The “new” and “traditional” speaker dichotomy: bridging the gap

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (231) ◽  
pp. 107-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hornsby
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Symbolic Violence ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Power Differentials ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Grammatical Structures

Abstract This article analyzes the tensions and dynamics which exist between “new” speakers and other speakers, such as traditional or native speakers of minority languages (MLs), in an attempt to discover just how much of a barrier to communication are the (perceived) differences which are purported to exist between them. The dynamics between “new” and native speakers seem to be complex and nuanced, and “(in)authenticity” can be indexed through accent, the lexicon and grammatical structures, both by local users and more widely by researchers and other interested third parties, reflecting a wide range of ideo-logical stances. Using a critical sociolinguistic framework, these differences are examined from the perspective of the power differentials among and between various ML speakers/users in two situations of language endangerment, Breton and Yiddish. The reproduction of “symbolic violence”, as described by Bourdieu (1991), which results from such differentials can hinder language revitalization projects and can run counter to the interests of the language community in question. Both settings appear to share a commonality of experience that is wider than just the two language communities under scrutiny here and possible ways of reconciling such differences are examined toward the end of the article.

The dynamics of Hawaiian speakerhood in the family

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (255) ◽  
pp. 45-72
Author(s):  
Christina Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Native Hawaiian ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Hawaiian Language ◽  
Home Life ◽  
The Family ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Practices

Abstract While the majority of studies on new speakers focuses on language use in educational and community contexts, the family is becoming an increasingly relevant site since new speakers are now incorporating their languages into their home life. This article reports on how people of Native Hawaiian ancestry express their speakerhood with regard to their use of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, or the Hawaiian language, in the context of the family. It explores Hawaiians’ stances towards different ways of speaking Hawaiian with regard to authenticity, an issue which has been found to be central among new speakers of minority languages in other contexts. Drawing on interview data with six Hawaiians, this article investigates Hawaiian speakerhood by focusing on how the participants view linguistic authority and translanguaging in family settings. The article offers insights into the range of linguistic practices and sociolinguistic authenticities in families that may enhance continued language revitalization efforts.

scholarly journals “New speakers” of Gaelic: perceptions of linguistic authenticity and appropriateness

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson McLeod ◽  
Bernadette O’Rourke
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Medium Education ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Traditional Communities

AbstractThis article considers the experiences and views of “new speakers” of Gaelic, focusing on how they characterise their language production and its relationship to the language of traditional speakers. In contrast to some other European minority languages, a significant population of new Gaelic speakers in Scotland has emerged only recently, particularly with the development of Gaelic-medium education since 1985, provision that increasingly serves children who do not acquire Gaelic in the home. Given the ongoing decline of Gaelic in traditional “heartland” areas, it is apparent that new speakers of Gaelic emerging from urban Scotland will become increasingly important in coming years. This study of 35 new speakers in the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow builds on emerging research on new speakers of minority languages across other European contexts (see O’Rourke et al. 2015) where traditional communities of speakers are being eroded as a consequence of increased urbanisation and economic modernisation. This article considers issues involving legitimacy, authority and authenticity amongst new speakers of Gaelic and the extent to which new speakers are producing their own set of contexts of language use and their own standards of performance or conversely, if they continue to reproduce ideals of localism, tradition and linguistic purity. Participants expressed contrasting views on these topics, some of them endeavouring to accommodate what they perceived as native speakers’ perceptions and preferences, others expressing a rather more oppositional viewpoint, rejecting practices or assumptions that they view as impeding the modernisation and normalisation of the language.

Approaches to and Strategies for Language Revitalization

2018 ◽  
pp. 442-465
Author(s):  
Leanne Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Home Schools ◽  
Critical Part ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Learning Language

There are many paths language revitalization can take, but they are not mutually exclusive. A central aspect of language revitalization is the creation of new speakers. One path is for families to learn and transmit the endangered language at home. Schools are major venues for language learning. Language nests and immersion schools have been especially effective. Adult language education has also become a critical part of language revitalization. Universities and “bootstrap” methods such as the Master-Apprentice Program have been able to bring adults to high proficiency. Linguistic archives have been useful for access to language, especially when there are no speakers left. Modernization of the language is also unavoidable, including new vocabulary and the development of writing systems if necessary. Most importantly, language revitalization should involve increased use of the language, by native speakers and learners alike.

scholarly journals Sociolinguistic vitality of Manx after extreme language shift: authenticity without traditional native speakers

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (231) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Alternative Models ◽  
Traditional Language

Abstract This article draws on sociolinguistic fieldwork among speakers of one of Europe's smallest indigenous language communities, a speaker group which persists after the loss of all of its “traditional speakers” within living memory. The extreme language shift experienced by Manx has not led to loss of the language as a spoken and literary medium due to the efforts of significant numbers of language activists and enthusiasts over several generations, from before the loss of the traditional language community to the present. Their actions have resulted in significant linguistic institutionalisation and a rapidly expanding number of speakers of various abilities, some of whom form a new “speaker community”. It discusses the constructions of linguistic authenticity and alternative models for the revival speaker, showing how core groups of speakers have been bestowed with authenticity by the wider non-speaker population, for whom linguists' interest in language endangerment and language death are not primary concerns. The article shows how speakers appropriate and are accorded forms of authority and legitimacy in the absence of traditional native speakers.

scholarly journals KETAHANAN BAHASA HATAM DI TENGAH ANCAMAN KEPUNAHAN (Hatam Vitality under the Threat of Language Extinction)

Sirok Bastra ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inayatusshalihah Inayatusshalihah
Keyword(s):  
Total Population ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Papua Barat ◽  
Bahasa Indonesia ◽  
Language Transmission

Gambaran mengenai keterancaman bahasa di seluruh dunia cukup suram; hampir tidak ada bahasa yang terhindar dari ancaman kepunahan, baik bahasa dengan jumlah penutur yang besar maupun yang kecil. Demikian pula situasi kebahasaan di Indonesia. Bahasa-bahasa minoritas mulai tergerus oleh bahasa yang lebih dominan. Ketahanan bahasa-bahasa daerah mulai mengalami penurunan karena berbagai faktor penyebab, seperti dominasi bahasa daerah lain atau bahasa Indonesia. Tulisan ini bertujuan melihat ketahanan salah satu bahasa daerah di Papua Barat, yaitu bahasa Hatam yang dituturkan di Kampung Watariri, Distrik Oransbari, Kabupaten Manokwari Selatan. Dengan metode survei, data kajian dijaring menggunakan kuesioner yang disebarkan ke lima puluh responden yang merupakan penutur jati bahasa Hatam. Ketahanan bahasa Hatam dilihat berdasarkan sembilan kriteria vitalitas yang ditetapkan oleh UNESCO (2003), yaitu transmisi antargenerasi, jumlah penutur, proporsi penutur dalam total populasi, ranah penggunaan, respon terhadap ranah dan media baru, bahan ajar dan literasi, sikap dan kebijakan pemerintah, sikap penutur, jumlah dan kualitas dokumentasi. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahasa Hatam berada pada tingkat “vulnerable” karena tidak memenuhi sembilan kriteria vitalitas. Keberlangsungan hidup bahasa Hatam rentan mengalami ancaman kepunahan meskipun transmisi bahasa antargenerasi masih dipertahankan. Kerentanan ini disebabkan penurunan jumlah ranah penggunaan bahasa dan ketiadaan bahan ajar dan ortografi, serta keterbatasan dokumentasi.  The portrait of language endangerment in the world is quite gloomy; almost no language is spared from endangerment, both languages with large or small speakers. Likewise, the linguistic situation in Indonesia where minority languages are being eroded by dominant languages. The vitality of indigenous languages began to decline due to various factors, such as Indonesian dominance or other local languages. This paper aims to assess the vitality of one languages in West Papua, namely Hatam which is spoken in Watariri, Oransbari District, South Manokwari Regency. Using survey method, the data was collected by questionnaire distributed to fifty respondents who is the Hatam native speakers. Hatam vitality was assessed based on nine vitality criteria proposed by UNESCO (2003), these are intergenerational language transmission, number of speakers, proportion of speakers within the total population, language domains, response to new domains and media, materials for language education and literacy, govermental attitudes and policies, speakers’ attitude towards their language, and amount and quality of documentation. The analysis result shows that Hatam situated in vulnerable level because it doesn’t fulfill the nine criteria of vitality. Viability of Hatam is vulnarable to the threat of extinction even though the intergenerational language transmission is still maintained. This vulnerability is due to a decrease in the number of domains, lacking of material for language teaching and orthograpy, and inadequacy of documentation.

Language Revitalization in Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 612-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonny Sands
Keyword(s):  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Small Populations ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Large Populations

Africa is home to almost a third of the world’s languages. Only about 400 of these languages are widely considered to be endangered but many more are vulnerable given the small populations who use them. Even minority languages spoken by fairly large populations face challenges. Language endangerment on the continent is widespread, affecting a majority of African languages, including ones spoken in small geographical areas as well as cross-border languages. While linguists have generally focused on documentation and revitalization of the most endangered languages, grassroots efforts have targeted both large and small languages. The success of language revitalization efforts remains to be seen as many of these programs are still in their infancy.

scholarly journals Language Revitalization

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan Pine ◽  
Mark Turin
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Wide Range

The world is home to an extraordinary level of linguistic diversity, with roughly 7,000 languages currently spoken and signed. Yet this diversity is highly unstable and is being rapidly eroded through a series of complex and interrelated processes that result in or lead to language loss. The combination of monolingualism and networks of global trade languages that are increasingly technologized have led to over half of the world’s population speaking one of only 13 languages. Such linguistic homogenization leaves in its wake a linguistic landscape that is increasingly endangered. A wide range of factors contribute to language loss and attrition. While some—such as natural disasters—are unique to particular language communities and specific geographical regions, many have similar origins and are common across endangered language communities around the globe. The harmful legacy of colonization and the enduring impact of disenfranchising policies relating to Indigenous and minority languages are at the heart of language attrition from New Zealand to Hawai’i, and from Canada to Nepal. Language loss does not occur in isolation, nor is it inevitable or in any way “natural.” The process also has wide-ranging social and economic repercussions for the language communities in question. Language is so heavily intertwined with cultural knowledge and political identity that speech forms often serve as meaningful indicators of a community’s vitality and social well-being. More than ever before, there are vigorous and collaborative efforts underway to reverse the trend of language loss and to reclaim and revitalize endangered languages. Such approaches vary significantly, from making use of digital technologies in order to engage individual and younger learners to community-oriented language nests and immersion programs. Drawing on diverse techniques and communities, the question of measuring the success of language revitalization programs has driven research forward in the areas of statistical assessments of linguistic diversity, endangerment, and vulnerability. Current efforts are re-evaluating the established triad of documentation-conservation-revitalization in favor of more unified, holistic, and community-led approaches.

scholarly journals “HOW CAN WE EVEN TALK ABOUT ACCENTS WHEN IT COMES TO PRESERVING A LANGUAGE?”: ATTITUDES TOWARDS PARTIAL LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (49) ◽  
pp. 11-29
Author(s):  
Vlada V. Baranova ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
New Speakers

The paper focuses on discussions of partial linguistic competence and on sources of language knowledge among both Kalmyk language activists and the community of native speakers. Recent revivalist initiatives lead to the emergence of “new speakers” of minority languages whose language command is widely discussed within the community. The native speakers of a minority language may create some barriers for new speakers and evaluate their way of speaking as an inauthentic, “wrong” code. The paper deals with different sources of competence in Kalmyk: projects for teaching and learning Kalmyk, attempts to popularize it and the ethnic culture, and online communities for mothers who make the conscious decision to adopt native language practices with their children. These new sources of non-traditional knowledge are compared with other modes of language acquisition. The paper aims to analyze attitudes to a language by “new speakers”. From this point of view, the Kalmyk-speaking community displays ambiguous attitudes: there are negative attitudes toward the accents of new speakers, as well as toward the linguistic competence of the younger generation in a family. That said, there exist strongly positive evaluations of different activist initiatives, including treating the instances of mixed language as a kind of humor. The data shows that there is no strong demarcation between language acquisition in the family and other ways of learning Kalmyk.

The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Biocultural Diversity ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Reference Volume ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Comprehensive Reference

The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages, in thirty-nine chapters, provides a comprehensive overview of the efforts that are being undertaken to deal with this crisis. Its purposes are (1) to provide a reasonably comprehensive reference volume, with the scope of the volume as a whole representing the breadth of the field; (2) to highlight both the range of thinking about language endangerment and the variety of responses to it; and (3) to broaden understanding of language endangerment, language documentation, and language revitalization, and, in so doing, to encourage and contribute to fresh thinking and new findings in support of endangered languages. The handbook is organized into five parts. Part I, Endangered Languages, addresses some of the fundamental issues that are essential to understanding the nature of the endangered languages crisis. Part II, Language Documentation provides an overview of the issues and activities of concern to linguists and others in their efforts to record and document endangered languages. Part III, Language Revitalization encompasses a diverse range of topics, including approaches, practices, and strategies for revitalizing endangered and sleeping (“dormant”) languages. Part IV, Endangered Languages and Biocultural Diversity, extends the discussion of language endangerment beyond its conventional boundaries to consider the interrelationship of language, culture, and environment. Part V, Looking to the Future, addresses a variety of topics that are certain to be of consequence in future efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages.

The speakers of minority languages are more multilingual

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110231
Author(s):  
Nina Dobrushina ◽  
George Moroz
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
First Language ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Research Questions

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The paper tests the hypothesis that the larger the population of language speakers, the smaller the number of second languages mastered by these speakers. Design/methodology/approach: We match the size of the population of 29 Dagestanian languages and the number of second languages spoken by the speakers of these languages from 54 villages, and run a Poisson mixed effects regression model that predicts the average number of second languages spoken by speakers from first-language communities of different size. Data and analysis: Data for this study comes from two sources. The information on the population of Dagestanian languages is based on the digitalized census of 1926. The information on the number of second languages in which the residents of Dagestan are proficient is taken from the database on multilingualism in Dagestan (4032 people). Findings/conclusions: The study supports the hypothesis that the size of language population is negatively correlated with the multilingualism of the language community. Originality: The paper is the first to test the correlation between the size of language population and the level of multilingualism of its speakers using statistical methods and a large body of empirical data. Significance and implications: Population size is a factor that could have influenced patterns of language evolution. The population is interrelated with other factors, one of which is long-standing multilingualism. The methodological lesson of this research is that there is a difference in the level of multilingualism within a range of populations where the largest was about 120,000 people. Limitations: The data is limited to one multilingual region. The revealed correlation probably does not hold for areas where language communities do not interact with their neighbors and even speakers of minority languages can be monolingual, or for the territories where many people migrated and the area where a language is spoken was discontinuous.

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