Kathrin Brandt

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Kathrin Brandt A QUESTION OF LANGUAGE VITALITY? - ON INTERROGATIVES IN AN ENDANGERED CREOLE Kathrin Brandt Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität zu Köln im Fach Englische Philologie vorgelegt von Kathrin Brandt TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES IV LIST OF FIGURES VI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS VII 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Creole studies 1 1.2 LanguAge endAngerment 4 1.3 Minimalist syntax and wh-questions 5 1.4 Research questions and the orgAnizAtion of this study 7 2 LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT 9 2.1 The linguistic situAtion 9 2.2 In favor of linguistic diversity 10 2.3 Models of lAnguAge loss 13 2.4 Assessing lAnguAge vitality 18 2.5 StructurAl consequences 29 3 SYNTACTIC THEORY OF INTERROGATIVES 34 3.1 Accounting for cross-linguistic vAriAtion 36 3.2 Landing sites 38 3.3 ConstrAints on wh-movement 42 3.4 Movement triggers 44 3.5 ClAuse typing 47 4 LOUISIANA CREOLE – HISTORY, SOCIOLINGUISTIC SETTING AND LINGUISTIC PROFILE 51 4.1 History 51 4.2 The genesis of LouisiAnA Creole 56 i 4.3 The sociolinguistic profile of South LouisiAnA 58 Louisiana Creole 58 Louisiana Regional French 60 Multilingual South Louisiana 61 Louisiana Creole as an endangered language 65 4.4 Selected aspects of LouisiAnA Creole grAmmAr 71 The verbal system 73 The nominal system 75 Constituent structure 77 The lexicon 80 5 METHODOLOGY 82 5.1 Field methods 82 5.2 Consultants, AnAlysis and the quAlitative approAch 91 5.3 Notation 96 6 SOCIOLINGUISTIC FINDINGS 98 6.1 DemogrAphics 98 Region 101 Education and occupation 102 6.2 LanguAge competence and multilinguAlism 105 6.3 LanguAge use 112 Interlocutors 112 Functions 127 6.4 LanguAge attitudes 137 7 LINGUISTIC DATA ANALYSIS 143 7.1 Previous reseArch on wh-questions in Creole lAnguAges 143 7.2 Previous reseArch on interrogAtives in LC 151 7.3 Questions in LC 154 Root questions 155 Embedded questions 157 Complex wh-questions 158 ii 7.3.3.1 Wh-scope-marking 158 7.3.3.2 Wh-islands 160 7.3.3.3 Adjunct islands 166 7.3.3.4 The that-t effect 168 Wh-in-situ 170 Multiple wh-questions 173 Polar questions 175 7.4 VAriAtion and the relAtion between sociolinguistics and syntactic structure 177 The form and distribution of wh-pronouns and the status of ki 177 Variation and socio-demographic variables 188 8 A GENERATIVE ANALYSIS OF WH-QUESTIONS IN LC 198 8.1 Root wh-questions 198 8.2 Long-distance questions and successive cyclicity 201 8.3 Ki-insertion clauses, wh-copying and wh-scope mArking 206 9 CONCLUSION 221 9.1 Sociolinguistics 221 9.2 InterrogAtive System 223 9.3 Wh-Copying 225 9.4 Suggestions for future reseArch 226 APPENDIX 228 A. Informed Consent Form 228 B. Sociolinguistic QuestionnAire 229 C. MTAT 233 D. Questions after Stories 238 LIST OF REFERENCES 240 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1 Classification by Fishman (1991) .......................................................................... 20 Table 2-2 Classification by Wurm (2002) .............................................................................. 21 Table 2-3 UNESCO on the availability of written materials ............................................ 23 Table 2-4 Framework for classifying languages .................................................................. 26 Table 2-5 Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale ................................. 28 Table 5-1 Biographic/linguistic biographic information collected in the sociolinguistic questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 82 Table 6-1 Age of participants ...................................................................................................... 98 Table 6-2 Gender, ethnicity and place of residence ........................................................... 99 Table 6-3 Demographics of participants .............................................................................. 100 Table 6-4 Occupation of participants ..................................................................................... 103 Table 6-5 Education level of participants ............................................................................. 104 Table 6-6 Proficiency by race .................................................................................................... 106 Table 6-7 Proficiency by gender .............................................................................................. 106 Table 6-8 Proficiency by region ............................................................................................... 106 Table 6-9 Proficiency by age group ........................................................................................ 106 Table 6-10 L1 of participants .................................................................................................... 108 Table 6-11 Language use in childhood by interlocutors ................................................ 113 Table 6-12 Usage with grandparents in childhood by age group ............................... 113 Table 6-13 Usage with parents in childhood by age group ........................................... 114 Table 6-14 Usage with siblings in childhood by age group ........................................... 115 Table 6-15 Usage with classmates in childhood by age group .................................... 115 Table 6-16 Usage with friends in childhood by age group ............................................ 116 Table 6-17 Best language by race ............................................................................................ 120 Table 6-18 Language use by interlocutors ........................................................................... 121 Table 6-19 Language use with friends/neighbors by age group ................................ 123 Table 6-20 Language used with parents during childhood by race ........................... 124 Table 6-21 Language used with parents during childhood by sex ............................. 125 Table 6-22 Language used with grandparent during childhood by sex ................... 125 Table 6-23 Language used with siblings during childhood by sex ............................. 126 Table 6-24 Frequency for i. "I have regular transactions in LC in my everyday life." ............................................................................................................................................................... 127 Table 6-25 Average frequency rating of usage statements ........................................... 128 Table 6-26 Frequency for vii. “I dream in Louisiana Creole” by age group ............ 131 iv Table 6-27 Frequency for i. “I have regular transactions in LC in my everyday life” by age group ..................................................................................................................................... 132 Table 6-28 Frequency for vi. "I think in Louisiana Creole" by race ........................... 132 Table 7-1 Interrogative Pronouns in LC ............................................................................... 152 Table 7-2 Acceptability judgments for extraction out of adjunct islands by syntactic function ........................................................................................................................... 167 Table 7-3 Acceptability for wh-in-situ in root questions by syntactic function.... 171 Table 7-4 Interrogative PRNs in LC ........................................................................................ 178 Table 7-5 Interrogative Pronouns in the study’s corpus................................................ 179 Table 7-6 Frequency of wh-pronouns in the MTAT corpus .......................................... 184 Table 7-7 Distribution of ki as the final element in wh-pronouns ............................. 185 Table 7-8 Distribution of initial and intermediate wh-pronouns in ki-insertion clauses ................................................................................................................................................ 187 Table 7-9 Functional distribution of final ki by LC proficiency ................................... 191 Table 7-10 Functional distribution of final ki by age group .......................................... 191 Table 7-11 Acceptability ratings of wh-in-situ questions by functional type and LRF/SF knowledge ........................................................................................................................ 195 Table 7-12 Acceptability of wh-scope-marking by age groups ................................... 197 Table 7-13 Acceptability of wh-scope-marking by race ................................................. 197 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4-1 Southern Louisiana - the French triangle and LC speaking areas .......... 65 Figure 6-1 Hometowns ................................................................................................................ 101 Figure 6-2 Languages known .................................................................................................... 107 Figure 6-3 Transgenerational ‘best’ language .................................................................... 109 Figure 6-4 Language competence other than English in children and grandchildren .................................................................................................................................. 111 Figure 6-5 LC competence in children and grandchildren ............................................ 112 Figure 6-6 Usage with grandparents in childhood by age group ................................ 114 Figure 6-7
Recommended publications
  • (2014) Dlùth Is Inneach: Linguistic and Institutional Foundations for Gaelic Corpus Planning
    Bell, S., McConville, M., McLeod, W., and O Maolalaigh, R. (2014) Dlùth is Inneach: Linguistic and Institutional Foundations for Gaelic Corpus Planning. Project Report. Copyright © 2014 The Authors and Bord na Gaidhlig A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge The content must not be changed in any way or reproduced in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder(s) http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/98132/ Deposited on: 14 October 2014 Enlighten – Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk Dlùth is Inneach – Final Project Report Linguistic and Institutional Foundations for Gaelic Corpus Planning Prepared for Bòrd na Gàidhlig (Research Project no. CR12-03) By Soillse Researchers Susan Bell (Research Assistant, University of Glasgow) Dr Mark McConville (Co-investigator, University of Glasgow) Professor Wilson McLeod (Co-investigator, University of Edinburgh) Professor Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh (Principal Investigator, University of Glasgow) Expert Adviser: Professor Robert Dunbar, University of Edinburgh Co-ordinator: Iain Caimbeul, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI 27 January 2014 Redacted version for publication GEÀRR-CHUNNTAS GNÌOMHACH Is e tha san aithisg seo toraidhean bho phròiseact bliadhna a rinn sgioba rannsachaidh Shoillse às leth Bhòrd na Gàidhlig (BnG). B’ e amas an rannsachaidh fuasgladh fhaighinn air a' cheist a leanas: Cò na prionnsapalan planadh corpais as fheàrr a fhreagras air neartachadh agus brosnachadh
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Dialectal Diversity in Contemporary Gaelic: Perceptions, Discourses and Responses Wilson Mcleod
    Dialectal diversity in contemporary Gaelic: perceptions, discourses and responses Wilson McLeod 1 Introduction This essay will address some aspects of language change in contemporary Gaelic and their relationship to the simultaneous workings of language shift and language revitalisation. I focus in particular on the issue of how dialects and dialectal diversity in Gaelic are perceived, depicted and discussed in contemporary discourse. Compared to many minoritised languages, notably Irish, dialectal diversity has generally not been a matter of significant controversy in relation to Gaelic in Scotland. In part this is because Gaelic has, or at least is depicted as having, relatively little dialectal variation, in part because the language did undergo a degree of grammatical and orthographic standardisation in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, with the Gaelic of the Bible serving to provide a supra-dialectal high register (e.g. Meek 1990). In recent decades, as Gaelic has achieved greater institutionalisation in Scotland, notably in the education system, issues of dialectal diversity have not been prioritised or problematised to any significant extent by policy-makers. Nevertheless, in recent years there has been some evidence of increasing concern about the issue of diversity within Gaelic, particularly as language shift has diminished the range of spoken dialects and institutionalisation in broadcasting and education has brought about a degree of levelling and convergence in the language. In this process, some commentators perceive Gaelic as losing its distinctiveness, its richness and especially its flavour or blas. These responses reflect varying ideological perspectives, sometimes implicating issues of perceived authenticity and ownership, issues which become heightened as Gaelic is acquired by increasing numbers of non-traditional speakers with no real link to any dialect area.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender in Irish Between Continuity and Change1
    Gender in Irish between continuity and change1 Alessio S. Frenda Trinity College Dublin The gender system of Irish appears to have undergone a process of simplification: traditionally depending on both formal and semantic assignment rules, agreement in contemporary spoken Irish is still rather conservative within the noun phrase, but almost exclusively semantic anaphorically. Language contact and the resulting obsolescence seem to have had some influence on these developments: for instance, structures that have a functional counterpart in English seem more resilient than others. But language-internal developments, particularly the phonetic erosion and loss of word-final syllables, may have played an important role, too: similar developments have been observed in non-obsolescent languages like Dutch and French. In this article, I illustrate some specific aspects of the Irish situation with examples drawn from a corpus of spoken Irish and frame the simplification process in terms of structural convergence in the context of language contact. Keywords: Irish, grammatical gender, language change, language obsolescence, contact, convergence 1. Introduction In this article I present the findings of a comparison between two corpora of spoken Irish, representative, respectively, of a traditional Gaeltacht vari- 1 This research was funded by a Government of Ireland Exchange Scholarship and by an IRCHSS Postgraduate Scholarship. I am grateful to the following people for their com- ments on earlier drafts of this article: John Saeed, Brian Nolan, Gearóid Ó Donnchadha, Pauline Welby and two anonymous reviewers; thanks are also due to Eamonn Mullins for his assistance with the statistical analysis of the data. I take full responsibility for any errors or oversights.
    [Show full text]
  • Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) Local Studies Vol
    Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) Local Studies Vol. 22 : Cataibh an Ear & Gallaibh Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) Local Studies 1 Vol. 22: Cataibh an Ear & Gallaibh (East Sutherland & Caithness) Author: Kurt C. Duwe 2nd Edition January, 2012 Executive Summary This publication is part of a series dealing with local communities which were predominantly Gaelic- speaking at the end of the 19 th century. Based mainly (but not exclusively) on local population census information the reports strive to examine the state of the language through the ages from 1881 until to- day. The most relevant information is gathered comprehensively for the smallest geographical unit pos- sible and provided area by area – a very useful reference for people with interest in their own communi- ty. Furthermore the impact of recent developments in education (namely teaching in Gaelic medium and Gaelic as a second language) is analysed for primary school catchments. Gaelic once was the dominant means of conversation in East Sutherland and the western districts of Caithness. Since the end of the 19 th century the language was on a relentless decline caused both by offi- cial ignorance and the low self-confidence of its speakers. A century later Gaelic is only spoken by a very tiny minority of inhabitants, most of them born well before the Second World War. Signs for the future still look not promising. Gaelic is still being sidelined officially in the whole area. Local council- lors even object to bilingual road-signs. Educational provision is either derisory or non-existent. Only constant parental pressure has achieved the introduction of Gaelic medium provision in Thurso and Bonar Bridge.
    [Show full text]
  • SS 34 2006 1St Proof.Indd
    SCOTTISH STUDIES 34 Published with financial support from an anonymous donor Scottish Studies The Journal of the School of Scottish Studies University of Edinburgh Vol. 34 2006 EDITED BY JOHN SHAW ASSISTANT EDITOR JOSHUA DICKSON Published by The School of Scottish Studies University of Edinburgh 2006 Articles are invited and should be sent to: Dr John Shaw The Editor, Scottish Studies The School of Scottish Studies The University of Edinburgh 27 George Square Edinburgh eh8 9ld All articles submitted are sent out to readers for peer review. Enquiries may be made by email to: [email protected] The journal is published annually and costs £12. Subscriptions should be sent to The Subscription Secretary, Scottish Studies, at the address above. © The School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh Printed in Great Britain by TBD Typeset by Brinnoven, Livingston ISBN 1 86232 000 0 Contents Contributors vii Editorial ix Andrew Breeze The Names of Blantyre, Carluke, and Carnwath, near Glasgow 1 Katherine Campbell Geikie’s A Blind Fiddler and Two Associated Traditions 5 Roderick D. Cannon Gaelic Names of Pibrochs: A Classification 20 Joy Fraser A Study of Scottish Gaelic Versions of ‘Snow-White’ 60 Neill Martin The Gaelic Rèiteach: Symbolism and Practice 77 John Stuart Murray Differentiating the Gaelic Landscape of the Perthshire Highlands 159 James Porter Does Ethnology Have A Future? 178 Dòmhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart Some Heathenish and Superstitious Rites: A Letter from Lewis, 1700 203 Jacqueline Simpson A Breton Analogue To ‘Wandering Willie’s Tale’ 225 J. C. Catford Remembering Jim Mather 227 Book Reviews 230 Books Received 244 v Contributors Andrew Breeze Katherine Campbell Roderick D.
    [Show full text]
  • MIXED CODES, BILINGUALISM, and LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requi
    BILINGUAL NAVAJO: MIXED CODES, BILINGUALISM, AND LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Charlotte C. Schaengold, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Brian Joseph, Advisor Professor Donald Winford ________________________ Professor Keith Johnson Advisor Linguistics Graduate Program ABSTRACT Many American Indian Languages today are spoken by fewer than one hundred people, yet Navajo is still spoken by over 100,000 people and has maintained regional as well as formal and informal dialects. However, the language is changing. While the Navajo population is gradually shifting from Navajo toward English, the “tip” in the shift has not yet occurred, and enormous efforts are being made in Navajoland to slow the language’s decline. One symptom in this process of shift is the fact that many young people on the Reservation now speak a non-standard variety of Navajo called “Bilingual Navajo.” This non-standard variety of Navajo is the linguistic result of the contact between speakers of English and speakers of Navajo. Similar to Michif, as described by Bakker and Papen (1988, 1994, 1997) and Media Lengua, as described by Muysken (1994, 1997, 2000), Bilingual Navajo has the structure of an American Indian language with parts of its lexicon from a European language. “Bilingual mixed languages” are defined by Winford (2003) as languages created in a bilingual speech community with the grammar of one language and the lexicon of another. My intention is to place Bilingual Navajo into the historical and theoretical framework of the bilingual mixed language, and to explain how ii this language can be used in the Navajo speech community to help maintain the Navajo language.
    [Show full text]
  • John Walsh and Bernadette O'rourke
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Heriot Watt Pure TITLE OF EDITION: John Walsh and Bernadette O’Rourke (editors). ‘Comparing “new speakers” across language contexts: mobility and motivations’. Thematic edition of Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 1 Introduction Bernadette O’Rourkea* and John Walshb aDepartment of Languages and Intercultural Studies, School of Social Sciences, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK; bSchool of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland * Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies School of Social Sciences Heriot Watt University Edinburgh EH14 4AS UK Email: b.m.a.o’[email protected] 2 Introduction In this Special Issue we describe and analyse the practices and ideologies of ‘new speakers’ of minority languages. The ‘new speaker’ label is used to describe individuals with little or no home or community exposure to a minority language but who instead acquire it through immersion or bilingual educational programmes, revitalisation projects or as adult language learners (O’Rourke, Pujolar and Ramallo 2015). Dominant discourses in linguistics and its associated strands have tended to prioritise native speech over learner varieties. In applied linguistics native speech has often been presented to learners as the only authentic and desirable variety (Davies 2003). The revitalisation of minority languages has been framed within a preservationist rhetoric often with little tolerance for linguistic innovation or transgressive practices such as code-switching, translanguaging, or hybridisation (O’Rourke and Pujolar 2013). Work on new speakers has been informed by a theoretical framework which critiques such an approach to language revitalisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae Nancy Currier Dorian
    February 2017 CURRICULUM VITAE NANCY CURRIER DORIAN Professor Emeritus of Linguistics in German & Anthropology Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 Education B.A. 1958 Connecticut College for Women, summa cum laude, with Honors in the major field (German) 1958-59 University of Bonn & Free University of Berlin Fulbright Scholar (Linguistics & Anthropology) 1959-60 Yale University (Linguistics) M.A. 1961 University of Michigan (Linguistics) Ph.D. 1965 University of Michigan (Linguistics) Employment 1965-66 Lecturer, German & Linguistics, Bryn Mawr College 1966-72 Assistant Professor, German & Linguistics, Bryn Mawr College Fall l966 Part-time Visiting Lecturer in Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania l967-68 Wissenschaftliche Assistentin, Seminar für indogermanische und allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft University of Kiel, Germany (on leave from Bryn Mawr College) Spring 1970 Part-time Visiting Lecturer in Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania 1972-78 Associate Professor, German & Linguistics, Bryn Mawr College 1978-2001 Professor of Linguistics in German & Anthropology, Bryn Mawr College 1977-78 Acting Chair, Department of German, Bryn Mawr College 1979-80 " 1982-83 " 1986-87 Co-chair, Bi-College Department of German, Bryn Mawr & Haverford Colleges 1987-89 Chair, Bi-College Department of German, Bryn Mawr & Haverford Colleges Awards and honors 1980-1985, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professorship, Bryn Mawr College 1986, Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, Bryn Mawr College 2005, featured in BBC Alba documentary film “Mar a chunnaic mise: Nancy Dorian agus a’ Ghàidhlig” (‘As I saw it: Nancy Dorian and Gaelic’), in Gaelic with English subtitles 2012, Kenneth L. Hale prize from the Linguistic Society of America for outstanding work on the documentation of an endangered language 2015, Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Glasgow for contributions to Celtic Studies (for research grants see p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Effect of Language Shift on a Sound Change in Progress
    University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics Volume 14 Issue 2 Selected Papers from NWAV 36 Article 17 November 2008 The Effect of Language Shift on a Sound Change in Progress Maya Ravindranath University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl Recommended Citation Ravindranath, Maya (2008) "The Effect of Language Shift on a Sound Change in Progress," University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Vol. 14 : Iss. 2 , Article 17. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol14/iss2/17 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol14/iss2/17 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Effect of Language Shift on a Sound Change in Progress Abstract The literature on variation in endangered languages has largely focused on the structural and stylistic simplification that occurs when languages contract or on cases where variation is introduced through interference in the form of a non-native variant that exists alongside a native form (Dorian 1981, Mougeon and Beniak 1981; Aikhenvald 2002; Campbell and Muntzel 1989; among others). Some studies have considered the effect of language shift or moribundity on variation that existed in the healthy language. King’s (1989) study of Newfoundland French, for instance, concludes that variation can be maintained in dying languages, but the variation no longer carries the social meaning that it did in a healthier speech community. This paper, on variable /r/-deletion in Garifuna, presents an apparent change in progress in an endangered language and explores the effect of incipient language shift on previously existing variation.
    [Show full text]
  • Purism, Variation, Change and 'Authenticity'
    This is the accepted version of an article published by Cambridge University Press in European ​ Review. Published version available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1062798717000400 ​ ​ Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/25200/ ​ Purism, variation, change and ‘authenticity’: Ideological challenges to language revitalisation Julia Sallabank SOAS University of London Abstract 1 This paper is based on recent research into the small, highly endangered language Giernesiei 2 (Guernsey, Channel Islands). Language documentation has found unexpectedly rich variation and change in Giernesiei usage, not all of which can be accounted for by regional and age-related factors. At the same time, our research into language ideologies and efforts to maintain and revitalise Giernesiei have revealed deep-seated purist or ‘traditionalist’ language attitudes which resist and deny language change. This nostalgic view of language and culture can hyper-valorise ‘authentic’ traditions (arguably reinvented: Johnson 2013) and can lead to reluctance to share Giernesiei effectively with younger generations who might ‘change the language’, despite an overt desire to maintain it. This mismatch between ideologies and practices can be seen at language festivals, in lessons for children, and in the experiences of adult learners who were interviewed as part of a British Academy-funded project. I present a taxonomy of reactions to variation in Giernesiei, which confirms and extends the findings of Jaffe (2008) in Corsica. I also discuss recent revitalisation efforts which try to bring together older and ‘new’ speakers and promote the role of adult learners and ‘re-activate’ semi-speakers. The findings support the view that full evaluation of language vitality should include documenting the processes and ideologies of language revitalisation (Sallabank 2012; Austin and Sallabank 2014).
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Language Ideology, Linguistic Differentiation, and Language Maintenance in the California
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Language Ideology, Linguistic Differentiation, and Language Maintenance in the California Mixtec Diaspora A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics by Anna C. Bax Committee in charge: Professor Mary Bucholtz, Chair Professor Eric W. Campbell Professor Lal Zimman Professor Gabriela Pérez Báez, University of Oregon September 2020 The dissertation of Anna C. Bax is approved. ____________________________________________ Eric W. Campbell ____________________________________________ Lal Zimman ____________________________________________ Gabriela Pérez Báez ____________________________________________ Mary Bucholtz, Committee Chair July 2020 Language Ideology, Linguistic Differentiation, and Language Maintenance in the California Mixtec Diaspora Copyright © 2020 by Anna C. Bax iii Acknowledgements I respectfully acknowledge that this dissertation was researched and written while I was living on the unceded lands of the Chumash and Kumeyaay people. I am deeply grateful to so many people whose time, labor, and love have made this dissertation possible. Completing and defending this work from quarantine in the midst of a global pandemic has made me reflect on the many individuals who have helped me along the way, so many of whom I eagerly await the opportunity to see again in person. First, none of this work would have been possible without the generosity, patience, and enthusiasm of the Mixtec residents of Ventura County who have so graciously shared their lives, thoughts, time, and energy with me over the years. I am especially grateful to Isabel, Nina, and Ita Ndivi, the focal participant-researchers in this dissertation, for their dedication to this project and their trust. Thanks also go to their friends and family who participated in this research, particularly to Nina’s mother, who aided with transcription and translation of her variety of Mixtec.
    [Show full text]