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.

scholarly journals Attitudes and Language Use of (Potential) New Speakers of a Minoritized Language: The Case of Adults Learning West Frisian in Formal Courses

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-88
Author(s):  
Guillem Belmar
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
New Speakers

Summary Adults learning a minoritized language are potential new speakers, that is “adults who acquire a socially and communicatively consequential level of competence and practice in a minority language” (Jaffe, 2015; see also O’Rourke, Pujolar, & Ramallo, 2015). New speakers’ research has become quite common recently, marking a shift from traditional notions of speakerness in minority contexts, built around the Fishmanian discourse of reversing language shift (see Kubota, 2009). The new speaker—actually neo-speaker—is one of the seven categories put forward by Grinevald and Bert (2011), who considered them central to language revitalization. Answering the call for more data on new speakers of minoritized languages in O’Rourke, Pujolar, & Ramallo, 2015, this research aims to start the debate on the new speakers of Frisian (see Belmar, 2018; Belmar, Eikens, Jong, Miedema, & Pinho, 2018; and Belmar, Boven, & Pinho, 2019) by means of a questionnaire filled in by adults learning the language in the evening courses offered by Afûk. This article presents an analysis of their backgrounds, their attitudes towards the language, and their language use.

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.

scholarly journals Virtual communities as breathing spaces for minority languages: Re-framing minority language use in social media

Adeptus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillem Belmar ◽  
Maggie Glass
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Essential Component

Virtual communities as breathing spaces for minority languages: Re-framing minority language use in social mediaConsidering that social media is increasingly present in our daily communicative exchanges, digital presence is an essential component of language revitalization and maintenance. Online communication has modified our language use in various ways. In fact, language use online is often described as hybrid, and boundaries across languages tend to blur. These are also characteristics of translanguaging approaches, which see language as fluid codes of communication. “Breathing spaces” are needed in order to achieve “sustainable translanguaging” practices for minority languages. The establishment of communities of performing minority language speakers in a digital environment raises the question whether these emerging virtual communities can take up the role of  breathing spaces for minority languages. Społeczności wirtualne jako przestrzeń życiowa dla języków mniejszościowych. Nowe spojrzenie na używanie języków mniejszościowych w mediach społecznościowychPonieważ media społecznościowe są coraz bardziej obecne w codziennej komunikacji, obecność języków mniejszościowych w świecie cyfrowym jest niezbędnym elementem dla ich zachowania i rewitalizacji. Komunikacja online przyniosła zmiany wielu aspektów użycia języka. Używanie języka w Internecie często określa się jako hybrydowe, a granice między językami często się zacierają. Te zjawiska cechuje również transjęzyczność (translanguaging), podejście które postrzega język jako płynne kody komunikacji. W przypadku języków mniejszościowych, osiągnięcie „zrównoważonej transjęzyczności” (sustainable translanguaging) wymaga „przestrzeni życiowej” do ich używania. Tworzenie wirtualnych społeczności posługujących się językami mniejszościowymi w świecie cyfrowym rodzi pytanie, czy mogąone pełnić rolę takiej przestrzeni.

Language Use and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Policy-Makers and Educators in Northeast Vietnamese Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130
Author(s):  
Ha Ngan Ngo ◽  
Maya Khemlani David
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wedding Songs

Vietnam represents a country with 54 ethnic groups; however, the majority (88%) of the population are of Vietnamese heritage. Some of the other ethnic groups such as Tay, Thai, Muong, Hoa, Khmer, and Nung have a population of around 1 million each, while the Brau, Roman, and Odu consist only of a hundred people each. Living in northern Vietnam, close to the Chinese border (see Figure 1), the Tay people speak a language of the    Central    Tai language group called Though, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di. Tay remains one of 10 ethnic languages used by 1 million speakers (Buoi, 2003). The Tày ethnic group has a rich culture of wedding songs, poems, dance, and music and celebrate various festivals. Wet rice cultivation, canal digging and grain threshing on wooden racks are part of the Tày traditions. Their villages situated near the foothills often bear the names of nearby mountains, rivers, or fields. This study discusses the status and role of the Tày language in Northeast Vietnam. It discusses factors, which have affected the habitual use of the Tay language, the connection between language shift and development and provides a model for the sustainability and promotion of minority languages. It remains fundamentally imperative to strengthen and to foster positive attitudes of the community towards the Tày language. Tày’s young people must be enlightened to the reality their Tày non-usage could render their mother tongue defunct, which means their history stands to be lost.

Entrepreneurial Social Identity Management Through Language Use

2021 ◽  
pp. 0261927X2110190
Author(s):  
Christopher Hajek
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Identity Management ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
New Model ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Axial Coding

This study draws upon interview data and a grounded theoretical methodology to explore entrepreneurial social identity management. Interviews were conducted with forty-three entrepreneurs in several U.S. cities. The women and men discussed past conversations with (non)entrepreneurs, with foci on self- and other stereotyping, associated language use, prototypicality, and motivation. Open and axial coding of the interview content revealed a new model of entrepreneurial social identity management. The model’s implications for understanding entrepreneurs’ social identity and motivation were discussed.

Language and Its Everyday Revolutionary Potential

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Mallinson
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Language Reform ◽  
Gender Neutral ◽  
Third Gender ◽  
Linguistic Practices ◽  
Naming Practices

Centering on the English language reform movement, this chapter describes three main strategies through which feminists have targeted language, both as an object to reform and a platform for revolution. First, it describes the strategy of challenging man-made language forms, exemplified in debates over masculine generics. Second, it discusses the strategy of creating and institutionalizing egalitarian naming practices in order to reclaim the power to name and define. By tracing such forms as Ms., it becomes evident that even small shifts in language use can contribute to cultural change. Third, it describes the strategy of linguistic disruption, illustrated through such neologisms as herstory and womyn, gender-neutral forms such as singular they, and third-gender forms such as zie and zir. By using language creatively and sometimes radically to reject patriarchal language, respond to gender bias, and empower women, feminist activists and everyday speakers alike can employ linguistic practices to promote equality.

scholarly journals Understanding the effects of language revitalization workshops using long-format speech environment recordings

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Julia Nee
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Teaching Language ◽  
Methodological Challenges

Long-format speech environment (LFSE) recordings are increasingly used to understand language acquisition among young children (Casillas & Cristia 2019). But in language revitalization, older children are sometimes the largest demographic acquiring a language. In Teotitlán del Valle, Mexico, older children have participated in Zapotec language revitalization workshops since 2017. To better understand how these children use language, and to probe whether the language workshops impact language use, I invited learners to collect LFSE recordings. This study addresses two main questions: (1) what methodological challenges emerge when children ages 6-12 collect LFSE data?; and (2) what do the data suggest about the effects of the Zapotec workshops? I argue that, while creating LFSE recordings with older children presents methodological challenges, the results are useful in highlighting the importance of not only teaching language skills, but of creating spaces where learners are comfortable using the Zapotec language.

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