Urbanity and the dynamics of language shift in Galicia

Mariamo Mussa Juane,Alberto P Muñuzuri,Jorge Mira,Luis F Seoane

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09688-8

Mariamo Mussa Juane, Alberto P Muñuzuri + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09688-8

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Journal: Nature Communications	Publication Date: Apr 11, 2019
Citations: 10	License type: open-access

Affiliation: University of Santiago de Compostela

Abstract

Sociolinguistic phenomena often involve interactions across different scales and result in social and linguistic changes that can be tracked over time. Here, we focus on the dynamics of language shift in Galicia, a bilingual community in northwest Spain. Using historical data on Galician and Spanish speakers, we show that the rate at which shift dynamics unfold correlates inversely with the internal complexity of a region (approximated by the proportion of urban area). Less complex areas converge faster to steady states, while more complex ones sustain transitory dynamics longer. We further explore the contextual relevance of each region within the network of regions that constitute Galicia. The network is observed to sustain or reverse the dynamic rates. This model can introduce a competition between the internal complexity of a region and its contextual relevance in the network. Harnessing these sociodynamic features may prove useful in policy making to limit conflicts.

Highlights

Sociolinguistic phenomena often involve interactions across different scales and result in social and linguistic changes that can be tracked over time
An abundant literature exists studying their coexistence from perspectives, including national identity, historical issues, and trends of Galician language use[17,18]
Since the internal network structure is reflected by dynamics of varying speed, the coarse-graining of this internal complexity is captured by different ci values

Summary

Introduction

Sociolinguistic phenomena often involve interactions across different scales and result in social and linguistic changes that can be tracked over time. The network is observed to sustain or reverse the dynamic rates This model can introduce a competition between the internal complexity of a region and its contextual relevance in the network. This could be enhanced by globalization, which brings together different languages and might precipitate a choice between them These shift dynamics could be faster in well-connected environments (e.g., cities, which boost technological, economic, and other human interactions11–13) than in sparsely connected ones (e.g., rural areas). Our exhaustive data analysis comes from the Autonomous Region of Galicia (northwest Spain), where Galician (a Romance language close to Portuguese) and Castilian (Spanish) are co-official This region offers a unique laboratory to undertake studies similar to the one presented here.

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