Ho Chi Minh City. Thereby, providing insight into a unique cultural lifestyle, harmony between religion and ethnic customs, in a multicultural, colorful city in Ho Chi Minh City today.

Socio-Demographic Factors and Health-Related Behaviors Associated with Gerontology

GIS Business ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 359-370
Author(s):  
Dr. Ravi S. Dalawai
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Work Culture ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Chi Square Test ◽  
Current Scenario ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors ◽  
Insight Into

Indian population is in growing trend from 942.2 million in 1994 to 1.36 billion in 2019.Among this six per cent of India's population was of the age 65 and above (UNFPA, 2019). Today the work culture is totally changed. Both husband and wife are forced to work in the current scenario and unable to take care of their parents. The changing structure created increased problems for old age people leads to loneliness, psychological, physical health and financial insecurity. The study paper provides insight into the social and demographic factor and health related sickness of the oldest people. This research explained the cross-sectional study included a representative sample (n=116) of adults aged ≥60 years. The sample was chosen using a four-stage stratified random-cluster survey sampling method .The Chi Square test and ANOVA test was analyzed using SPSS20.

South Africa’s Institutions of Higher Learning

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-69
Author(s):  
Muhammed Haron
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Honors Program ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Regional Universities ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Insight Into

As a discipline, “Islamic studies” has attracted serious attention by a number of institutions of higher learning in predominantly nonMuslim societies. While southern Africa’s communities witnessed the inclusion of “Islam” as a subject in the faculties of theology at various regional universities as well as Christian seminaries, Muslim communities have clamored for the appointment of Muslim staff at universities to teach courses on Islam. On the whole, these educational developments bode well for the teaching and studying of Islam regionally, even though the purpose and objectives for doing so differ radically from one institution to the other. This essay first seeks to offer a brief insight into the teaching of “Islam” as a subject in theological/oriental/religious studies programs; it thereafter reflects upon “Islamic studies” as a social science discipline that has been included in the social science and humanities syllabus. It focuses on the BA Honors program to show the themes chosen for these programs and how scholars redesigned and changed these programs to meet modern needs. Apart from using “social change” as its theoretical framework, it also brings en passantinto view the insider/outsider binary that further frames the debates regarding the teaching and studying of Islam at these institutions in southern Africa generally and South Africa in particular. 

Diversity, Rationality, and the Division of Cognitive Labor

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Muldoon
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Additional Insight ◽  
Division Of Cognitive Labor ◽  
Social Structure Of Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Insight Into

Existing models of the division of cognitive labor in science assume that scientists have a particular problem they want to solve and can choose between different approaches to solving the problem. In this essay I invert the approach, supposing that scientists have fixed skills and seek problems to solve. This allows for a better explanation of increasing rates of cooperation in science, as well as flows of scientists between fields of inquiry. By increasing the realism of the model, we gain additional insight into the social structure of science and gain the ability to ask new questions about the optimal division of labor.

Perception of Absence as Value-Driven Perception

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anya Farennikova
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Ring Finger ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Form

Experiences of absence are often laden with values and expectations. For example, one might notice that a job candidate is not wearing a tie, or see the absence of a wedding band on a person's ring finger. These experiences embody cultural knowledge and expectations, and therefore seem like good candidates for being a form of evaluative perception. This chapter argues that experiences of absence are evaluative apart from the social or cultural values they take on. They are evaluative in their core, solely by virtue of being experiences of absence. The chapter begins by explaining why certain experiences of absence should be treated as a case of genuine perception. It then clarifies the role of the evaluative states in experiences of absence. The chapter concludes by arguing that experiences of absence constitute a new form of evaluative perception, and presents the subjective–objective dichotomy in a new light.

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