scholarly journals Multilingual Behaviour within the Portuguese and Italian Communities in Montreal: A Quest of Purism

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Fabio Scetti
Keyword(s):  
Urban Context ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Shared Spaces ◽  
French And English ◽  
Canadian City ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Linguistic Integration ◽  
Italian Origin ◽  
New Generation

Many heritage speakers, starting particularly from the second generation, return to the practice of their heritage languages so as to build or rebuild their diasporic and heritage identities. Within an urban context such as in Montreal (Quebec), multilingual behaviour exists. This is due to the presence of multiple languages and dialects, as well as the bilingual reality of this city, where both French and English are dominant. Such conditions provide evidence of how determinant in-group ideologies and stereotypical attitudes are concerned with communities and languages (standard and vernacular) and how they function in the process of linguistic integration within the group and the Canadian city. Focusing on recent research that compares heritage speakers of Portuguese and Italian origin in Montreal, this contribution addresses whether identifying places have an important role in the process of integration within the group, in shared spaces of language or dialect practice, both private and public. Moreover, questions arise as to how standard languages are valued within both communities (mainly in schools) and how competency and legitimacy have been evaluated and by whom, in this process of integration. The two communities observed are very different, given the practice and behaviour as well as in-group ideologies of inclusion. This contribution argues that, as a consequence of our ‘global’ societies, there is an extension of new identities during the process of development where multilingual behaviour is reviewed and analysed for the dynamicity in the repertories of new generation speakers. Our comparison brings to light a central ideology of language purism, and the ways in which it is institutionalized and/or contested across the two groups.

‘Our “China Within”’: Minjian Sinopsy Today, a Segue

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-159
Author(s):  
Kyoo Lee
Keyword(s):  
Mainland China ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
New Generation

In this article I have set out to draw an ethnographically inflected, composite scene of what I would loosely term ‘Sinopsy’ today, drawing on a series of explorative conversations on ‘psychoanalysis in China’ and the questionnaire-based interviews I undertook (between 2015 and 2020) with 18 psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychological counselors and engaged academics in or from mainland China, ranging from seasoned professionals to new-generation trainees. My ongoing, modest hope is to get to see a bigger and ‘democalligraphically’ evolving picture of a kind of praxis-oriented community-serving minjian psychoanalysis on the ground. As I turn to this understudied, cartographically complex, porously open-ended zone of Sinopsychoanalysis in the making, a silhouette seems to be emerging on the horizon, itself a question in motion: What is (in) it for people in China, and across and beyond its great walls? Focusing on its transitional specificity, its active indeterminacy and eclectic adaptivity exemplified by Sino-Lacanian analysts’ practices among others, I also try to contextualize its deeper and broader psychocultural dimensions, especially given the turbulent (post)modernity of China, where its ongoing epochal traumas are inextricably private and public, familial, national and diasporic.

Who did what to whom, and what did we already know?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Ionin ◽  
Maria Goldshtein ◽  
Tatiana Luchkina ◽  
Sofya Styrina
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
Narrow Focus ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Speakers Of Other Languages ◽  
Prior Literature

Abstract This paper reports on an experimental investigation of what second language (L2) learners and heritage speakers of Russian know about the relationship between word order and information structure in Russian. The participants completed a bimodal acceptability judgment task, rating the acceptability of SVO and OVS word orders in narrow-focus contexts, under neutral prosody. Heritage speakers behaved like the control group of baseline speakers, preferring SVO order in answer to object questions, and OVS order in answer to subject questions. In contrast, L2 learners preferred SVO order regardless of the context. While the heritage speaker group was more proficient than the L2 group, proficiency alone cannot account for differences in performance: specifically, with regard to acceptance of OVS order for subject narrow focus, heritage speakers improved with proficiency, but L2 learners did not. It is proposed that heritage speakers have an advantage in this domain due to early age of acquisition (cf. Montrul, 2008). This finding is consistent with prior literature on narrow focus with heritage speakers of other languages, and suggests that this phenomenon is not particularly vulnerable in heritage languages.

scholarly journals Stability and Change in Grammatical Gender: Pronouns in Heritage Scandinavian

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Bondi Johannessen ◽  
Ida Larsson
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Stability And Change ◽  
Pronominal Gender ◽  
Gender System ◽  
Internal Agreement

Previous studies on gender in Scandinavian heritage languages in America have looked at noun-phrase internal agreement. It has been shown that some heritage speakers have non-target gender agreement, but this has been interpreted in different ways by different researchers. This paper presents a study of pronominal gender in Heritage Norwegian and Swedish, using existing recordings and a small experiment that elicits pronouns. It is shown that the use of pronominal forms is largely target-like, and that the heritage speakers make gender distinctions. There is, however, some evidence of two competing systems in the data, and there is a shift towards a two-gender system, arguably due to koinéization.

Introduction to Heritage Language Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 417-433
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul ◽  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
First Generation Immigrants ◽  
Heritage Language Development

This chapter presents and analyses main factors that contribute to attrition in heritage languages. It shows that heritage speakers are a highly heterogeneous population from both a psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic point of view. In principle, their language can differ from the language of their input (baseline language, usually that of first-generation immigrants to a new country). The differences can be due to how the heritage language developed under reduced input conditions, interference from the dominant language (transfer) and innovations in the grammar, potential changes incipient in the input, and attrition proper. The latter is particularly apparent when the language of adult heritage speakers is compared with the language of bilingual children; such children outperform heritage speakers on a variety of linguistic properties. The critical factors that affect language change in heritage speakers include the age of onset of bilingualism and quantity/quality of input.

Emergent communicative norms in a contact language: Indirect requests in heritage Russian

Linguistics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Y. Dubinina ◽  
Sophia A. Malamud
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Communicative Strategies ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
Indirect Requests ◽  
Research Questions

AbstractThe present paper contributes to the study of speech act pragmatics, language contact, bilingualism, and heritage languages by bringing attention to the pragmatics of a contact language, heritage Russian (HR). The current study has a descriptive orientation, its main goal being to create a baseline for the pragmatic competence of speakers with incomplete acquisition of L1, which characterizes language contact in immigrant populations. We focus on communicative strategies and the choice of linguistic forms in requests made by heritage speakers of Russian, native speakers of full Russian, and native speakers of American English. The specific research questions explored in this study are: Is the linguistic variable – the form of polite requests – correlated with the population (speakers of HR vs. speakers of full Russian)? How do the differences play out? Do HR speakers have their own communicative norms? If yes, did these new norms develop under the influence of English or as a result of language-internal restructuring? We report that HR exhibits evidence of developing its own conventions for expressing polite requests which differ from the corresponding conventions in full Russian. Specifically, HR speakers use significantly more impersonal modals than monolingual native speakers of Russian in informal scenarios and rely on increased syntactic complexity to mark polite requests in formal scenarios. In indirect requests produced in both types of scenarios, HR speakers overuse the downgrader

scholarly journals Heritage language speakers in university education in Japan: Perspectives for an inclusive society.

Elia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 86-125
Author(s):  
Veri Farina
Keyword(s):  
Educational System ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
University Education ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
University Level ◽  
The One ◽  
The University ◽  
Heritage Language Speakers

The educational system in Japan has traditionally been focused on the “one nation, one language” ideology. This has led to the marginalization of indigenous and immigrant languages. As a consequence, heritage speakers are dealing with the loss of their heritage languages. However, there are isolated movements addressing the maintenance of the heritage languages, though they haven’t had a long-lasting effect on the educational system. In an attempt to contribute to reversing this language and identity loss, we based our research on two main points: 1) the belief that creating an informed partnership will help heritage language speakers (HLS) to integrate in the mainstream education space (Cummins, 2014) and 2) confidence in the importance of interconnecting the isolated movements for language maintenance. Would it be possible to achieve it in the Japanese educational context? Can we start scaffolding this new structure of informed partnership from the university level? In order to try to prove this point of view successfully, this article describes the creation at the university level of a class about Heritage languages and speakers in Japan, inspired by the Content and Language Integrated Learning model (CLIL). This class was meant to support and interact with another class called “Spanish for heritage students” that was developed at the same university. The student population is 14, almost half of them with a heritage language or culture. The course duration was one semester. The contents that were selected to reach the class goals are mentioned, as well as some points of view regarding what should be done to shift the Japanese educational system from a homogeneous stance to a multicultural inclusive posture. And in such a short time we could evidence an evolution in students’ critical awareness of the current immigrants’ heritage language and cultural situation in Japan. Working with specific vocabulary, reading from authentic sources, discussing contemporary articles among them, they could give shape to their thoughts in Spanish in order to express their opinions and possible solutions to this important matter.

Blockchain and institutional complexity: an extended institutional approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniil Frolov
Keyword(s):  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Homogeneous System ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Institutional Approach ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Transaction Services ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Transaction Value

AbstractFrom a modern institutional economics viewpoint, blockchain is an institutional technology that minimizes transaction costs and greatly reduces intermediation. Through an analysis of blockchain, I demonstrate the possibilities of extended institutional approach – a new generation of complexity-focused methodologies and theories of institutional analysis that complement and expand the standard institutional paradigm. By using the theory of transaction value, I argue blockchain technologies not only will lead to a significant reduction in transaction costs but will also reorient intermediaries toward improving the quality of transactions and expanding the offer of additional transaction services. The theory of institutional assemblages indicates it is impossible to form a homogeneous system of blockchain-based institutions associated exclusively with the principles of decentralization, transparency, and openness. Blockchain-based institutions will be of a hybrid and conflicting nature, combining elements of opposing institutional logics – regulatory and algorithmic law, Ricardian and smart contracts, private and public systems, and uncontrollability and arbitration.

Continuously operating reference stations in Russia: current state and future enhancements

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Mazurova ◽  
Igor Stoliarov ◽  
Vladimir Gorobets
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Reference Frame ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Current State ◽  
Hierarchical Levels ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Spatial Coordinates ◽  
Satellite Methods ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Geodetic Reference Frame

<p>     At the present time the Russian  state geodetic reference frame of the new generation consists of the three hierarchical levels that include: 1. fundamental astronomical-geodetic reference frame ; 2. high-precision geodetic reference frame; 3. satellite-based geodetic reference frame of the first category.  The spatial coordinates of the networks of these three levels are determined by satellite methods.   However, only the points of the fundamental astronomical-geodetic reference frame are continuously operating reference stations.  Many surveying engineers, geodesists, map-ping specialists, as well as scientists from different backgrounds, are using RINEX files every day freely downloading them from the site //rgs.centre.ru</p><p>    At the same time, private networks of Continuously operating reference stations are developing rapidly in Russia. These networks are owned by various corporations, both private and public, as well as stations owned by private individuals.  Now,  a center is being created, the main task of which is to unite all Continuously operating reference stations located on the territory of Russia into a unified network.</p><p>    This paper addresses the current state of the Continuously operating reference stations network  in Russia and plans for enhancing it within the next few years.</p><p>Key words: Russian continuously operating reference stations network</p>

Expressing displacement in heritage Cantonese: Cross-linguistic influence and structural vulnerability

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 603-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziyin Mai ◽  
Chung-yin Kwan ◽  
Virginia Yip
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Structural Vulnerability ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Incomplete Acquisition

Aims and objectives: Heritage languages spoken by speakers in overseas communities can diverge significantly from the language spoken in the home country. Recent investigations have suggested that some grammatical structures or features are more vulnerable than others. This paper investigates the role of cross-linguistic influence, incomplete acquisition and attrition in heritage Cantonese in contact with English, focusing on the grammar of the pretransitive zoeng-construction in displacement contexts. Methodology: An elicited oral production task modelled on the fruit cart experiment was used to elicit displacement instructions in Cantonese. Fourteen heritage speakers and thirteen émigré speakers participated. All had acquired Cantonese as their first language but experienced a shift of language dominance to English due to immigration and education. Seventeen native speakers of Cantonese in Hong Kong served as the baseline. Data and analysis: The utterances were manually transcribed and coded. Production and error rates were calculated. Statistical results revealed quantitative differences among the three groups of Cantonese speakers. The baseline speakers preferred the zoeng-construction in displacement contexts, whereas the heritage and émigré speakers made greater use of canonical and topicalization structures. Nevertheless, the zoeng-sentences produced by the heritage and émigré speakers were all grammatical and felicitous. Findings: The basic structure of the zoeng-construction is kept intact in less than half of the heritage and émigré speakers’ Cantonese grammar. The zoeng-construction is thus vulnerable to intergenerational language change induced by language contact and individual differences, which is partially attributable to cross-linguistic influence from English. Originality: This is the first experimental study to investigate the grammar of heritage Cantonese. Significance: The study provides new empirical evidence of structural vulnerability and variability of heritage grammar and sheds light on the role of incomplete acquisition, cross-linguistic influence and attrition in such vulnerability.

Speaking in (Whose) Tongue

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wai Fong Chiang
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
National Language ◽  
Religious Activities ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Religious Conversions ◽  
Private And Public

This article discusses the intricate religio-linguistic links in multiethnic, multi-religion and multi-lingual Singapore, and looks at how language use in religious activities may affect language maintenance. As an ethnographic study, it examines heritage language use in both private and public domains of traditional religious events, in addition to discussing the implications that meaning-making processes involved in religious conversions in multi-faith families have for heritage language maintenance. The study also reveals the family institution as a stronghold where national language policy does not fully penetrate, and argues that the vitality of heritage language may depend on how successfully cultural and religious practices continue to be performed in the heritage languages.

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