Language Groups Research Articles

Language Matters: Comparisons of Concussion Assessments Among English- and Spanish-Speaking Middle School Athletes.

The Child Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, fifth edition (Child SCAT5), is among the most widely used international pediatric concussion evaluation tools. However, the tool's English-only aspect may limit its use for patients who speak different languages. Prior researchers have suggested one's preferred language (ie, home language) could be associated with concussion assessments in adults, yet how this might affect pediatric athletes is not well understood. To compare baseline Child SCAT5 assessment outcomes between middle school athletes whose home language was Spanish and matched control athletes whose home language was English. Case-control study. Middle school athletics. Athletes self-reported their home language (ie, language spoken at home). Those indicating their home language was Spanish were individually matched to athletes who spoke English at home on age, sex, sport, school, and pertinent comorbidities (eg, concussion history). The final sample consisted of 144 athletes (Spanish home language = 72, English home language = 72). We used Mann-Whitney U tests to compare the Child SCAT5 component scores of the home language groups (ie, Spanish versus English). Athletes in the Spanish home language group scored lower on the Standardized Assessment of Concussion-Child version (P < .01, r = -0.25), Immediate Memory (P < .01, r = -0.45), and total modified Balance Error Scoring System scores (P < .01, r = -0.25) than the English home language group. Matched athletes whose home language was Spanish versus English scored differently on baseline Child SCAT5 assessment components. Those with the home language of Spanish scored lower on cognitive and balance tasks than those whose home language was English. These findings may serve as a rationale for the development of future concussion assessment tools to properly capture clinically relevant data regarding language differences among pediatric athletes.

Generalized multiscale finite element method for language competition modeling II: Online approach

In this paper, we consider language competition in a heterogeneous medium. The mathematical model considers bilingualism, population growth, and social pressure to use specific languages (diglossia). The transition from one language group to another is determined by probabilities that depend on status, group size, and spatial location. The model considers not only diffusive spread but also convective spread, which models seasonal migrations of speaker populations. We develop multiscale approaches for coarse grid modeling while maintaining reasonable accuracy. We present offline and online approaches based on the Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method. We consider a model problem in a heterogeneous environment to test these approaches. The results show that both approaches can significantly reduce the discrete problem’s size. However, the online approach achieves better accuracy.

A case study of family language policy in interaction with mainstream and minority language education among Mongolian families

ABSTRACT In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (henceforth IMAR) of China, children of bilingual parents are increasingly becoming monolingual in the socially dominant language – Mandarin. Mongolian language, representing the unique culture and identity of Mongolian ethnic groups, is facing a decline in usage within the family setting. This case study investigates the Family Language Policy (henceforth FLP) and its interaction with mainstream and minority language education through observations, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires with two distinct groups. Group 1 demonstrates the contemporary implementations and challenges of FLP among 5 bilingual parents and Group 2 offers the historical perspectives of 9 bilingual adults with their retrospective account of childhood language experiences. Through comparing the two groups, we identified the critical role of FLP in supporting the development of children's minority languages. We also uncovered challenges and inconsistencies that parents encountered in implementing FLP. These issues stem from a variety of factors, including economic, sociocultural, and political influences, as well as individual factors, such as expectations and language experiences from both parents and children.

Blurring the binaries of home/school in Family Language Policy

The persistence of the COVID-19-induced lockdowns resulted in increased parent-child encounters as parents worked from home while children learnt through remote platforms. This blurred the binaries of home/school as parents assumed the role of teachers by participating in children’s schooling more formally. By focusing on the role of parents as teachers in heritage language tasks, this study discusses family language ideologies and how they are infused into the teaching and learning of Ndebele, a historically minoritised and marginalised language in Zimbabwe. Data is drawn from a linguistic ethnography of a Ndebele heritage language family residing in the city of Bulawayo. Data consists of audio-recorded Ndebele language lessons and parental interviews. By drawing on the concepts of Family Language Policy and Bourdieu’s notion of ‘legitimate language’, the study exposes how children’s heritage language tasks became important aspects of family’s language transactions, contestations and negotiations. Parents build on their temporary teacher authority to assert their agency in reinforcing a Ndebele identity by endeavouring to teach Ndebele to their children through a ‘Ndebele lens’. Children’s stances towards parents’ monolingual practices and ideologies reveal their resistant agency. Their appeals for explanations and translations of some Ndebele words and expressions into English reproduce school language practices and ideologies that project English as the legitimate language. Parents’ insistence on monolingual practices and children’s language negotiations also reproduces the tensions that exist between English and indigenous languages at school and in the community at large. The study concludes that despite these tensions, these heritage language tasks present opportunities for productive language concordant parent-child encounters that reinforce children’s linguistic identities.

The nexus of Family Language Policy

Three decades of research on reversing language shift, bi- and multilingual parenting, and Family Language Policy (FLP) have demonstrated that, while parental language practices and ideologies are important factors in determining children’s language competencies and outcomes, parents do not exist in a vacuum. Family language policies are influenced by a myriad of sociohistorical and relational processes that are examined in depth in this special issue. The articles here capture the reality of the complexities of FLP by examining family-external factors such as the COVID-19 lockdown, access to digital communication, geography and community, migration histories, national language policies, and family structures among others, to explain the particular family language policies present in communities around the world (from Iran to Cyprus to Northern Ireland) and their effects on children’s language outcomes and family members’ linguistic experiences.

Parental ideologies in multilingual Family Language Policies in the Basque Autonomous Community (Spain)

The study of Family Language Policy (FLP) with a minority language has most often focused on the policies on the minority language within the framework of the hegemonic position of a majority language. This article, however, takes the view that a multilingual approach is needed to better understand parental decisions in their FLPs when a foreign language is also present in the education of their children. The data presented in this article is based on a PhD research project which studies the FLPs of Basque parents living in a mostly Spanish-speaking area of the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) and whose children attend a Basque-medium school with early introduction of English as the L3. Results show that their ideological positioning in relation to Basque, the different values attached to each of their children’s languages, as well as their ideas about multilingualism determine to a great extent their FLPs. Whilst all parents support Basque and positively value learning English, some differences have been identified: Basque is prioritised above all by the most activist parents, who establish an iron-cast hierarchy among languages; English has been found to have a clear value and function, but its place in this hierarchy varies; and in all cases, Spanish is considered to be guaranteed and not requiring special ad hoc strategies. The study confirms the ideological positioning in relation to the minority language as a key factor in minority language FLPs, but also shows the impact of ideas about multilingual upbringing in their decisions, their expectations, and the degree of satisfaction or frustration with results.

Family Language Policy and dialect maintenance in the Lithuanian diaspora

In this article, we adopt Spolsky’s Family Language Policy framework and Curdt-Christiansen’s dynamic model to explore the situation of dialect maintenance in the Lithuanian diaspora of three emigration waves. The qualitative data from in-depth interviews with representatives of all the waves or their descendants, resident in different continents, is explored to reveal the family language policy and the main factors that influence it. Different family language policies concerning dialect have been adopted by the different emigration waves for a combination of reasons, such as motives for emigration, education, language and dialect situation and language ideology in Lithuania at the time of leaving the country. The internal factors would favour dialects in situations where the dialect speakers themselves emigrate, but the external ones often have a stronger impact in the complex context of heritage language maintenance concerning passing on the language to the younger generation. This study of family language policies applied in different historical periods adds to a better understanding of the complex and dynamic reality of language maintenance in diasporic contexts.

Family Language Policy in the minority and migration contexts of Cyprus

This article investigates the Family Language Policy (FLP) of minority and immigrant families in Cyprus. The participants in our study were 30 immigrant and minority families in Cyprus with various first language (L1) backgrounds, namely, Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Romanian, English, and Arabic and minority speakers of Armenian, Lebanese, and Pontic Greek. The data were collected via written questionnaires and oral, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a focus on the FLP, cultural and linguistic identities, heritage language (HL) (incomplete) acquisition, attrition, use maintenance and transmission, linguistic interaction patterns and the material culture at home. The analysis of the data revealed that minority and immigrant speakers in Cyprus had hybrid language and cultural identities, different perceptions regarding citizenship, inclusion, and belonging, as well as the attrition, use, maintenance, and transmission of the HL, which reflected their FLPs, agency, practices, and negotiations. They attempted to assimilate into the target society but also had strong links to the community of residence, to their L1 country, and to their heritage or home language. The participants also employed hybrid language practices, as they used mixed/multiple languages both in the home and outside it. Overall, they had a positive attitude towards multilingualism in Cyprus.

Towards conceptualizing ‘demographic agency’ in Family Language Policy

This article investigates the success story of language maintenance in Arab families in Iran. Taking Fishman’s (1991) emphasis on micro face-to-face interactions in language maintenance processes as our point of departure, it argues that language maintenance requires that families live in a sociolinguistic milieu in which face-to-face interactions are facilitated by demographic patterns of settlement. Despite unfavorable institutional policies towards minority languages in Iran, the specific geographical makeup of the country has historically pushed speakers of minority languages to settle in certain regions (Katouzian, 2009). Drawing on Sealey and Carter’s (2004) concept of ‘demographic agency’, this article argues that such a demographic settlement of Arabs in southern cities and towns in Iran has given them a collective power to maintain their language, which takes the form of laissez-faire interactions in Arabic at home. The findings, based on interviews with families and recordings of interactions at home, suggest that, although parents express concern regarding their children’s academic achievement and socioeconomic mobility, which requires higher proficiency in Persian, this concern does not readily translate into language practices in Persian at home.

Family members at the epicentre of policy discourses

The articles in this thematic issue of Sociolinguistic Studies, ‘Family as a language policy regime: Agency, negotiation and local practices’, are concerned with the impact of family (language policy) among the minority population, whether indigenous or otherwise, on the sociolinguistic makeup of the contemporary policy regimes worldwide. Although family language policy is already a well-established domain of inquiry, this issue points to the wide range of cases from around the world, including Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Iran, Lithuania, Northern Ireland, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe, to understand how (individual) pathways are formed and choices made in favour of language and cultural maintenance. While covering a wide range of factors and perspectives that contribute to our understanding of families’ linguistic behaviour and the broader social implications of the discipline, these papers emphasise the complex relationships between language, culture, politics, and socioeconomic factors in today’s global multilingual and multicultural mosaic. This edition further underlines a number of present-day requirements in the field, such as being able to examine children’s or extended family members’ agency, use of digital technologies for language maintenance, different forms of parental language planning and activism to mention a few. The collection has emerged in the wake of a symposium ‘Family as a language policy regime: Agency, practices and negotiation’ at the 20th AILA World Congress (19–20 July, 2023, Lyon, France) and a closed call for papers.

Family dynamics towards heritage language maintenance

This article investigates Family Language Policy and grassroots-level practices of the heritage language speakers who are first-generation migrants of Indian background in Northern Ireland. Having been settled since the 1920s, Indians are one of the longest-established ethnic minorities in the region, representing around 0.5% of the total non-white residents. Whilst languages of migrant communities brought further complexity to the existing linguistic diversity of Northern Ireland, discussions around language policy in this geopolitical domain focus primarily on its two indigenous languages: Irish and Ulster-Scots. There is no particular policy to promote the languages of migrant communities. Drawing on ethnographic observations and two focus groups, the article analyses the language dynamics of eight Belfast-based families. It further demonstrates how these parents become policy intermediaries by monitoring their children’s heritage language learning through explicit teaching, creating a favourable literacy atmosphere at home, ensuring its use in the family through continuous policing and developing identity through constant dialogue with children about Indian culture. Although the under-the-radar participation of these parents may appear intermittently in the policy discourse, their actions can be interpreted as bottom-up language planning to contest the monopoly of the dominant language and culture in the broader community.

Family Language Policy

This commentary outlines the key contributions of the issue. Addressing various language attitudes and ideologies held by family members, the commentary highlights the major themes of the collected articles, addressing important issues in the maintenance of home languages and development of minoritised languages as well as interactions between families and the wider society. In particular, it looks into why heritage and minoritised languages are difficult to maintain and develop in multilingual contexts. The commentary emphasises how families constantly interact with broader sociocultural, sociohistorical, and sociopolitical contexts and outlines the agentive role of family members in accommodating or resisting language change. It highlights the key topics, theoretical contributions, and methodological issues in this issue.

Exploring Kawayan Dialect Lexicon (Wordlist) in Southern Negros, Philippines

The extent of lexical research has resulted in the development of word lists, which have to rely on consideration of code-glosses and their alternative words to understand their meaning and the status of these forms. This research tries to describe the Kawayan dialect lexicon from a list of 278 words that are more easily traced to the Bisayan family and appear to be Western Bisayan by utilizing and manipulating an Excel Pivot Table to trace timestamps to extract words from informants (native speakers). The research was submitted for cross-checking between coders to be reviewed and checked for validity and reliability as a protocol for verifying the accuracy of data collection from native speakers. This word list is essential in providing information about the genetic relationship of the Kawayan dialect to the Filipino language group. Additionally, digging deeper into how this research is presented and disseminated to its intended readers and scholars is productive and eye-opening. Since this is a pioneering investigation and documentation of the Kawayan dialect, although it may be annoying, at least it started as one of the distinctive features of other dialects yet to be included in the list of Filipino dialects. Researchers today urge us to explore and investigate this dialect before it disappears.

Study of the lipid status and indicators of hemostasis among young men of different ethnic groups to assess thrombogenic risk

The aim of the study was to investigate the lipid status and indicators of the system of hemostasis in healthy young men of different linguistic families of the North Caucasus region to assess the risk of development of thrombogenic states.. Material and methods. A survey of young men aged 18 to 21 years was carried out with the subsequent establishment of region of residence and nationality to form ethnic groups. Based on the information received during the survey, 62 people were selected: 32 young men of the Indo-European language family (Russians, Greeks, Armenians) and 30 young men of the North Caucasian language family (Chechens, Ingush, Avars, Dargins). The assessment of lipid status was carried out by the photocolorimetric method on a biochemical analyzer, and the analysis of indicators of the hemostasis system was carried out by the clotting method on an automatic coagulometer analyzer. Homocysteine levels were determined by chemiluminescent immunoassay on a microplate device. Genetic polymorphisms of the hemostatic system were identified using the real-time PCR. Results. Young men of the Indo-European language family have significantly more low density lipoprotein, triglyceride, homocysteine and antithrombine III content, than representatives of the North Caucasian language family (p &lt; 0.001), and less total number and average platelet volume, prothrombin index, prothrombin concentration according to Quick (p &lt; 0.001). There was also a significantly more frequent occurrence of mutations of the gene encoding fibrinase (p &lt; 0.05) in young men of the Indo-European language family. Conclusions. A comprehensive study among young men of different ethnicities illustrates ethnic differences in lipid status and homocysteine level. Analysis of the main indicators of coagulogram and genetic polymorphism of the hemostasis system allowed us to establish a higher risk of thrombogenic conditions and atherosclerosis in young men of the North Caucasian language family

Tracing sound change in Nasa Yuwe (western Colombia)

This paper is a contribution to the historical phonology of Nasa Yuwe, a presumable language isolate of southwestern Colombia. It shows how a lexical comparison with two presumably unrelated language groups can help to reconstruct a sound change of *a &gt; e in Nasa Yuwe. The two language groups compared with Nasa Yuwe in this paper are Andaqui, likewise of western Colombia, and the Misumalpan family of Central America. Whereas *a is documented as such in the Andaqui and Misumalpan forms, data discussed in this paper suggest that it has changed to e and related vowels in Nasa Yuwe.

Soft skills development in the process of teaching “Tourism” students a foreign language

Importance. Soft skills formation as a part of teaching a foreign language to students of the educational direction “Tourism” contributes to communication skills, empathy, creativity and flexibility of thinking, which are necessary in their future professional activities. The purpose of this study is: 1) analysis of the goals of teaching a foreign language and their correlation with the process of developing hard and soft skills; 2) conducting an empirical study to test the possibility of developing soft skills when teaching a foreign language; 3) identification of significant issues related to the interpretation and use of various cultural codes in communication activities. Attention is focused on the fact that behavioral stereotypes can be variably interpreted depending on which linguistic and cultural communities the communicants belong to. It is emphasized that familiarity with the cultural codes of the studied language and trainings on the development of soft skills can significantly improve the decoding and communicative abilities of students in the process of working with the material for creating advertising texts of tourist destinations and excursion programmes.Materials and Methods. The experiment is carried out at Derzhavin Tambov State University with the aim of compiling on its basis fragments of research based on the relevance of the topic, a review of scientific literature (definitions and experimental data published in this field of knowledge), selection of bibliography and results’ analysis of its experimental verification. The experiment is based on the use of foreign languages teaching methods. The criteria for selecting educational material are texts related to the popularization and advertising of tourist destinations and step-by-step training is aimed at developing soft skills within the framework of game-based educational activities.Results and Discussion. Step-by-step training has shown its success in solving a number of assigned tasks. Students become more flexible in the communication process, showing the correct reactions in accordance with the situation and the target audience, the skills of formulating and implementing communication goals are developed (in such aspects as informational, informative, normative), choosing and using established constructs within the framework of the relevant situation, analysis and synthesis of the results of the dialogue.Conclusion. Based on the results of the experiment, the conclusion is made about the significant didactic potential for soft skills formation within teaching a foreign language. The cognitive and affective aspects of student training have been identified, contributing to the soft skills development. Specific stages of work are proposed, combining various forms of presenting information, professional competence and maintaining successful dialogue with different linguistic and cultural groups in a foreign language.

The Structure of Language Units in Rootword Niches of the Kipchak Group of Turkic Languages

This paper interrogates the structure of language units in rootword niches of the Kipchak group of Turkic languages and, for this purpose, tackles several facts. Generally, scholars have not properly settled the initial structure of the root morphemes in Turkic languages, making it one of the most controversial issues in related literature. Linguists, especially Turkologists, agree that the structure of word roots in agglutinative languages is more clear and transparent than that of fusional or inflected languages. When determining the structure of word roots in the Kipchak group of Turkic languages, it is necessary to consider the semantic features of the word along with its phonological and morphonological properties, which sometimes receive no attention. After considering all scientific debates and disagreements related to this topic, the paper concludes that the development of the semantic structure of word roots in Turkic languages has been from general to specific, from abstract to concrete. We have explained the issues related to this claim using examples.

From words to pictures: Row-column combinations and Chomsky-Schützenberger theorem

The row-column combination RCC maps two (word) languages over the same alphabet onto the set of rectangular arrays, i.e., pictures, such that each row/column is a word of the first/second language. The resulting array is thus a crossword of the component words. Depending on the family of the components, different picture (2D) language families are obtained: e.g., the well-known tiling-system recognizable languages are the alphabetic projection of the crossword of local (regular) languages. We investigate the effect of the RCC operation especially when the components are context-free, also with application of an alphabetic projection. The resulting 2D families are compared with others defined in the past. The classical characterization of context-free languages, known as Chomsky-Schützenberger theorem, is extended to the crosswords in this way: the projection of a context-free crossword is equivalent to the projection of the intersection of a 2D Dyck language and the crossword of strictly locally testable language. The definition of 2D Dyck language relies on a new more flexible so-called Cartesian RCC operation on Dyck languages. The proof involves the version of the Chomsky-Schützenberger theorem that is non-erasing and uses a grammar-independent alphabet.

Historical knowledge, importance, social identity, and memory accessibility for World War I Armistice: Comparing French- and German-speaking Belgians

Conflictual relations between language groups make Belgium a fruitful ground to study the interplay between historical knowledge, importance, collective memory and social identity related to historical events. This study compared German-speaking and French-speaking Belgians on the these dimensions for a historical event for which contrasted responses were expected, the centenary of Armistice on 11 November 2018. We also focused on generational differences by comparing senior, intermediate, and junior age cohorts. Results showed no generational differences but revealed that German-speakers construct their social identity differently than French-speakers. Namely, German-speaking Belgians integrated political with non-political events in their collective memory and relied more on school as source of knowledge and nationally relevant memories. In contrast, French-speaking Belgians relied on family and friends as source of knowledge, intertwined more personally and nationally relevant memories, and showed a strong association of national identity with the importance attributed to World War I.

Multilingual dynamics: exploring English as a third language in Russian-speaking families across Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Israel, and Sweden

ABSTRACT Employing a qualitative approach for data collection and analysis, this research focuses on 50 multilingual families, with ten from each country. The study explores the role of English as a third language (L3) in both endogamous and exogamous multilingual families with immigrant and minority backgrounds across Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Israel, and Sweden. Additionally, it examines the impact of English on family language practices, its effects on Russian as a heritage language, on the majority country language(s), and on (online) education, as well as on (digital) literacy skills. The findings, based on the thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with mothers, highlight the importance of English as an L3 in the context of the majority language and Russian as a heritage language. This emphasises parents’ recognition of English as crucial for their children’s future success and the significance of English education for academic achievement. The study underscores the evolving role of English in multilingual families, by putting emphasis on the need for continued exploration of language practices, proficiency development, and the broader impact on family language policies. We advocate for further investigation into the influence of social and technological factors to enhance understanding of language dynamics in diverse multicultural contexts.