Language Shift and Linguistic Insecurity1
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Attitudes Towards Linguistic Diversity in the Hebrew Bible
Many Peoples of Obscure Speech and Difficult Language: Attitudes towards Linguistic Diversity in the Hebrew Bible The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Power, Cian Joseph. 2015. Many Peoples of Obscure Speech and Difficult Language: Attitudes towards Linguistic Diversity in the Hebrew Bible. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:23845462 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA MANY PEOPLES OF OBSCURE SPEECH AND DIFFICULT LANGUAGE: ATTITUDES TOWARDS LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN THE HEBREW BIBLE A dissertation presented by Cian Joseph Power to The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts August 2015 © 2015 Cian Joseph Power All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Professor Peter Machinist Cian Joseph Power MANY PEOPLES OF OBSCURE SPEECH AND DIFFICULT LANGUAGE: ATTITUDES TOWARDS LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN THE HEBREW BIBLE Abstract The subject of this dissertation is the awareness of linguistic diversity in the Hebrew Bible—that is, the recognition evident in certain biblical texts that the world’s languages differ from one another. Given the frequent role of language in conceptions of identity, the biblical authors’ reflections on language are important to examine. -
Variations in Language Use Across Gender: Biological Versus Sociological Theories
UC Merced Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society Title Variations in Language Use across Gender: Biological versus Sociological Theories Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1q30w4z0 Journal Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 28(28) ISSN 1069-7977 Authors Bell, Courtney M. McCarthy, Philip M. McNamara, Danielle S. Publication Date 2006 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Variations in Language Use across Gender: Biological versus Sociological Theories Courtney M. Bell (cbell@ mail.psyc.memphis.edu Philip M. McCarthy ([email protected]) Danielle S. McNamara ([email protected]) Institute for Intelligent Systems University of Memphis Memphis, TN38152 Abstract West, 1975; West & Zimmerman, 1983) and overlap We examine gender differences in language use in light of women’s speech (Rosenblum, 1986) during conversations the biological and social construction theories of gender. than the reverse. On the other hand, other research The biological theory defines gender in terms of biological indicates no gender differences in interruptions (Aries, sex resulting in polarized and static language differences 1996; James & Clarke, 1993) or insignificant differences based on sex. The social constructionist theory of gender (Anderson & Leaper, 1998). However, potentially more assumes gender differences in language use depend on the context in which the interaction occurs. Gender is important than citing the differences, is positing possible contextually defined and fluid, predicting that males and explanations for why they might exist. We approach that females use a variety of linguistic strategies. We use a problem here by testing the biological and social qualitative linguistic approach to investigate gender constructionist theories (Bergvall, 1999; Coates & differences in language within a context of marital conflict. -
National Strategy for Linguistic Security National Strategy for Linguistic Security 2
National Strategy for Linguistic Security National Strategy for Linguistic Security 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Context ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Preamble ................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Towards a common understanding ............................................................................................................... 5 Premise ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Main directions .................................................................................................................................................... 10 Fields of intervention ...........................................................................................................................................................11 A global vision.......................................................................................................................................................................11 Challenges, strategies and courses of action ..........................................................................................12 What we want to do differently in education ........................................................................................................ -
Contesting Regimes of Variation: Critical Groundwork for Pedagogies of Mobile Experience and Restorative Justice
Robert W. Train Sonoma State University, California CONTESTING REGIMES OF VARIATION: CRITICAL GROUNDWORK FOR PEDAGOGIES OF MOBILE EXPERIENCE AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE Abstract: This paper examines from a critical transdisciplinary perspective the concept of variation and its fraught binary association with standard language as part of the conceptual toolbox and vocabulary for language educators and researchers. “Variation” is shown to be imbricated a historically-contingent metadiscursive regime in language study as scientific description and education supporting problematic speaker identities (e.g., “non/native”, “heritage”, “foreign”) around an ideology of reduction through which complex sociolinguistic and sociocultural spaces of diversity and variability have been reduced to the “problem” of governing people and spaces legitimated and embodied in idealized teachers and learners of languages invented as the “zero degree of observation” (Castro-Gómez 2005; Mignolo 2011) in ongoing contexts of Western modernity and coloniality. This paper explores how regimes of variation have been constructed in a “sociolinguistics of distribution” (Blommaert 2010) constituted around the delimitation of borders—linguistic, temporal, social and territorial—rather than a “sociolinguistics of mobility” focused on interrogating and problematizing the validity and relevance of those borders in a world characterized by diverse transcultural and translingual experiences of human flow and migration. This paper reframes “variation” as mobile modes-of-experiencing- the-world in order to expand the critical, historical, and ethical vocabularies and knowledge base of language educators and lay the groundwork for pedagogies of experience that impact human lives in the service of restorative social justice. Keywords: metadiscursive regimes w sociolinguistic variation w standard language w sociolinguistics of mobility w pedagogies of experience Train, Robert W. -
The Intersection of Sex and Social Class in the Course of Linguistic Change
Language Variation and Change, 2 (1990), 205-254. Printed in the U.S.A. © 1991 Cambridge University Press 0954-3945/91 $5.00 + .00 The intersection of sex and social class in the course of linguistic change WILLIAM LABOV University of Pennsylvania ABSTRACT Two general principles of sexual differentiation emerge from previous socio- linguistic studies: that men use a higher frequency of nonstandard forms than women in stable situations, and that women are generally the innovators in lin- guistic change. It is not clear whether these two tendencies can be unified, or how differences between the sexes can account for the observed patterns of lin- guistic change. The extensive interaction between sex and other social factors raises the issue as to whether the curvilinear social class pattern associated with linguistic change is the product of a rejection of female-dominated changes by lower-class males. Multivariate analysis of data from the Philadelphia Project on Linguistic Change and Variation indicates that sexual differentiation is in- dependent of social class at the beginning of a change, but that interaction de- velops gradually as social awareness of the change increases. It is proposed that sexual differentiation of language is generated by two distinct processes: (1) for all social classes, the asymmetric context of language learning leads to an ini- tial acceleration of female-dominated changes and retardation of male-domi- nated changes; (2) women lead men in the rejection of linguistic changes as they are recognized by the speech community, a differentiation that is maximal for the second highest status group. SOME BASIC FINDINGS AND SOME BASIC PROBLEMS Among the clearest and most consistent results of sociolinguistic research in the speech community are the findings concerning the linguistic differenti- ation of men and women. -
Language Ideologies:Bridging the Gap Between Social Structures and Local Practices Introduction to the Colloquium
Language Ideologies:Bridging the Gap between Social Structures and Local Practices Introduction to the Colloquium Brigitta Busch ¨ Jürgen Spitzmüller University of Vienna ¨ Department of Linguistics Sociolinguistics Symposium öw Murcia, wÏ/.Ï/ö.wÏ Bridging what? Introduction to the Colloquium Busch/Spitzmüller Bridging what? Stance and Metapragmatics Indexical Anchors ‚ Local indexicality – stance and social positions Programme ‚ Social indexicality – language ideologies ö¨öö Bridging what? Introduction to the Colloquium Busch/Spitzmüller Bridging what? Stance and Metapragmatics Indexical Anchors ‚ Local indexicality – stance and social positions Programme ‚ Social indexicality – language ideologies ö¨öö Social Positioning and Stance (as Local Practices) Introduction to the Colloquium Busch/Spitzmüller ‚ Davies,Bronwyn/Harré, Rom (wRR.). Positioning. The Discourse Production of Selves. In: Journal for the Theory Bridging what? of Social Behaviour ö./w, pp. ÿé–Ïé. Stance and Metapragmatics ‚ Wortham, Stanton (ö...). Interactional Positioning and Indexical Anchors Narrative Self-Construction. In: Narrative Inquiry Programme wR/wóÅ-wÏÿ . ‚ Englebretson, Robert (ed.) (ö..Å). Stancetaking in Discourse. Subjectivity,Evaluation, Interaction. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins (Pragmatics & Beyond, N. S. wÏÿ). ‚ Deppermann,Arnulf (ö.wó). Positioning. In:Anna de Fina/Alexandra Georgakopoulou (eds.): The Handbook of Narrative Analysis.Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, pp. éÏR–éÏÅ. ‚ amongst many more é¨öö Social Positioning and Stance (as Local Practices – within Discursive Frames) Introduction to the Colloquium Busch/Spitzmüller Bridging what? ‚ Bamberg, Michael (wRRÅ). Positioning Between Structure Stance and and Performance. In: Journal of Narrative and Life History Metapragmatics Å/w-ÿ, pp. ééó–éÿö. Indexical Anchors ‚ Bamberg, Michael/Georgakopoulou,Alexandra (ö..Ï). Programme Small Stories as a New Perspective in Narrative and Identity Analysis. In: Text and Talk öÏ/é, pp. -
Speech Community. the Second Perspective Refers to the Notion of Language and Discourse As a Way of Representing (Hall 1996; Foucault 1972)
Duranti / Companion to Linguistic Anthropology Final 12.11.2003 1:27pm page 3 Speech CHAPTER 1 Community Marcyliena Morgan 1INTRODUCTION This chapter focuses on how the concept speech community has become integral to the interpretation and representation of societies and situations marked by change, diver- sity, and increasing technology as well as those situations previously treated as conventional. The study of the speech community is central to the understanding of human language and meaning-making because it is the product of prolonged interaction among those who operate within shared belief and value systems regarding their own culture, society, and history as well as their communication with others. These interactions constitute the fundamental nature of human contact and the importance of language, discourse, and verbal styles in the representation and negotiation of the relationships that ensue. Thus the concept of speech community does not simply focus on groups that speak the same language. Rather, the concept takes as fact that language represents, embodies, constructs, and constitutes mean- ingful participation in a society and culture. It also assumes that a mutually intelligible symbolic and ideological communicative system must be at play among those who share knowledge and practices about how one is meaningful across social contexts.1 Thus it is within the speech community that identity, ideology, and agency (see Bucholtz and Hall, Kroskrity, and Duranti, this volume) are actualized in society. While there are many social and political forms a speech community may take – from nation-states to chat rooms dedicated to pet psychology – speech communities are recognized as distinctive in relation to other speech communities. -
Managing France's Regional Languages
MANAGING FRANCE’S REGIONAL LANGUAGES: LANGUAGE POLICY IN BILINGUAL PRIMARY EDUCATION IN ALSACE Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy by Michelle Anne Harrison September 2012 Abstract The introduction of regional language bilingual education in France dates back to the late 1960s in the private education system and to the 1980s in the public system. Before this time the extensive use of regional languages was forbidden in French schools, which served as ‘local centres for the gallicisation of France’ (Blackwood 2008, 28). France began to pursue a French-only language policy from the time of the 1789 Revolution, with Jacobin ideology proposing that to be French, one must speak French. Thus began the shaping of France into a nation-state. As the result of the official language policy that imposed French in all public domains, as well as extra-linguistic factors such as the Industrial Revolution and the two World Wars, a significant language shift occurred in France during the twentieth century, as an increasing number of parents chose not to pass on their regional language to the next generation. In light of the decline in intergenerational transmission of the regional languages, Judge (2007, 233) concludes that ‘in the short term, everything depends on education in the [regional languages]’. This thesis analyses the development of language policy in bilingual education programmes in Alsace; Spolsky’s tripartite language policy model (2004), which focuses on language management, language practices and language beliefs, will be employed. In spite of the efforts of the State to impose the French language, in Alsace the traditionally non-standard spoken regional language variety, Alsatian, continued to be used widely until the mid-twentieth century. -
A Model for the Implementation of Non-Formal Language Acquisition in Language Revitalization: the Case Study of Irish
A Model for the Implementation Of Non-Formal Language Acquisition In Language Revitalization: The Case Study of Irish Anne Beltman 12299448 MA Thesis Language and Society University of Amsterdam Supervisor: prof. F. Gobbo 06-08-2019 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Prof. dr. Gobbo, my thesis supervisor, for his guidance throughout this project. In agreeing to take on this project, he has taught me a lot about sociolinguistics, but also about academia itself. I would like to thank my friends and family for all their support, for proofreading all the drafts I sent and calming me down in cases of panic. Finally, my thanks to Fien, Kim, Zach and Jenna for being there always. 2 Abstract Non-formal language acquisition (NFLA) is language acquisition that is embedded in planned activities that are not explicitly designated as learning and is intentional from the learner’s point of view (Colardyn & Bjornavold, 2004). Using existing frameworks, a model was created to test whether a threatened language has enough support to implement NFLA- based programs, in order to help revitalization of the language. To test the proposed model, it has been applied to Irish. From this case study, it can be concluded that while the model provides a good basis, there are still improvements to be made. 3 Table of contents 1. Introduction 6 1.1. Background 6 1.2. Relevance 7 1.3. Research question 8 2. Methodology 10 3. Theoretical Background 11 3.1 Non-formal language acquisition 11 3.2 Terminology 12 3.3 Language Revitalization 12 3.4 Frameworks 14 3.4.1. -
Attitudes Towards State Languages Versus Minority Languages in the Contemporary World: the Case of Catalan in Sardinia
Attitudes Towards State Languages versus Minority Languages in the Contemporary World: The Case of Catalan in Sardinia by José María Santos Rovira (University of Lisbon) Abstract The dichotomy of state language versus minority languages is a well-known subject among linguists. However, there are several competing perceptions of the role that minority languages play in society. In Italy, Catalan is a minority language and has been spoken for centuries in the Sardinian city of Alghero. Today, however, its survival is uncertain. Why have Algherese people progressively abandoned the Catalan language over last few decades? To answer this question, we begin by reviewing the range of scholars‘ interpretations of the motivations and attitudes that lead people to reproduce or abandon minority languages. In this article, I argue that there is an unavoidable link between social systems and linguistic practices that determines the consolidation or extinction of some languages, as has happened in Alghero, where the traditional language is at risk due to changes in social structure. Keywords: Algherese, Catalan, Sardinia, state language, minority languages, linguistic attitudes Introduction rights are rarely exercised” (Madoc-Jones & Parry, The dichotomy of state language versus minor- 2012: 165). In Italy, as in other European coun- ity languages has been thoroughly covered by tries, minority languages enjoy legal protection, linguists (Bradley & Bradley, 2013; Cenoz & but at the same time, their own native speakers Gorter, 2006; Fase et al., 1992 & 2013; Fishman, avoid using them in formal situations. As Gules 1991; Gorter et al., 2012; May, 2000 & 2011). It et al argue, “To have a real understanding of spe- is commonly agreed that minority languages cific language problems we need to study how suffer different processes of language shift and, people react to language varieties spoken in their in extreme cases, extinction, when faced with locale” (1983: 81). -
CHAPTER 2 Registers of Language
Duranti / Companion to Linguistic Anthropology Final 12.11.2003 1:28pm page 23 Registers of CHAPTER 2 Language Asif Agha 1INTRODUCTION Language users often employ labels like ‘‘polite language,’’ ‘‘informal speech,’’ ‘‘upper-class speech,’’ ‘‘women’s speech,’’ ‘‘literary usage,’’ ‘‘scientific term,’’ ‘‘reli- gious language,’’ ‘‘slang,’’ and others, to describe differences among speech forms. Metalinguistic labels of this kind link speech repertoires to enactable pragmatic effects, including images of the person speaking (woman, upper-class person), the relationship of speaker to interlocutor (formality, politeness), the conduct of social practices (religious, literary, or scientific activity); they hint at the existence of cultural models of speech – a metapragmatic classification of discourse types – linking speech repertoires to typifications of actor, relationship, and conduct. This is the space of register variation conceived in intuitive terms. Writers on language – linguists, anthropologists, literary critics – have long been interested in cultural models of this kind simply because they are of common concern to language users. Speakers of any language can intuitively assign speech differences to a space of classifications of the above kind and, correspondingly, can respond to others’ speech in ways sensitive to such distinctions. Competence in such models is an indispensable resource in social interaction. Yet many features of such models – their socially distributed existence, their ideological character, the way in which they motivate tropes of personhood and identity – have tended to puzzle writers on the subject of registers. I will be arguing below that a clarification of these issues – indeed the very study of registers – requires attention to reflexive social processes whereby such models are formulated and disseminated in social life and become available for use in interaction by individuals. -
The Linguistic Experience of Italians in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1890-1914: Language Shift As Seen Through Social Spaces ______
THE LINGUISTIC EXPERIENCE OF ITALIANS IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, 1890-1914: LANGUAGE SHIFT AS SEEN THROUGH SOCIAL SPACES ________________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board ________________________________________________________________________ in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ________________________________________________________________________ by Maria Italiano-McGreevy January 2013 Examining Committee Members: Augusto Lorenzino, Dissertation Advisor, Spanish and Portuguese Jonathan Holmquist, Examination Committee Chair, Spanish and Portuguese Paul Toth, Internal Reader, Spanish and Portuguese Gabriella Romani, External Reader, Italian Studies, Seton Hall University ! ABSTRACT From 1890-1914, Argentina received a large influx of Italian immigrants who wanted to “hacer la América”, or live the American dream of economic prosperity. With Italian immigrants representing nearly half of all immigrants entering Argentina, the government strived to create a new sense of Argentine pride and nationalism. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate and analyze the linguistic experience of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, Argentina, applying Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social space and linguistic markets, and contact language theories to explain the attrition and shift of the Italian language. This study identifies three relevant social spaces that contributed to the linguistic experience of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires: 1). conventillos or immigrant housing 2.) school community, and 3.) mutual aid societies. Within each social space thrived a linguistic market which language played a key role in the way people interacted and identified with each other. First, the conventillos were part of an alternative linguistic market in which cocoliche, a transitional language, thrived as a way for Italians to communicate with immigrants from different countries.