Indigenous Minority Languages Research Articles

Someone Like Me: A Trial of Context-Responsive Science as a Mechanism to Promote Inclusion

This paper provides evidence gathered from two suites of non-formal science activities that were intended to increase engagement in science by culturally diverse groups. Both studies involved the delivery of science activities that were designed, implemented and evaluated to show culturally contextualised science. The activities were run in two very different contexts (urban and very rural areas) and were designed to be of relevance to two distinctive cultural groups (those with links to South Asia, and those being educated through the medium of Gaelic, an indigenous minority language in Scotland), while also actively engaging with those beyond the target group. The link between language identity and culture was incorporated into the design of both sets of activities as well as the qualitative evaluation. The latter considers how the participants’ assessment of the interventions, implemented by writing or drawing on a blank postcard, was designed to provide unstructured responses and explores what the resulting data revealed about the impact of the interventions. The findings suggest that the set of activities that most strongly engaged participants on the value of diversity in the creation of scientific knowledge, as well as increasing their focus on the consequences of scientific activity, were those that facilitated a more exploratory approach to the subject matter. By contrast, activities that had to be done according to a standard scientific protocol produced growth in subject-specific knowledge. The present paper explores the principles of the inclusive pedagogies that informed the design of the activities and discusses how these were operationalised in two very contrasting cultural contexts. The key finding was that presenting science as social practice, rather than as being socially neutral, is key to promoting engagement, along with the benefits of explicitly demonstrating the relevance of science to participants’ daily lives.

The use of technology to preserve indigenous languages of South Africa

Indigenous languages in South Africa must be preserved to ensure that they do not lose their identity and become extinct. The four indigenous languages with the fewest speakers among South Africa’s 12 official languages are: Xitsonga, Siswati, Tshivenḓa and isiNdebele. The preservation of these languages in South Africa has been a long-standing challenge because of various social and economic factors. With the advancement of technology, opportunities have arisen to preserve and promote the use of these languages. Therefore, this study explores various technological strategies that can be used to preserve the South African indigenous languages. These languages can be preserved by making them widely accessible to users through various strategies such as localisation of daily used technology, translation through crowdsourcing, digitisation and archiving. Digital learning tools such as machine translation (MT) and creating online dictionaries can also contribute to preserving these languages. Each of these strategies offers benefits on how technology could be employed effectively and facilitate the preservation of indigenous languages. This study demonstrates the significance of technology in preserving indigenous languages and promoting their use around the world.Contribution: This study fills the practical gap in the use of technology to adequately preserve minority indigenous languages of South Africa, namely, Xitsonga, Siswati, Tshivenḓa and isiNdebele. These languages do not receive much attention in terms of preservation using technology in South Africa. Therefore, the study provides practical technological strategies that need to be implemented to preserve the indigenous minority languages. The insight of this study into the use of technology to preserve South African languages fits well within the scope of Literator, which is to publish studies in linguistics and literature with a special focus on South African languages. This publication will bring solutions to how minority languages could be preserved in the context of South Africa.

Syntax in transition

This paper is an investigation of a language contact phenomenon currently taking place in Aanaar (Inari) Saami, an indigenous minority language of Finland. Aanaar Saami people have been in contact with Finnish speakers for centuries, so much so that the language community has become bilingual. This has resulted in the borrowing of both numerous Finnish loanwords and even some syntactic constructions into Aanaar Saami and seems to herald a larger change in the language. The present study focuses on a type of syntactic change called differential argument marking, which is examined in three Aanaar Saami clause types: transitive clauses, existential clauses, and passive verb clauses. Finnish exhibits complex argument marking, characterized by a total–partial distinction, whereas traditional Aanaar Saami does not have differential argument marking in subjects or objects. However, new Aanaar Saami shows multiple emergent types of differential argument marking that vary between individual speakers and, while clearly influenced by Finnish, do not always mirror their Finnish equivalents one-to-one. This, and the observation that differential argument marking is non-existent in older language materials, suggests that the phenomenon is recentFinnish influence.

Mother tongue education in four Nordic countries - problem, right or resource?

The Declaration of a Nordic Language Policy stipulates that all Nordic residents have the right to preserve and develop their mother tongue and their national minority languages. Hence, this article investigates the question of mother tongue education for linguistic minority students. Through four ‘telling cases’, the article explores how four Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, orient towards mother tongues, Indigenous and national minority languages in their educational policies. Drawing on Ruíz’ (1984) framework of orientations in language planning, we investigate the following question: In what ways are mother tongues framed as rights, resources, or problems in four telling cases of educational policy in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden? The analysis of the telling cases shows that although all four countries provide various forms of mother tongue education, thus apparently aligning with the intentions in the Declaration of a Nordic Language Policy, there are important differences between the provisions. Nevertheless, across the four countries, the official national languages are placed at the top of a language ideological hierarchy. The official national languages are followed by national minority languages as mother tongues. These languages are awarded rights but are not considered resources for the whole population (e.g., Ruíz, 1984). The Danish telling case inserts a supranational layer in the hierarchy, namely mother tongues with status as official languages in the European Union. The hierarchy of mother tongues thus reflects how some types of mother tongues are more readily granted rights and considered to be resources than others.

Preserving indigenous minority languages through community radio in development programmes in Malawi

This study explores the extent to which two community radio stations have transcended the social development agenda and contributed to facilitating retention of indigenous cultures in the locality where they operate. In Malawi, community radio stations established and funded by international development aid agencies have become a powerful and effective tool for empowering marginalised societies in rural areas. Radio in this context acts as a medium for social mobilisation, facilitating the interface between communities and duty bearers on community social development issues. Specifically, local indigenous languages are used to ease communication challenges and increase effective public participation in local programmes that are often aired on community radio stations. Using ethnolinguistic vitality and development media as frameworks, the study analysed data on the use of broadcasting as a tool for community empowerment, education, information sharing and awareness. The findings establish that apart from amplifying indigenous voices on issues that matter to their communities, the community radio stations through social development programmes have also influenced the preservation of different cultural attributes, including languages. Thus, the article concludes that the programmes in local languages have improved the people's capacity to claim their rights and has enabled access to essential information for widespread understanding and cultural continuity.

Investigating the importance of interpreting services to improve patient care and access to health services for Aboriginal Australians, Indigenous global populations and minority language speakers

ABSTRACT English is not the first language for many Indigenous peoples, including Aboriginal Australians, and other minority groups. In Australia and many countries globally, health services are primarily delivered in English. Equity in health care can only be achieved if individuals are proficient in a language that they can understand. Interpreting services improves patient outcomes for minority language speakers. A comprehensive thematic analysis was used to identify key themes. When interpreter services were provided, patient care was improved for minority populations. The use of interpreters by Aboriginal Australians and the Aboriginal ‘voice’ in health care were missing. Language barriers are a major problem for minority language speakers in accessing health care, and inequitable treatment based on cultural, racial or ethnicity is common. In Australia, interpreter services for Aboriginal Australians in health care are under-utilised, and in many circumstances are unavailable. There is a severe lack of qualified interpreters globally in health care, particularly Aboriginal language interpreters, and there is a need for cultural competency training and cultural resources in health care settings. More Aboriginal interpreters are needed to provide a cultural lens and ‘two-way interpreting’ for Aboriginal Australians.

Motion Events in L1 and L2 Mapudungun Narratives: Typology and Cross-Linguistic Influence

We compare the motion lexicalization patterns produced by L1 and L2 speakers of Mapudungun, an indigenous minority language spoken in Chile and Argentina. According to previous descriptions, the patterns of motion expression in Mapudungun have some characteristics of an equipollently-framed language, which contrast with the usual motion expression in Spanish. The data comprise oral narratives of the picture storybook “Frog, where are you?”, collected from 10 Mapudungun native speakers and 9 Spanish native speakers who are late bilinguals of Mapudungun. We report the general results (comparison of total clauses, translational clauses, types, and tokens) and analyze three general conflation patterns: the encoding of the semantic components of Path and Manner, the conflation of various components into serial verb constructions, and the encoding of Ground. The results show that L2 speakers encoded a significantly lower proportion of Manner verbs and a higher proportion of Path verbs than L1 speakers, used a significantly less diverse inventory of Path and Manner verb types, a significantly lower number of motion serial verb constructions, and a significantly higher number of plus-Ground clauses than L1 speakers, suggesting cross-linguistic influence from Spanish.

Implementation of multilingual mother tongue education in Cambodian public schools for indigenous ethnic minority students

Abstract In this qualitative interpretive policy analysis case study, we examine the Cambodian government’s adoption and expansion of a Multilingual Education (MLE) program for speakers of different indigenous ethnic minority languages across five Northeastern provinces. Data include MLE policy documents and curriculum, observations in MLE schools, and interviews and focus groups with NGO staff, government officials, MLE Core Trainers, local MLE teachers, and school board members. We also analyze the nature of Khmer and indigenous language use and the nature of teaching and learning in the MLE schools and classrooms. Findings reveal significant success in establishing new schools and programs, expanding access to nearly 5,000 indigenous students, but also identify a number of challenges related to the governments’ capacity to further develop and expand MLE, with continual reliance on NGOs for technical and other support. Analyses of classroom observation data provide evidence of fidelity to the MLE model and curriculum, effective teaching and learning, and highly engaged teachers and students.

Where Are the Goalposts? Generational Change in the Use of Grammatical Gender in Irish

The Irish language is an indigenous minority language undergoing accelerated convergence with English against a backdrop of declining intergenerational transmission, universal bilingualism, and exposure to large numbers of L2 speakers. Recent studies indicate that the interaction of complex morphosyntax and variable levels of consistent input result in some aspects of Irish grammar having a long trajectory of acquisition or not being fully acquired. Indeed, for the small group of children who are L1 speakers of Irish, identifying which “end point” of this trajectory is appropriate against which to assess these children’s acquisition of Irish is difficult. In this study, data were collected from 135 proficient adult speakers and 306 children (aged 6–13 years) living in Irish-speaking (Gaeltacht) communities, using specially designed measures of grammatical gender. The results show that both quality and quantity of input appear to impact on acquisition of this aspect of Irish morphosyntax: even the children acquiring Irish in homes where Irish is the dominant language showed poor performance on tests of grammatical gender marking, and the adult performance on these tests indicate that children in Irish-speaking communities are likely to be exposed to input showing significant grammatical variability in Irish gender marking. The implications of these results will be discussed in terms of language convergence, and the need for intensive support for mother-tongue speakers of Irish.

REVITALIZING SAAMI THROUGH EDUCATION IN FINLAND

The article deals with the institutional aspects of how indigenous minority languages are taught in Finland, with particular attention to sustainability and revitalization issues among the Saami minority. The source material for the research project was obtained during field work organized by the International Research Group on Bilingual Education of the Faculty of Central European Studies at Constantine the Philosopher University (Nitra, Slovakia), conducted in Finland in 2019. The aim of the expedition was to study strategies for revitalizing the Saami language in Finland in the context of code switching. The authors of the article want to highlight how legal regulation can take into account educational problems that arise in different situations. In Finland, on a legislative basis, two languages (Finnish and Swedish) are taught, so all citizens, regardless of nationality, learn both of them. The law guarantees access to Saami education, i.e. it is optional for everyone. The education system offers opportunities for learning the Saami language in preschool educational institutions, in general education schools, as well as for individual groups, adult citizens. At the same time, the authors emphasize the fact that although state regulation centralizes education in the European Union, and in particular in Finland, the revitalization program of minority languages is still being successfully implemented, mostly due to the fact that program coordinators take into account the diversity and variety of cases and, as a result, adopt certain normative acts to solve different situations. Only society, political decision-makers, self-operating and self-conscious civil activity can help developing a successful national education system where bilingualism is reachable for minorities with significantly different backgrounds.

Reduplication in Abui: A case of pattern extension

This paper studies the effect of ongoing contact on the Abui reduplication system. Abui, a Papuan indigenous minority language of eastern Indonesia, has been in contact with the regional lingua franca, Alor Malay (Austronesian), for around 50–60 years. Throughout this period, contact with Alor Malay has affected different age groups in different ways across various levels of grammar. Here we compare Abui reduplication across four age groups: (pre)adolescents, young adults, adults, and elders, and show how the function and distribution of reduplication in the Abui spoken by younger speakers is affected by a combination of morphological PAT borrowing and lexical borrowing from Alor Malay. The changing patterns are first applied to the domain in which the two languages overlap: existing Abui verb reduplications become more Alor Malay-like with respect to their function, form, and productivity. The borrowing of an additional function of reduplication is analyzed as a type of complexification in Abui, while at the same time, Abui reduplication itself is demonstrated to also show simplification in terms of form. We argue that this change is induced by decades of stable bilingualism, and is further enhanced by the fact that reduplication is a universal morphological operation and can emerge spontaneously in language contact situations. Thus, the emerging trends reported here are explained by both borrowing from Alor Malay as well as incomplete acquisition of Abui.

The Role of Community Radio in Promotion of Indigenous Minority Languages and Cultures in Malawi

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the role of community radio broadcasting in promoting indigenous minority languages and cultures in selected parts of Malawi. The study collected empirical data from two community radio stations and their surrounding populations. Using the theories of ethnolinguistic vitality and globalization, the study reveals that recent establishment of community radio stations, centered on local community development, has created opportunity for promotion of languages and cultures, as practiced by minorities in local areas surrounding the radio stations. Thus, the use of minority languages simplifies the understanding of information and encourages the participation of speakers who might otherwise be excluded due to language difficulties.

Identifying agents of change: Simplification of possessive marking in Abui-Malay bilinguals

This paper investigates variation in possessive marking in Abui, a language spoken in a minority bilingual community in eastern Indonesia. Abui youngsters grow up acquiring both Abui (Papuan) and Alor Malay (Austronesian), but only become active speakers of Abui when they reach adolescence. Due to this delay, their Abui is expected to show signs of both imperfect acquisition and contact-induced effects. This language background makes them an interesting population on which to carry out a cross-sectional study on contact-induced variation. Abui distinguishes between a reflexive and non-reflexive possessive marker, while Alor Malay makes no such distinction. Combining methods from descriptive linguistics, bilingualism research, and variationist sociolinguistics, and using both a production and a comprehension task, we study the variation between four age-groups of Abui-Malay bilinguals: (pre-)adolescents, young adults, adults, and elders. Our results reveal that (pre-)adolescent males are the drivers of variation, and generalize the non-reflexive possessive marker to reflexive environments. This suggests that over the next decades the reflexive possessive prefix may be lost in Abui. This paper is a direct answer to a call by Ross (2013) to conduct in-depth variationist studies to establish more synchronically informed approaches to the study of language contact. In addition, by combining production and comprehension studies and applying them to an indigenous minority language, it expands the empirical support for a prominent hypothesis of bilingual processing: the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (Prévost & White 2000b).

Language policy and language planning in mainland Southeast Asia: Myanmar and Lisu

Abstract Most nations in mainland Southeast Asia and elsewhere have one national language as a focus of national identity and unity, supported by a language policy which promotes and develops this language. Indigenous and immigrant minority groups within each nation may be marginalized; their languages may become endangered. Some of the official national language policies and ethnic policies of mainland Southeast Asian nations aim to support both a national language and indigenous minority languages, but usually the real policy is less positive. It is possible to use sociolinguistic and educational strategies to maintain the linguistic heritage and diversity of a nation, develop bilingual skills among minority groups, and integrate minorities successfully into the nations where they live, but this requires commitment and effort from the minorities themselves and from government and other authorities. The main focus of this paper is two case studies: one of language policy and planning in Myanmar, whose language policy and planning has rarely been discussed before. The other is on the Lisu, a minority group in Myanmar and surrounding countries, who have been relatively successful in maintaining their language.

Intelligent Computer Assisted Language Learning (ICALL) fornêhiyawêwin: An In-Depth User-Experience Evaluation

Intelligent computer assisted language learning (ICALL) applications for Indigenous languages are a relatively new avenue for computer assisted language learning (CALL). CALL allows language learners to practise a wide range of grammatical exercises and receive feedback on their answers outside of class time. ICALL is essential for dynamically producing these exercises for polysynthetic Indigenous languages with complex morphology. To better understand user perceptions and behaviours within an ICALL setting, an in-depth user evaluation of nêhiyawêtân (a university-level ICALL application for Plains Cree) was initiated. Five second language learners of Plains Cree were recorded using nêhiyawêtân as they completed various grammatical exercises. They were encouraged to report their opinions, thoughts, and observations aloud. Subsequently, observed user reactions and strategies were recorded. This supplied us with potential user errors, strategies, and preferences that allowed us to improve answer feedback and the design and interface of the exercise templates. Moreover, the results of surveys and observations highlighted sociocultural issues that are not seen in mainstream CALL for majority languages. We hope that this evaluation will serve as a guideline for evaluating future ICALL programs for Indigenous and other minority languages.

Language vitality: Theorizing language loss, shift, and reclamation (Response to Mufwene)

Salikoko Mufwene’s (2017) ‘Language vitality’ ranges across many topics related to language endangerment and loss (LEL). In this response, I agree that linguists do need a theory of the reasons LEL occurs, if we are to be effective in aiding communities with language maintenance and revitalization. I argue that there is an existing, important literature on language loss and language revitalization and reclamation. Finally, I argue that there is good reason to believe that indigenous minority language endangerment is worth considering as a distinct category of LEL.

Towards a Liberation Theology of Indigenous Minority Language Groups: A Case Study on the Welsh Language

The status of indigenous minority language groups in Europe has been underresearched in theology and religious studies. In the United Kingdom alone, besides English, there are at least ten languages that are indigenous to these islands and many who use those languages see all that is associated with their linguistic identity under threat: music, arts and literature; communities; ways of thinking; ways of being in the world. This article focuses on Welsh language users in particular as both a minority and oppressed group in the United Kingdom. Along with a concern for other experiences of oppression, this paper argues that the experiences of minority language groups need to be taken seriously by scholars of religion and theology and invites contributions from our disciplines to debates about the place and status of minority language groups. To that end, this paper begins to map the contours of a liberation theology of the Welsh language.

Can Liberalism Incorporate Group Human Rights?

The protection of indigenous peoples and minority languages, as well as the guarantee of outreach to disadvantaged groups, can be considered using the language of human rights – specifically, group human rights. Liberalism is the view that individuals’ freedoms ought to be protected against the competing interests of other entities. From a liberal point of view, a number of challenges to the idea of group rights present themselves. Against these, I will argue that it makes more sense for a coherent liberalism to incorporate group rights than to deny them. I aim to achieve this in two main argumentative steps: by establishing the link between groups, identity and human dignity, and by borrowing the phrase ‘standard threat to human dignity’ (Donnelly 2013: 49) to identify groups that can bear group rights – whose protection is necessary to safeguard the dignity that, arguably, is the very thing that provides the foundation for any human rights claims in the first place. In Part 1, I set out the liberal view. In Part 2, I make my first main argumentative move by identifying a powerful relation between groups and human dignity through the idea of identity. In Part 3, I examine the objection that, even accepting the value of certain groups, group rights can be reduced to individual rights, or that group rights pose too great a danger to individuals and their liberties to go any further with the idea. I respond that, were liberalism to accept either of these objections, it would leave important work undone. In Part 4, once the possibility of group rights has been established, I examine their place in relation to other rights. The important question is not the ontological ‘what is a group?’ but the normative question, ‘what kind of group has the moral weight to be entitled to group rights?’ I make my second main argumentative move by suggesting a ‘standard threat to human dignity’ (Donnelly 2013: 49) condition that answers the normative question: what is at stake is the protection of the groups that, as established in Part 2, are an indispensable part of the identity and human dignity that grounds human rights claims in the first place. This discussion leads to an answer to the more basic question about the moral status of groups. In Part 5, I conclude that it makes more sense for a coherent liberalism to incorporate group rights than to deny them.

Indigenous minorities of Siberia and Russian sociolinguistics of the 1920s: A life apart?

ABSTRACTIn the 1920s, two strong intellectual trends were simultaneously developing in Russia: the studies of languages and cultures of the indigenous population of Siberia and the Far North (led by Vladimir Bogoras, Leo Shternberg, and others), and sociolinguistic studies (led by Evgeniy Polivanov, Afanasiy Selischev, Rosaliya Shor, and others). Sociolinguistics as a new and fashionable branch of knowledge included many topics (sociolinguistic theory, social dialectology, influence of rapid social changes on language), but there never were attempts to study sociolinguistically the languages of indigenous “Northern” minorities. In 1929 Roman Jakobson and Nikolai Trubetskoy, who by that time were both living abroad, launched a project called “Languages of the USSR.” The project could have united the two trends, but it was soon terminated because of the Great Depression in the West and a sharp turn in Stalin's policy in 1929 when many Russian scholars were prosecuted, academia became split in a fight over who represented “the true Marxism”, and international collaboration became dangerous for Russian scholars. Another reason for the lack of interest in sociolinguistic studies of indigenous minority languages was the evolutionist paradigm of Siberianist cultural anthropology of the time. As a result, the Soviet language planning for Northern indigenous minority languages in the1930s and later did not sufficiently take into account the sociolinguistic aspect of the problem; this may be responsible for its many failures and inconsistencies.

Semiotics of pride and profit: interrogating commodification in indigenous handicraft production

This study investigates the shifting terrain of pride, profit and power relations in minority language communities under contemporary globalisation. While “pride” associates linguistic-cultural heritage with identity and preservation, “profit” views these as sources of economic gain. In contemporary late capitalism, “pride” seems to be increasingly giving way to “profit”. Arguing that this transformation needs to be interrogated in terms of complexity and that a detailed, multilayered semiotic analysis can open a privileged window for such an inquiry, this study combines critical multimodal discourse analysis and an ethnographic approach to analyse processes of semiotic commodification in handicraft production in the indigenous minority language community of the Sámi in northern Lapland. The investigation focuses on the activities of an innovative Sámi artist and entrepreneur, and within these a range of paper notebooks, which are, although designed by the Sámi artist and sold in her handicraft shop in Lapland, produced by women living at the border of Thailand and Laos. The investigation illuminates two critical shifts: how the move towards profit can open up space to contest the ownership of pride within an ethnic community. Second, how this move makes way for new, globalised modes of production of ‘indigenous handicrafts’ and creates global vectors of power, engaged in both empowerment and exploitation, in the production of both pride and profit. The study thereby contributes to the understanding of the increasingly complex power relations and the ambivalence and multiple effects of practices constituting the apparent shift from “pride” to “profit”.