Language Ecology Research Articles

Metaphors of language: the Vepsian ecology challenges an international paradigm

At present Veps, a Finno-Ugric minority in north-western Russia, live in three different administrative regions, i.e., the Republic of Karelia, and the Leningrad and Vologda Oblasts. Due to several socio-economic and political factors Veps have experienced a drastic change in their communicative practices and ways of speaking in the last century. Indeed, Vepsian heritage language is now classified as severely endangered by UNESCO. Since perestroika a group of Vepsian activists working in Petrozavodsk (Republic of Karelia) has been promoting Vepsian language and culture. This paper aims to challenge an international rhetoric around language endangerment and language death through an analysis of Vepsian language ecology and revitalisation. Vepsian ontologies and communicative practices do not always match detached metaphors of language, which view them as separate entities and often in competition with each other. The efforts to promote the language and how these are discussed among the policy-makers and Vepsian activists also do not concur with such a drastic terminology as death and endangerment. Therefore, this paper aims to bring to the surface local ontologies and worldviews in order to query the paradigms around language shift and language death that dominate worldwide academic and political discourse.

Improving Upon Nature: The Rhetorical Ecology of Chemical Language, Reproductive Endocrinology, and the Medicalization of Infertility

Chemical theories of human fertility and reproduction first became prevalent in both technical and mainstream media outlets beginning in the 1930s and 1940s, and they have remained prevalent to this day. In this essay, I analyze a selection of primary sources from this era that defined human fertility as a chemically induced process, rather than, for instance, a characteristic related to the conservation of nervous energy or to moral physiology. The resulting rhetorical history demonstrates the ways in which this chemical rhetoric was appropriated to re-envision sex, gender, and reproductive health in light of appeals to biochemical variability, artificiality, and technical expertise. Tracing these appeals sheds light on the rhetorical ecology that supported the widespread medicalization of (in)fertility and demonstrates how public vocabularies of science and medicine are constituted as they move across and interact with broader social discourses.

WimVandenbussche, ErnstHåkon Jahr and PeterTrudgill (eds.). Language Ecology for the 21st Century: Linguistic Conflicts and Social Environments. Oslo, Norway: Novus Press. 2013. 342 pp. Hb (9788270997480) US$65.00.

Journal of SociolinguisticsVolume 19, Issue 2 p. 257-260 Book Review Wim Vandenbussche, Ernst Håkon Jahr and Peter Trudgill (eds.). Language Ecology for the 21st Century: Linguistic Conflicts and Social Environments. Oslo, Norway: Novus Press. 2013. 342 pp. Hb (9788270997480) US$65.00. Umberto Ansaldo, Umberto Ansaldo ansaldo@hku.hk Department of Linguistics, School of Humanities The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong KongSearch for more papers by this author Umberto Ansaldo, Umberto Ansaldo ansaldo@hku.hk Department of Linguistics, School of Humanities The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong KongSearch for more papers by this author First published: 19 May 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12114Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume19, Issue2April 2015Pages 257-260 RelatedInformation

David Cassels Johnson: Language Policy

Language Policy by David Cassels Johnson is a comprehensive review of the history, theories, and methods in the field of language policy and planning (LPP) research. The book is divided into four parts, which are reflected in the organization of this review. The clear division of topic chapters and a detailed table of contents make the book a convenient reference for LPP concepts, methods, and theories, and it is likely to be particularly appealing to graduate students or other researchers who are new to the field. Additionally, those who are looking for new ways to approach LPP research in educational spaces will find many of the examples of literature discussed particularly useful. Part I. Laying the groundwork: definitions, theories, and concepts. Chapter 1 is dedicated to definitions of language policy. Johnson begins by asking, ‘What is language policy?’ (p. 3), which is a question that elicits a variety of responses, particularly in regard to the distinction between language policy and language planning. Johnson includes a review of five LPP definitions offered by Kaplan and Baldauf, Schiffman, Spolsky, McCarty, and Tollefson. He draws on these definitions to provide his own: ‘a language policy is a policy mechanism that impacts the structure, function, use, or acquisition of language …’ (p. 9). Johnson then asks, as have other scholars, ‘What isn’t language policy?’ (p. 9), alluding to the notion that almost anything can be viewed through an LPP lens, from explicit language policy documents to micro-level de facto language policy practices. Johnson explains the multi-tiered complexity of LPP research by reviewing different types of language policies—presented as dichotomies such as ‘top down’ vs. ‘bottom up’—that, he states, ‘are often used in the literature, but less often defined’ (p. 24). An in-depth discussion of three examples of language policy initiatives (English language policies, Indigenous languages and policy, and oil production and language policy in Equatorial Guinea) provides a context in which readers can begin to situate the larger discussion of LPP. In Chapter 2, Johnson discusses the origins of LPP research and introduces early developments of the field through the work of Haugen, Kloss, Cooper, and Rubin. He also summarizes theories, concepts, and frameworks that have been proposed throughout LPP research, including critical language policy, ethnography of language policy, reversing language shift, linguistic imperialism, ecology of language, and educational language policy. Johnson defines each of these and describes how they emerged in the field, reiterating that there is no one overarching theory for LPP.

National language policy theory: exploring Spolsky’s model in the case of Iceland

Language policies are born amidst the complex interplay of social, cultural, religious and political forces. With this in mind, Bernard Spolsky theorises that the language policy of any independent nation is driven, at its core, by four co-occurring conditions—national ideology, English in the globalisation process, a nation’s attendant sociolinguistic situation, and the internationally growing interest in the linguistic rights of minorities. He calls for this theory to be tested (Spolsky in Language policy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004). This paper accepts the invitation by firstly considering the contributions and limitations of Spolsky’s theory vis-a-vis other contemporary research approaches and then applies the theory to the case of Iceland. Iceland is a dynamic locus for this purpose, given its remarkable monodialectism, fervent linguistic purism and protectionism, and history of overwhelming homogeneity. The study finds that all Spolsky’s factors have in some way driven Icelandic language policy, except in issues of linguistic minority rights. Instead, Icelandic language policy discourse reveals a self-reflexive interest in minority rights whereby Icelandic is discursively positioned as needing protection in the global language ecology. Accordingly, the paper examines how Spolsky’s theory may be refined to account for non-rights-based approaches to national language policies.

The Problem of Studying Neologisms and Their Influence on the Ecology of Language

Abstract. The article raises the issues of neology and ecolinguistics. The authors specifythe criteria of ecolinguistic approach to studying neologisms based on ecolinguistic monitoringwhich helps to elicit factors that influence the formation of new words, spheres in which theyfunction in language as well as to define the type of new words and number of loanwordsamong them. The data under analysis is compiled by about 3000 new words that appeared inEnglish and Dutch in the last three decades. The authors elicit the main changes in the ecologyof the Dutch language on different levels in the stated time frame together with the factorsthat motivate the formation of neologisms. Among extralinguistic factors the authors list suchdeterminants as the emergence of new realia; scientific and technical advancement;globalization and development of the Internet. To intralinguistic factors the following arereferred: linguistic economy; expressiveness of linguistic means; systematization of thevocabulary; unification of linguistic signs; conversion and the shift in stylistic usage of thewords can also generate neologisms. Future development of the ecolinguistic approach inneology will help to track the evolution of modern national language and preserve its ecolinguisticbalance. The research results can be used in language education, lexicographic practice orstate language policy.Key words: neologism, ecolinguistic approach, ecolinguistic monitoring, loanword,language ecology.Language is known for its constantdevelopment with lexis being its most mobile level.Every generation gives life to new words derivedfrom the current reality. The electronic revolutionin the second half of the twentieth century causedthe scientific and technical progress to speed up,and these processes were immediately reflectedin language. Every year lexicographers registerhundreds of new words. According to the surveycarried out by Global Language Monitor, theEnglish language obtains a new word every98minutes [8, p. 34].The analysis of different linguists’ viewpointsconcerning the phenomenon of neologism showed

Teacher and Student Language Practices and Ideologies in a Third-Grade Two-Way Dual Language Program Implementation

This article provides an in-depth exploration of the language ecologies of two classrooms attempting to implement a two-way dual language (TWDL) program and its mediating conditions. Drawing on ethnographic methods and a sociocultural understanding of language, we examined both teachers’ and students’ language ideologies and language practices, including the use of Spanish, English, and code-switching. The English language arts teacher adhered to strict language separation as dictated by the TWDL model, while the Spanish language arts teacher instructed in both English and Spanish to accommodate standardized test preparation. Students enacted agency to engage in their hybrid language practices. Despite the multiplicity and, at times, contradictory ideologies embodied and articulated by both teachers, the overarching dominant language ideology of English superiority was present and powerful. We discuss implications for dual language implementation, including the role of standardized testing, students as language policy makers, and teacher (mis)alignment between articulated and embodied ideologies.

Манипулирование в политическом дискурсе (на материале текстов общественно-политической тематики)

Lobas P.P. (Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation) In this paper an attempt is made to consider manipulation in political discourse, based on the material texts socio-political themes on the basis of the three aspects of the language - semantics, syntactic and pragmatic - taking into account that the pragmatist is exactly what changes when the reception of the manipulation becomes socially productive. Key words : manipulation, persuasion, political discourse, ecology of language, rhetoric. DOI: 10.18522/1995-0640-2015-4-90-98

Linguistic barriers among Internationally Educated Teachers in Ireland and Canada

Drawing on qualitative interview and focus group data collected from Internationally Educated Teachers (IETs) in the context of two different research studies conducted in Ireland and Manitoba, Canada, this article critically examines how national/regional linguistic requirements and expectations of a hidden curriculum are experienced as barriers to employment and as status inhibitors. While the two sites contrast starkly in terms of size, migration frameworks, and population demographics, some IETs are faced with comparable barriers in terms of securing work in their field in both countries. We make two main arguments on the basis of our findings: 1) language proficiency requirements for IETs should be accompanied by appropriate language supports, and 2) education systems must move beyond viewing language within a monolingual framework to avoid devaluing the rich linguistic repertoires of IETs who are multilingual. Analysis draws on the concept of plurilingualism to advocate for a more complex and inclusive approach to defining linguistic competence for teachers. Further, the theoretical lens of language ecology usefully emphasises the wider linguistic context that should be taken into account when designing and implementing policy and programming for IETs. Implications of this research illuminate the ways power and linguistic identity intersect in international education systems.

A Pedagogical Framework for Web-Based Autonomous English Learning in Chinese Context from the Perspective of Eco-Constructivism

The application of on web-based autonomous English learning (WAEL) in China has shown serious problems in recent years. Combining language ecology theory and constructivism, this paper proposes a pedagogical framework guided by eco-constructivism. It then gives advice from perspectives of curriculum design, its operation and evaluation, and shares the successful experience of learning community construction and formative evaluation operation in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. The writer hopes that this research will shed light on the construction of a sustainable development of WAEL in China and e-teaching in context worldwide.

Re-envisioning Heritage Language Education: A Study of Middle School Students Learning Mandarin Chinese

This article takes a language ecology perspective on the interdependence of multiple Chinese languages in the heritage communities and classrooms of middle-school students. We describe how these students struggle with Mandarin as an imposed identity and consider productive classroom exercises of linguistic rescaling that help them to critically examine the diversity of Chinese languages. This study addresses the dearth of critical examination of non-Mandarin Chinese heritage students’ lived experiences by showing interactions in which they actively engage in disrupting and dismantling conventional notions of “Chinese”.

“Love” the Local, “Use” the National, “Study” the Foreign: ShiftingJavanese Language Ecologies in (Post‐)Modernity, Postcoloniality, and Globalization

Indonesian state development policies have shaped definitions of language, meanings conveyed through language, and access to language forms through deliberate policy actions that pervade public, and increasingly, private life. Modern language ideologies that are part and parcel of national development have informed these policies and informed educated youths' understandings and rationalizations of their linguistic competencies. In this paperIexplore how macro‐level language policies informed by modern language ideologies and micro‐level influences in the form of peer pressure and adult shaming encourage shift toward the national language,Indonesian, and away fromJavanese. State policies advising citizens to “love” their local languages, but “use” their one national language, Indonesian, work together with micro‐level social interactions to nudge language shift in the direction of an increasingly monolingual, Indonesian‐speaking populace.

English and the linguistic ecology of Malaysia

ABSTRACTThe Southeast Asian region is undergoing rapid social, economic and cultural change brought about by movements of capital, people and ideas within and beyond the region. The dynamics of independence, nation‐building and globalization have had an impact on most of the nation‐states in the region, many of which attained independence only in the second half of the 20th century. This paper focuses on the development of Malaysia's language ecology within the context of nation‐building, its embedding in the Southeast Asian region, and the global challenges it seeks to meet. Malaysia's languages are an essential component of the nation's ability to communicate internally in a multilingual country and externally to the region and the world. The interplay of English with Malay and other languages, and the tensions that arise and call for responses in education and other domains like the law in the wider multilingual situation are also discussed.

Issues of identity and African unity surrounding the introduction of an exogenous African language, Swahili, at tertiary level in South Africa

This paper reports on a study that examines the attitudes of university students and immigrants to the introduction of Swahili at a tertiary institution in South Africa. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey and interviews with questions that covered the domains in which Swahili could be most useful, who should learn it and the reasons why they should learn it. The data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively within a theoretical framework which drew on theories of identity, multilingualism, migration and language ecology. The findings were categorised in terms of the main themes emerging from the analysis, including intercultural communication, African unification and Swahili as a lingua franca. The attitudes of the immigrant sector were then compared to those of the South African students and the informal sector. Although there was consensus on the viability of Swahili in South Africa, the two groups differed in the emphases they placed on the various themes. The immigrants favoured the learning of Swahili within the South African context, for the promotion of intercultural communication which would facilitate their integration into the community, and for African unification. The South African respondents saw value in learning it for travelling beyond the borders of South Africa. The study concludes with a consideration of the implications of such findings for promoting the learning and teaching of Swahili as an additional language in the South African context.

Defining “Ecolinguistics?”: Challenging emic issues in an evolving environmental discipline

Ecolinguistics is an emerging field of study within the social sciences, with implications for all domains of knowledge production. From its initial emergence within the field of linguistics in the early 1990s, it has meant different things to different scholars, so to date lacks a coherent self definition. Some scholars interpret ecolinguistics to mean the iterative interaction between human discourses and the natural world; others view it as the study of the ecology of language; while others suggest it deals with declining linguistic diversity, broadly. Dr. Arran Stibbe, the convener of the Language and Ecology Forum, generated an informal, 10-year retrospective survey in December 2012 and January 2013, with the goal of the survey to help generate emic conceptions of what ecolinguistics means to various scholars engaged in ecolinguistics. This article summarizes the findings of this survey, while also giving a brief overview of the history of ecolinguistics. It is argued by the author that ecolinguistics represents an emergent, leading edge of the “Ecological Turn” for the past 40 years in academia, and that the insights and methods of ecolinguistics are an underappreciated and underutilized approach to studying human-nature interactions. It is also argued that it would be helpful to both non-specialists and ecolinguists, if in the coming years the field converges around a consensus of ideas that help to provide it with theoretical stability and methodological clarity so ecolinguistics can be better utilized by those working in the AESS.

Assessment on language rights in education domain: shift-oriented, maintenance-oriented or something else?

There is a trend towards the shift of the Uyghur language as the language of instruction in schools in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. This article presents several examples of such a shift first and then it reviews the concept of language rights (LR) and applies them to the current situation of the Uyghur language in education domain. After that it presents and discusses some reasons to address a pressing concern of the LRs in Xinjiang in accordance with China's domestic conventions as well as with some international conventions. In the end, it introduces the concept of language ecology on the basis of legally binding LRs as an ideal outlet for the Uyghur language in Xinjiang.

Dialogue between ELF and the field of language policy and planning

Abstract This paper explores the relevance of concepts and methods of language planning and policy for ELF researchers and teachers. As the global communication environment consolidates through globalisation of systems, such as publishing and education credentialing, the topics chosen for research and even some practices in teaching can be seen as forms of intervention which influence form, usage, and status of languages and language varieties. The escalating role of English in the public life of more and more countries raises questions of the overall language ecology (how English interacts with other languages in existing and future communication environments). By fostering dialogue with the conceptual categories and methods of language planning, ELF scholars and practitioners can sharpen their focus on how institutional and publishing gatekeepers operate and foster an expanded sense of what English as an international language can mean, in the interests of encouraging a more democratised global communication order.

The ecology of language in classrooms at a university in eastern Ukraine

Using an ecology of language framework, the purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which English as a medium of instruction (EMI) at a private university in eastern Ukraine allows for the use of Ukrainian, the state language, or Russian, the predominantly spoken language, in large cities in eastern Ukraine. Uses of English and Russian or Ukrainian were documented over nine months in the form of ethnographic field notes, audio recording, and video recording. Semi-structured interviews and informal conversations captured student and teacher attitudes towards English and Russian or Ukrainian use. Similar to practices in observed English as a foreign language classes at the same university, the authors found multiple pedagogical purposes for using the predominant native language (L1), Russian. Teachers and students consider the use of the L1 in the classroom to be a natural function of the need for comprehension. Ukrainian appeared in a limited form, but in ways that indexed its position as a national language. Attitudes towards Ukrainian also supported the ideology of Ukrainian's position as a state language.

Brief Introduction to <i>Language Ecology and Language Instruction</i>

Ecology of Language and Language Instruction written by Okazaki Toshio, the professor of Tsukuba University Japan expounds the questions that young people confronted with in the globalization context and the questions in language instruction (foreign language teaching) in a perspective of ecology of language, and proposes to take an Content-Based Instruction for language class so as to develop the learners’ ecology literacy while training their proficiency in language, and to help the learners to take their paths of sustainable development for their lives. This paper intends to introduce this book to Chinese readers so that the Chinese scholars put emphasis on Ecology of Language and Language Instruction.

Taming Tyrannosaurus rex: English use in the research and publication practices of humanities scholars in Sweden

AbstractWe investigate the current position of English in the language ecology of Swedish academia, with a special focus on the humanities. Semi-structured interviews with 15 informants from the fields of Anthropology, General Linguistics and History were carried out to explore how non-native speakers of English experience using academic English in their research. In contrast to other recent findings, our study shows that while some differences along disciplinary lines emerged, on the whole, English does not pose a significant challenge for scholars when writing for publication. Furthermore, our informants do not perceive themselves to be disadvantaged by their non-native status. The study casts some doubt on Swales’ well-known dinosaur metaphor; while English does indeed dominate in the sphere of international publication in terms of production, multilingual research practices are evident within the research and publication process.