scholarly journals Language – audibility – marginalisation: On dying tongues and creative participation

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ewa Łukaszyk
Keyword(s):  
Language Choice ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Colonial Oppression ◽  
Global Solidarity

The paper is dedicated to the problems of linguistic revitalisation and the dynamics leading to language death. Among such factors as colonial oppression and policies of state centralisation, a special attention is paid to the causes of language relinquishment and the situations in which minor languages are abandoned in favour of major ones. The author muses on the lure of larger, more attractive speech communities and the importance of language choice in building global solidarity and networks of exchange of ideas. The main question asked is how to foster the participation and visibility of creators and intellectuals representing minor ethnolinguistic communities, making the diversity of outlooks and cognitive modalities associated with minor languages available and enriching for global majorities.

scholarly journals Two key concepts of language endangerment : language obsolescence and language death

Linguistica ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Swiggers
Keyword(s):  
Accurate Information ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Awareness ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Linguistic Rights ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Major Loss ◽  
Coherent Frame

In the contemporary context of world-wide language endangerment, of linguistic imperialism and regression of minority languages, it is of vital importance to take initiatives for the maintenance and protection of linguistic biodiversity.  Languages that become extinct are a major loss, not only for the communities concerned but also for humanity in general. The role of linguists should not be confined to documentation and recording of threatened languages, but should be extended to policies  aimed at the revitalization of languages in the process of obsolescence and extinction, and to programs for stimulating language awareness and language cult. Although practical work and immediate political interventions remain the most urgent tasks, there is also need for a theoretical discussion on the value of language maintenance and preservation. It is important to define adequately the basic concepts to be used in discussions, as well as in scholarly and "bureaucratic" writings in the field of language endangerment. The aim of the present paper has been to clarify the concepts of 'language obsolescence' and 'language death', with an eye at offering a general characterization and typology of both phenomena. Accurate information on the causes and contextual factors involved in language obsolescence and language death can help to elaborate a theoretically coherent frame for construing open-minded language policies and for arousing a widespread feeling of respect for the linguistic rights of speech communities, however small and unprotected they may be.

Language choice and accommodation

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-98
Author(s):  
Ryan M. Bessett ◽  
Joseph V. Casillas ◽  
Marta Ramírez Martínez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
San Ysidro ◽  
Casual Speech

Abstract The present study investigates language choice in two bilingual speech communities in the United States: Nogales, AZ and San Ysidro, CA. Ethnically distinct fieldworkers approached members of these two communities under the guise of being lost tourists in order to engage in casual speech encounters. It was found that language choice varied between the two communities, with participants of the San Ysidro community more likely to engage in codeswitching. Ethnicity was also found to be a significant predictor of language choice, with more codeswitching taking place with the fieldworker of a Hispanic phenotype. Potential explanations and factors for future research are discussed.

Language Shift in Northern Pakistan: The Case of Domaakí and Pashto

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Weinreich
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Northern Pakistan ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Northern Areas ◽  
The Social

AbstractThe paper is devoted to the phenomenon of mother tongue change, which is known as the most common course of language death. The languages under consideration are Domaakí, with ca. 350 speakers in the Nager and Hunza Valleys, and Pashto, as spoken by permanent migrants in ca. 150 households scattered all over the Northern Areas. By analysing and comparing the social environment of both speech communities the author attempts to illustrate the importance of the speakers' attitude towards their own mother tongue in the process of language shift.

scholarly journals Multilingualism and Language Choice in Domains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tesso Berisso Genemo
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Data ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
The World ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Bilingualism And Multilingualism ◽  
Different Parts

Experts know that multilingualism is not the so-called minority phenomenon as many people think it to be. Although it is difficult to provide the exact statistical data on the multilingual speakers and distribution of multilingualism in the world, sociolinguists and linguists estimate that there are roughly around 6000 languages in the world. The focus of this book chapter is to succinctly present the sociolinguistic aspects of language choice and use of multilingual speakers in various domains. Besides, concepts such as bilingualism and multilingualism and their dynamics in the field of sociolinguistics have been critically been reviewed and presented from the theoretical and empirical perspectives. Further, some of the relevant issues related to language choice and use in multilingual speech communities in different parts of the globe are reviewed and included. Furthermore, factors inducing multilingualism among different speech communities and individuals have been reviewed and finally, recent developments and dynamics toward the spread of multilingualism in various parts of the world are also presented in the chapter.

Language choices and industrialization

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinyi Yang
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Henan Province ◽  
Urban Districts ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
Industrial Community ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Large Scale Survey

To understand language choice and development in the process of industrialization it is essential to study how the children of workers (the second generation) in a rising industrial community choose their language/dialect for daily communication. The coexistence of three speech communities: dialect, dialect-and-Putonghua mixed, and Putonghua, in three urban districts of Luoyang City, Henan Province, since the 1950s is representative of language development during China’s industrialization. Based on a large-scale survey, this article compares language and dialect use in these three urban districts and some special danwei (work-unit) language islands in Luoyang. This study shows why and how the second generation in a rising industrial community have chosen or not chosen Putonghua as their major language for daily communication. It concludes with a discussion on the characters and underlining principles of language choice in the course of industrialization under the planned economy in China.

Praten Zonder Stokjes

2001 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 55-64
Author(s):  
Roel van Steensel
Keyword(s):  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Minority Status ◽  
Dutch Society ◽  
Chinese Community ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Chinese Parents

The Chinese community in the Netherlands has long been overlooked by governmental policy makers. Due to important social and economic changes within the community, this situation has changed: the discussion on an official minority status has been initiated. This has led to an increase in the amount of research on the position of the Chinese in Dutch society. However, very few studies have been made of the linguistic situation of the Chinese community. In this study, the language choice behavior of Chinese parents and children was looked into. The main question was whether an intergenerational shift from the use of Cantonese to the use of Dutch in interactions with other Chinese could be established. The research results show that this was indeed the case: where parents use Cantonese nearly all of the time, children use Cantonese only in half of the cases Differences in language choice patterns seem to be determined by the informants' judgements of their proficiency in Cantonese and Dutch, and, to a lesser degree, by their identification with their own ethnic community.

On decreolization and language death in Gullah

1984 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Jones-Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Traditional Language ◽  
Pronominal System

ABSTRACTThe sociolinguistic pressures now exerted on the Gullah-speaking communities match the general conditions that DeCamp (1971b) described for postcreole speech communities or communities in which the traditional language variety is decreolizing or dying. There is a correspondence between the dominant official language and the creole, and there is sufficient breakdown in the formerly rigid social stratification brought on by educational programs and other acculturative forces to cause social mobility and to motivate large numbers of Gullah speakers to modify their speech in the direction of standard English. Preliminary research of the processes involved in this modification activity reveals that certain features of the pronominal system are elaborating and dying while certain other features of this system are remaining static and unchanged. Elaboration is well underway in the nominative case, for example, while in the objective case elaboration has barely begun. (Sociolinguistic pressures, postcreole, decreolizing or dying, social mobility, certain features, elaborating, static)

scholarly journals Language Choice Among Commuter Bus Conductors (Drivers' Mates) and Passengers at Kumasi Kejetia Bus Terminal, Ghana

2020 ◽  
pp. 210-218
Author(s):  
Isaac Oduro ◽  
Mercy Asantewaa ◽  
Olivia Donkor ◽  
Francis Kwadwo Kusi ◽  
Wilson Oduro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Conversational Discourse ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Verbal Discourse ◽  
Bus Conductors

This research aims to examine the language used by the commuter bus conductors and passengers moving to and from Kejetia bus terminal in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. This research basically focuses on sociolinguistics approach. The source of the data is purely the utterances of the bus conductors and the passengers on board in the commuter buses. Observation and recording were used as the data collection instruments in the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze the data gathered. The study found Asante Twi dialect as the most dominant language choice of the majority of the sampled population (passengers and drivers' mates). The use of unmarked code switching in conversational discourse was not uncommon among participants. Finally, the study found English language to be the second most dominant language choice in the participants' verbal discourse. The implication is that apart from Akan language, all the other seven languages stand the risk of experiencing language shift leading to eventual language death should the ethnic groups concerned fail to maintain their languages.

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