The Struggle within Superimposing Worlds: A comparative case study of the Shoshone-Bannock and the Sámi on language shift and language maintenance Connor G. Cathey Master Thesis for the Master of Philosophy degree in Comparative and International Education, Institute for Educational Research UNIVERSITETET I OSLO November, 2009 ii Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisors Dr. Christopher Loether and Dr. Halla B. Holmarsdottir, who helped me immensely throughout my thesis work. Dr. Loether was kind enough to allow my participation in many enlightening activities and classes significant to my research, as well as offering invaluable guidance during my fieldwork and thesis writing. Dr. Holmarsdottir gave me much needed encouragement through out the writing process, as well as keeping a good dialogue. I greatly appreciate the time both advisors took out of their active schedules, in order to fulfill their helpful roles in this thesis. I would also like to thank Mary Jane Oatman-Wak Wak of the Idaho State Department of Education for her generosity and valuable contributions she provided during my research. In addition, I would also like to thank all the informants for their willingness to respond and for offering beneficial insight which has given life to this thesis. Lastly, I would like to thank all my family and friends for their support. Their patience, encouragement and presence have helped my research in countless ways. Oslo, November 2009 Connor G. Cathey iii Abstract In this comparative case study, language shift and language maintenance are examined among Shoshoni speakers of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes in south eastern Idaho, and North Sámi speakers of Norway. In examining language shift, the following research questions are addressed: what are the mechanisms of language shift according to the members of these speech communities? What are the commonalities of language ideologies and language barriers promoting language shift? To approach the research questions, a theoretical framework is applied where significant concepts of language shift and maintenance are examined: (1) Fishman’s Reversing Language Shift, (2) macro mechanisms such as globalization, Americanization, Norwegianization and economic mobility, (3) micro mechanisms that include concepts such as diglossia and social capital, (4) language ideologies, and lastly (5) language policy and planning theory. A research design using a comparative approach in the form of a multiple-case study was adopted. Primarily qualitative data collection techniques were used: semi-structured interviews, participant observations and one small scale survey. Conclusions were then drawn after the data was analyzed within thematic parameters. This study shows that language shift is a multifactorial phenomenon often dependant on each group’s own context. Yet it also shows that even two very different indigenous cultures have language shift commonalities. Language shift themes found in the study ranged from common assimilation hardships, code-switching norms, English as the lingua franca, and the close relationship between language, culture and identity. This study also shows how both communities can be affected by common barriers that hinder language maintenance: language sophistication or difficulty, language identity purism ideology, and language identity stigma. Moreover a causation model can be applied, depicting language shift in a different manner. This model reveals certain implications of language shift mechanisms and possible inherent language maintenance barriers of unity, numbers, funding, inspiration and time. iv Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................ II ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. III TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ IV TABLE OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... VIII 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 PERSONAL SETTING ................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH ....................................................................................... 4 1.4 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS .......................................................................................................... 4 1.5 LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................................................... 5 2. CONTEXTUALIZATION ................................................................................ 7 2.1 THE SHOSHONE-BANNOCK TRIBES ......................................................................................... 7 2.1.1 The Shoshoni Landscape .............................................................................................. 8 2.1.2 The Shoshoni Language ............................................................................................... 9 2.1.3 The Shoshone-Bannock Prior to Western Contact ..................................................... 10 2.1.4 The Shoshone-Bannock at the Beginning of Western Contact ................................... 11 2.1.5 Establishment of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation .................................................... 12 2.2 THE SÁMI .............................................................................................................................. 14 2.2.1 The Sámi Landscape................................................................................................... 14 2.2.2 The Sámi Language .................................................................................................... 15 2.2.3 The Sámi Prior to Major Western Contact................................................................. 16 2.2.4 The Sámi throughout Western Contact ...................................................................... 16 2.3 CLOSING REMARKS ............................................................................................................... 18 v 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................. 19 3.1 DEFINING LANGUAGE SHIFT .................................................................................................. 19 3.2 LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE AND LANGUAGE DEATH ............................................................. 20 3.3 FISHMAN’S REVERSING LANGUAGE SHIFT ............................................................................. 22 3.4 EXTERNALLY CAUSED MECHANISMS OF LANGUAGE SHIFT ................................................... 24 3.4.1 Globalization............................................................................................................... 25 3.4.2 Americanization .......................................................................................................... 26 3.4.3 Norwegianization ........................................................................................................ 28 3.4.4 Economic Mobility as External and Internal .............................................................. 29 3.5 INTERNALLY CAUSED MECHANISMS OF LANGUAGE SHIFT .................................................... 30 3.5.1 Mechanisms at Home .................................................................................................. 31 3.5.1.1 Diglossia ................................................................................................................................... 31 3.5.1.2 Social Capital ............................................................................................................................ 36 3.5.2 Mechanisms of the Individual ..................................................................................... 37 3.6 LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES ......................................................................................................... 38 3.6.1 Language Ideology Variation ..................................................................................... 40 3.6.2 Language Ideology Awareness ................................................................................... 42 3.7 LANGUAGE POLICY AND PLANNING ....................................................................................... 44 3.7.1 LPP Types and Approaches ........................................................................................ 45 3.7.2 How LPP is Carried Out ............................................................................................. 46 3.8 CLOSING REMARKS ................................................................................................................ 48 4. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................... 49 4.1 THE RESEARCHER .................................................................................................................. 49 4.2 THE RESEARCH DESIGN ......................................................................................................... 50 vi 4.3 SAMPLING APPROACH...........................................................................................................