Monolingualism & Multilingualism
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Language Projections: 2010 to 2020 Presented at the Federal Forecasters Conference, Washington, DC, April 21, 2011 Hyon B
Language Projections: 2010 to 2020 Presented at the Federal Forecasters Conference, Washington, DC, April 21, 2011 Hyon B. Shin, Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division, U.S. Census Bureau Jennifer M. Ortman, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau This paper is released to inform interested parties of BACKGROUND ongoing research and to encourage discussion of work in progress. Any views expressed on statistical, The United States has always been a country noted for methodological, technical, or operational issues are its linguistic diversity. Information on language use and those of the authors and not necessarily those of the proficiency collected from decennial censuses shows U.S. Census Bureau. that there have been striking changes in the linguistic landscape. These changes have been driven in large ABSTRACT part by a shift in the origins of immigration to the United States. During the late 19th and early 20th Language diversity in the United States has changed centuries, the majority of U.S. immigrants spoke either rapidly over the past three decades. The use of a English or a European language such as German, Polish, language other than English at home increased by 148 or Italian (Stevens, 1999). Beginning in the middle of percent between 1980 and 2009 and this increase was the 20th century, patterns of immigration shifted to not evenly distributed among languages. Polish, countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia German, and Italian actually had fewer speakers in 2009 (Bean and Stevens, 2005). As a result, the use of compared to 1980. Other languages, such as Spanish, Spanish and Asian or Pacific Island languages began to Vietnamese, and Russian, had considerable increases in grow. -
Language Assimilation Today: Bilingualism Persists More Than in the Past, but English Still Dominates
Language Assimilation Today: Bilingualism Persists More Than in the Past, But English Still Dominates Richard Alba Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research University at Albany December, 2004 Research Assistants Karen Marotz and Jacob Stowell contributed toward the preparation and analysis of the data reported here. Summary Because of renewed immigration, fears about the status of English as the linguistic glue holding America together are common today. In a very different vein, multiculturalists have expressed hopes of profound change to American culture brought on by the persistence across generations of the mother tongues of contemporary immigrants. In either case, the underlying claim is that the past pattern of rapid acceptance of English by the children and grandchildren of the immigrants may be breaking down. Using 2000 Census data, the Mumford Center has undertaken an analysis of the languages spoken at home by school-age children in newcomer families in order to examine the validity of the claim. We find that, although some changes have occurred, it greatly exaggerates them. English is almost universally accepted by the children and grandchildren of the immigrants who have come to the U.S. in great numbers since the 1960s. Moreover, by the third generation, i.e., the grandchildren of immigrants, bilingualism is maintained only by minorities of almost all groups. Among Asian groups, these minorities are so small that the levels of linguistic assimilation are scarcely different from those of the past. Among the Spanish-speaking groups, the bilingual minorities are larger than was the case among most European immigrant groups. Nevertheless, English monolingualism is the predominant pattern by the third generation, except for Dominicans, a group known to maintain levels of back-and-forth travel to its homeland. -
Toward a Comprehensive Model For
Toward a Comprehensive Model for Nahuatl Language Research and Revitalization JUSTYNA OLKO,a JOHN SULLIVANa, b, c University of Warsaw;a Instituto de Docencia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas;b Universidad Autonóma de Zacatecasc 1 Introduction Nahuatl, a Uto-Aztecan language, enjoyed great political and cultural importance in the pre-Hispanic and colonial world over a long stretch of time and has survived to the present day.1 With an estimated 1.376 million speakers currently inhabiting several regions of Mexico,2 it would not seem to be in danger of extinction, but in fact it is. Formerly the language of the Aztec empire and a lingua franca across Mesoamerica, after the Spanish conquest Nahuatl thrived in the new colonial contexts and was widely used for administrative and religious purposes across New Spain, including areas where other native languages prevailed. Although the colonial language policy and prolonged Hispanicization are often blamed today as the main cause of language shift and the gradual displacement of Nahuatl, legal steps reinforced its importance in Spanish Mesoamerica; these include the decision by the king Philip II in 1570 to make Nahuatl the linguistic medium for religious conversion and for the training of ecclesiastics working with the native people in different regions. Members of the nobility belonging to other ethnic groups, as well as numerous non-elite figures of different backgrounds, including Spaniards, and especially friars and priests, used spoken and written Nahuatl to facilitate communication in different aspects of colonial life and religious instruction (Yannanakis 2012:669-670; Nesvig 2012:739-758; Schwaller 2012:678-687). -
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. -
Language Planning and Education of Adult Immigrants in Canada
London Review of Education DOI:10.18546/LRE.14.2.10 Volume14,Number2,September2016 Language planning and education of adult immigrants in Canada: Contrasting the provinces of Quebec and British Columbia, and the cities of Montreal and Vancouver CatherineEllyson Bem & Co. CarolineAndrewandRichardClément* University of Ottawa Combiningpolicyanalysiswithlanguagepolicyandplanninganalysis,ourarticlecomparatively assessestwomodelsofadultimmigrants’languageeducationintwoverydifferentprovinces ofthesamefederalcountry.Inordertodoso,wefocusspecificallyontwoquestions:‘Whydo governmentsprovidelanguageeducationtoadults?’and‘Howisitprovidedintheconcrete settingoftwoofthebiggestcitiesinCanada?’Beyonddescribingthetwomodelsofadult immigrants’ language education in Quebec, British Columbia, and their respective largest cities,ourarticleponderswhetherandinwhatsensedemography,languagehistory,andthe commonfederalframeworkcanexplainthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthetwo.These contextualelementscanexplainwhycitiescontinuetohavesofewresponsibilitiesregarding thesettlement,integration,andlanguageeducationofnewcomers.Onlysuchunderstandingwill eventuallyallowforproperreformsintermsofcities’responsibilitiesregardingimmigration. Keywords: multilingualcities;multiculturalism;adulteducation;immigration;languagelaws Introduction Canada is a very large country with much variation between provinces and cities in many dimensions.Onesuchaspect,whichremainsacurrenthottopicfordemographicandhistorical reasons,islanguage;morespecifically,whyandhowlanguageplanningandpolicyareenacted -
The Invisibility of Children's Bilingualism and Te
Journal of Pragmatics 43 (2011) 588–601 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Pragmatics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pragma ‘‘She is a very good child but she doesn’t speak’’: The invisibility of children’s bilingualism and teacher ideology Anastasia Gkaintartzi *, Roula Tsokalidou 1 School of Early Childhood Education, Faculty of Education, University Campus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: This paper discusses the micro-level ideologies of four teachers in mainstream Greek schools Received 8 November 2009 concerning linguistic diversity, bilingualism, second language learning and minority Received in revised form 31 May 2010 language maintenance. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the Accepted 7 September 2010 teachers and observations in the school context which focused on their views and attitudes concerning the presence of Albanian background children in their classrooms and the way Keywords: the Greek school responds to the children’s bilingualism and to linguistic diversity. Thus, we Bilingualism Language ideologies attempt to bring to the surface aspects of the broader language ideologies which underlie Albanian minority children their school practices. Teachers’ responses could be placed on a continuum ranging from Greek teachers awareness of the importance of bilingualism and minority language maintenance to the absolute rejection of the minority language and the subtraction of bilingualism. ß 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Teacher attitudes towards bilingualism and language diversity are part of the language ideologies which underlie their language practices. Their assumptions about second language teaching, bilingualism, the relative value of languages and the way schools respond to diversity are central to their language policy making and to the shaping of their everyday teaching practices (Skilton-Sylvester, 2003). -
Mapping Monolingualism Within a Language/Race Cartography: Reflections and Lessons Learned from ‘World Languages and Cultures Day’
L2 Journal, Volume 9 Issue 1 (2017), pp. 1-20 http://repositories.cdlib.org/uccllt/l2/vol9/iss1/art1 Mapping Monolingualism within a Language/Race Cartography: Reflections and Lessons Learned from ‘World Languages and Cultures Day’ ADAM SCHWARTZ Oregon State University E-mail: [email protected] BRADLEY BOOVY Oregon State University E-mail: [email protected] An interactive exhibit at a university’s ‘World Language Day’ challenges systems of privilege that organize the study of ‘foreign’ and ‘world’ languages. Through discursive framing, participants’ written responses reveal an alignment with hegemonic ideologies of race and nation that elevate English monolingualism as a proxy for a White, virtuous cultural order within which ‘World language’ education safely—and additively—finds its place. _______________ INTRODUCTION In her seminal paper “Language and Borders,” anthropologist Bonnie Urciuoli (1995) introduces the semiotic complexity, fluidity, and interconnectedness of the title’s two key terms: “Border-making elements take on their social reality as ‘languages,’ ‘accents,’ ‘mixing,’ or ‘words’” (p. 525). Similarly, when languages act as borders, they “… take on sharp edges… they are mapped onto people and therefore onto ethnic nationality (which may or may not map onto a nation-state).” Considering that, as Urciuoli writes, “ethnicity has become nonlocalized as people move into ‘global ethnoscapes,’ much of what the ‘border’ represents is in effect deterritorialized, as is, for example, the case with foreign languages, especially Spanish in the United States” (p. 533). Over a decade later, anthropolitical linguist Ana Celia Zentella (2007) applied Urciuoli’s words to the role ‘linguistic capital’ plays in locating linguistic insecurity among Latin@ populations. -
Nature and Society: Anthropological Perspectives
Nature and Society Nature and Society looks critically at the nature/society dichotomy—one of the central dogmas of western scholarship— and its place in human ecology and social theory. Rethinking the dualism means rethinking ecological anthropology and its notion of the relation between person and environment. The deeply entrenched biological and anthropological traditions which insist upon separating the two are challenged on both empirical and theoretical grounds. By focusing on a variety of perspectives, the contributors draw upon developments in social theory, biology, ethnobiology and sociology of science. They present an array of ethnographic case studies—from Amazonia, the Solomon Islands, Malaysia, the Moluccan Islands, rural communities in Japan and north-west Europe, urban Greece and laboratories of molecular biology and high-energy physics. The key focus of Nature and Society is the issue of the environment and its relations to humans. By inviting concern for sustainability, ethics, indigenous knowledge and the social context of science, this book will appeal to students of anthropology, human ecology and sociology. Philippe Descola is Directeur d’Etudes, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and member of the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale at the Collège de France. Gísli Pálsson is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik, and (formerly) Research Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. European Association of Social Anthropologists The European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) was inaugurated in January 1989, in response to a widely felt need for a professional association which would represent social anthropologists in Europe and foster co-operation and interchange in teaching and research. -
Monolingualism and Its Meaning in Two Kwazulu-Natal High Schools
Monolingualism and its Meaning in Two KwaZulu-Natal High Schools A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts of Rhodes University by Jacqui Carlyle May 2016 Abstract This study reports on the identity and attitudes of monolingual English speakers (MES) at two high schools in Durban, South Africa, in relation particularly to the role and meaning of monolingualism. Two bodies of data are used to investigate the attitudes of MES and are oriented towards four variables: English, African languages (particularly Zulu), monolingualism and plurilingualism. The attitudes to these variables reveal the impact on identity of language usage in Durban, and negotiations of the participants in trying to mitigate or justify attitudes that are counter to the embracing of diversity encouraged in modern South Africa. First, an attitude questionnaire provides quantitative data that is subjected to analysis, including a chi-squared test. Second, a narrative elicitation interview provides qualitative narrative data that is analysed in relation to APPRAISAL theory. Both analysis types are used to ascertain the presence of a monolingual mindset in the scholars’ responses, as well as to capture the ideological forces to which they are subjected as monolingual English speakers in the unique multilingual setting of Durban. In essence, the data points to a discourse of compromise and unease on the part of the participants - as they juggle with the effects of an English-centric monolingual mindset, and a more pervasive pluralism that embraces the Rainbowism of ‘the new South Africa’. This discourse of compromise is characterized on one side by insecurity and dissatisfaction with the language in education policy, and well as the monolingual upbringing of MES in Durban, and a lack of Language other than English (LOTE), in particular, Zulu. -
The Case Against Official Monolingualism: the Idiosyncrasies of Minority Language Rights in Israel and the United States
THE CASE AGAINST OFFICIAL MONOLINGUALISM: THE IDIOSYNCRASIES OF MINORITY LANGUAGE RIGHTS IN ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES Yuval Merin * I. INTRODUCTION ....................................... 1 H. THE NATURE AND HISTORY OF LANGUAGE DIVERSITY IN ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES ....................... 3 III. THE LEGAL STATUS OF LANGUAGES IN ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES ................................... 9 A. The Status of English and the Absence of an Official Language in the United States ........................ 9 B. FormalBilingualism and the Status of Hebrew, Arabic, and English in Israel .............................. 11 1. The Legal Status of Hebrew ...................... 14 2. The Legal Status of English ...................... 15 3. The Legal Status ofArabic ...................... 15 C. Comparative Observations ......................... 18 IV. "OFFICIAL LANGUAGE:" IMPLICATIONS AND MOVEMENTS .... 20 A. The Implications of "Official Language " .............. 22 B. "Hebrew-Only" Trends in Israel in Comparisonto the "English-Only" Movement in the United States ...... 25 C. Linguistic Requirements and Practicesin the Field of Education ..................................... 30 V. LINGUISTIC MINORITIES AND LANGUAGE RIGHTS AS CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS ................... 34 VI. CONCLUSION ........................................ 48 I. INTRODUCTION Both Israel and the United States are multi-ethnic societies with a large percentage of linguistic minorities. Hebrew and Arabic are the two official languages of Israel whereas the United States lacks an official language at the J.S.D. Candidate, New York University School of Law; LL.M., New York University School of Law, 1997; LL.B., The Hebrew University of Jerusalem School of Law, 1993. The author would like to thank Prof. Rachel Moran of Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, for her insightful and helpful comments on previous drafts of this Article. -
Human Rights and Dignity: in Between Morality and Culture by Zinaida
Human Rights and Dignity: In between Morality and Culture By Zinaida Besirevic A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Elliot Turiel, Chair Professor Sarah W. Freedman Professor Samera Esmeir Fall 2018 Copyrighted 1 Abstract Human Rights and Dignity: In-between Morality and Culture Zinaida Besirevic Doctor of Philosophy in Education University of California, Berkeley Professor Elliot Turiel, Chair This study explored how adolescents (aged 13 to 17) and young adults (aged 18 to 25) reason about the concepts of human rights and human dignity in the abstract, how they judge and justify different types of human rights violations in real-life contexts, and what systems of satisfaction of justice they endorse. Two countries were compared: Turkey and Bosnia, both secular, liberal democracies, but also the only European countries with a Muslim majority population, and both divided by conflict. Based on the data from 98 in-depth clinical interviews with randomly selected participants, 44 in each country, four dimensions of comparison were analyzed: 1) differences between reasoning in the abstract versus reasoning about specific contexts; 2) differences in reasoning related to age; 3) differences in reasoning related to country; 4) differences in reasoning about different types of rights violations. Participants were first asked straightforward questions about their conceptualization of human rights, and the principles thereof, as well as the relationship of rights to human dignity. Next, they were asked to provide judgment and the underlying reasoning about four real-life situations of human rights violations, including: torture prisoners suspected of terrorism; discrimination of women who wear a headscarf; an unprotected labor of undocumented workers; and the segregation of the Roma ethnic minorities. -
A New Vision of Language Education, from Monolingualism to Plurilingualism: an In-Depth Analysis of Plurilingualism and Its Theories Relevant to Language Education
A New Vision of Language Education, from Monolingualism to Plurilingualism: An In-depth Analysis of Plurilingualism and Its Theories Relevant to Language Education Lingyi Xue A dissertation submitted to Auckland University of Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (MEd) 2019 School of Education Abstract This dissertation investigates the theoretical premises and pedagogical implications of plurilingualism through an extended analysis of the academic and (where appropriate) policy literature. Firstly the tension between superdiversity, caused by globalisation, at the social and individual levels, is juxtaposed with traditional approaches to language teaching. Two main forces in traditional language teaching, a monolingual ideology and cognitive second language acquisition (SLA) are examined. By exploring the profound influence of monolingual ideology over language classrooms, the research brings to the fore the need for a new theoretical framework in the field of language education. The investigation raises influential recent shifts in the language field, particularly the “social turn” and the “multilingual turn”. Subsequently, the theoretical premises and core concepts of plurilingualism are carefully investigated, aiming to identify the difference between this new lens and traditional language education. When the research explains possible practices of plurilingual education, two different pictures are presented. On the one hand, in many pluralistic language classrooms where this new perspective is embraced, teachers have achieved gratifying results in developing students' plurilingual and intercultural repertoires and cultivating their composite competence. On the other hand, the research also shows that many language teachers lack awareness of the use and further development of students' whole linguistic and cultural repertoires.