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.

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 Compensatory strategies adopted by Chinese EFL learners in virtual exchange with native speakers

2021 ◽  
pp. 63-71
Author(s):  
Ruiling Feng ◽  
Sheida Shirvani
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Compensatory Strategies ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Communication Breakdown ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Different Levels

Compensatory strategies play an important role in second language (L2) processing because of limited language knowledge and ensuing anxiety and could help assure understanding and void communication breakdown. Previous studies about compensatory strategies largely adopt laboratory settings and neglect the strategies in authentic oral communication. Accordingly, the present study investigated compensatory strategies used by Chinese university students in online videoconferences with their US peers during a five-week virtual exchange project. We interviewed 27 Chinese students twice, once after the first-week videoconference, the other after the last-week videoconference. The English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in this study could adopt compensatory strategies of different levels. Their strategy use, however, was not flexible enough as several types of strategies were repeatedly used, while other types were rarely implemented. The virtual exchange could help the EFL learners employ compensatory strategies more often, of higher levels, and with increased immediacy. The results can help to establish more targeted English teaching and learning.

scholarly journals Aspects of Luo Socialization

1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben G. Blount
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Communicative Skills

ABSTRACTSocialization is defined as the incorporation of a child into society on the basis of social and linguistic interaction. Central to this process is a child's advancement in communicative skills. As a child progresses in linguistic competence, the structure of interaction changes to accommodate his newfound skills, and underlying these changes are the Luo attitudes and beliefs on child-rearing, language acquisition, and the position of children in society. (Socialization; speech acquisition; social interaction; language attitudes.)

scholarly journals HOW ARE LANGUAGES LEARNED? THEORIES ON THE PROCESS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
Paola BOCALE
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Foreign Language Acquisition ◽  
Communication Goals ◽  
Teaching Learning

is work discusses theories on teaching, learning and acquiring foreign languages. The input hypothesis has drawn attention to its role and importance in language acquisition. On the other hand, however, empirical research has emphasized the role that output and interaction play in acquiring and improving language skills. In most communicative acts, there are factors that jeopardise the process of communication, such as lack of lexical knowledge and speech too fast for the listener to understand, causing different comprehension problems. These occur between native speakers and non-native speakers, inside and outside the classroom. Negotiation of meaning can be only defined within an interactive process as the mutual collaboration between speakers and listeners in order to clarify a language misunderstanding using different linguistic strategies such as, for example, word repetition, simplified structures and clarification questions. From one point of view, negotiation of meaning is a communicative exchange and a step towards achieving communication goals. Learners and tutors are involved in communication to solve a problem whose clarification allows conversation to be carried on. From the other point of view, negotiation of meaning is an effective way of expanding the knowledge of learners, because some of the explanations can be internalised and added to their target language repertoire. Learning can be effective only if interaction is included in the overall language aquisition process.

scholarly journals A Long-Lasting CofP of New and Native Speakers—Practices, Identities of Belonging and Motives for Participation

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Birte Arendt
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Low German ◽  
Regional Language ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Identity Discourses ◽  
The Relationship

Within sociolinguistic research on small languages like Low German, differentiation into new and native speakers has become established. The relationship between the two different groups of speakers is sometimes conceptualized as an insurmountable “gap”. In addition to different acquisition paths and competencies, identity discourses of belonging, authority and authenticity, as well as typical practices, are all crucial elements of these differences. Despite these differences, the intergenerational language-centered analog community of practice (CofP) “Plattdüütschkring” consisting of approximately 10 new and native speakers of the regional language Low German has existed since 2005. This article is based on an explorative case-study analyzing the network “Plattdüütschkring” as an example of successful cooperation between new speakers and native speakers on the basis of typical attitudes and linguistic practices. In order to gain authentic, subjectively experienced insights into identities, normative conceptions and individual language experiences within and outside the network, meta-linguistic reflections of the members themselves were analyzed. These meta-linguistic reflections were collected through narrative interviews with the same and different members at the two survey dates 2010/11 and 2020. The findings show norms of monolingual language use, narrative identities of a normative hierarchy of acquisition scenarios and competences as aspects of belonging. Social and learning-oriented and thus multiple individually appropriate functions of the network can explain the motivation for long-term membership. These outcomes help to understand the role of language attitudes in CofP in the language development of small languages as well as abstract characteristics of successful language-centered networks.

scholarly journals Καλημέρα, kalimera or kalhmera?

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-262
Author(s):  
Evgenia Mouresioti ◽  
Marina Terkourafi
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Attitude Research ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Language Attitude ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Although language attitudes are frequently investigated, how these attitudes change over time is studied less frequently, despite providing an interesting window into the link between attitudes and ideologies. Conducted some twenty years since the first studies on this topic, the current study provides an updated perspective into language attitudes toward the use of Roman-alphabeted Greek (henceforth, Greeklish) in emails and SMS messages exchanged between Greek native speakers. Adapting the matched guise methodology commonly used in language attitude research to visual stimuli, we collected data from 60 participants of different ages and genders. Overall, their attitudes toward Greeklish were markedly negative, confirming negative attitudes already expressed twenty years prior but also extending them. We propose that technological and demographic but also ideological factors underlie the negative attitudes toward Greeklish expressed by Greek native speakers today.

scholarly journals New speakers, new language: on being a legitimate speaker of a minority language in Provence

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (231) ◽  
pp. 127-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Costa
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Class Membership ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Artificial Languages ◽  
New Speakers

Abstract This article looks at the “new speaker” concept and the questions it raises in terms of legitimacy from the point of view of several types of social actors, namely language advocates, academics and school pupils (that is to say, “new speakers” themselves). The aim of this article is to show that this notion is not a purely descriptive one, but also carries a strong prescriptive loading – which in turns requires that minority language learners negotiate their participation in linguistic markets. Based on fieldwork in Provence, I look at how “new speakers” are often construed as speakers of “new languages”, “standard” or “artificial” languages that tend to index youth, urbanity, modernity and middle class membership – all qualities which may be seen as undesirable in parts of minority language movements. I then turn to pupils of an Occitan bilingual primary school in Provence and analyse how they reframe the new speaker debate in order for themselves to fit in the broader picture of Occitan speakers. All the viewpoints I analyse tend to emphasise the weight that the traditional, monolingual speaker still holds among speakers of minority languages in southern France.

scholarly journals Belgian vs. Netherlandic Dutch – Language variety Awareness among Polish Students of Dutch

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 159-179
Author(s):  
Robertus De Louw
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Language Awareness ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Dutch Language

Language Awareness has been defined as “a person’s sensitivity to and conscious awareness of the nature of language and its role in human life” Donmal 1985: 7, The nature of this definition is too broad Thornbury 1997, allowing for a large number of possible interpretations. Various attempts have been made to narrow down the scope. L. Andrews, for instance, introduced a Language Exploration and Awareness approach to language teaching and learning, stressing, among others, that “students become aware when they have opportunities to explore the distinctions among regional and social varieties” 1998: 6. By extension, this may refer to linguistic varieties as well. Two such varieties of the same language, Dutch, are the ones used in Belgium and the Netherlands Vandekerckhove 2005. This article examines whether Polish students of Dutch are able to distinguish, i.e. are aware of the differences, between the aforementioned varieties of Dutch when used by native speakers. The results are discussed, among others, within the scope of one of the domains of Language Awareness and from the point of view of explicit vs. implicit language learning. Also, some pedagogical implications are provided.

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 Making Sense: Interlanguage's Intertalk in Exolingual Conversation

1986 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Py
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Making Sense

This article describes processes of facilitation involved in exolingual conversation, i.e., interaction between partners who are dynamically adjusting their respective linguistic performances. The type of exolingual conversation examined in this paper is that between foreign learners and native speakers.The foreign learner's linguistic competence, known as interlanguage, and his performance, which I refer to as intertalk, give rise to certain strategies in exolingual conversation. By studying these strategies, linguists can describe communicatively competent behavior in second language acquisition.I conclude that such behavior is dynamic and creative, incapable of being described and defined within predetermined structures.

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