Language Revitalization Research Articles

Language situation and position of Catalan in Northern Catalonia

Abstract This paper focuses on Northern Catalonia, a territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of Pyrenees in 1659. The focus is placed not only on the demography and the number of speakers using the Catalan language in Northern Catalonia but also on the linguistic politics and the use of the Catalan language in various areas of social life, especially in education. The school plays the most important role in the revitalization of the Catalan language, and without its active contribution, it is not possible to restore bilingualism in French Catalonia.

A trifling matter? Names in Irish on carts: the Dublin Castle files

At the beginning of the twentieth century, as the Irish language revival movement gathered pace, Conradh na Gaeilge encouraged those who were keen to promote the language to use the Irish version of their names as much as possible, including painting their name and address in Irish on carts, and a number of prosecutions were taken under the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Act 1851. Most famously, Patrick Pearse represented Niall Mac Giolla Bhrighde in 1905 in a case stated to the court of King’s Bench. Pearse went on to represent Domhnall Ua Buachalla in a similar but less well-known case the following year. Drawing on files from the Chief Secretary’s Office in Dublin Castle and digitised contemporaneous newspaper reports, this article provides an overview of the names in Irish on carts cases, which began in 1893, peaked in 1905 and died off after 1906, and finds that, post-partition, there were at least three similar prosecutions in Northern Ireland.

Creating a corpus for Kven, a minority language in Norway

Language documentation, including the development and use of corpora, is frequently linked to revitalisation. This is also the case for the Kven language, a Finnic minoritised language, traditionally spoken in the two northernmost counties of Norway. Kven is a recognised minority language in Norway, protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This status led to increased efforts to document Kven, including the development of the Ruija Corpus, consisting of recordings of interviews in Kven. The corpus was an important tool for the standardisation of Kven. In this article we describe how the corpus was developed and account for search functions, including a discussion of the limitations of the corpus. We also discuss the role of corpora and other online tools for language revitalisation, with a particular focus on the standardisation of Kven and conclude by reflecting on how expertise also resides with the speakers of an endangered language and that they have a right to be involved in efforts of language documentation and revitalisation.

ITE provision in minority language contexts

AbstractWithin the broader contexts of language maintenance, revitalisation and use, schools have an important role to play in the early transmission of minority or minoritized languages. Through effective classroom-based practices, teachers can offer rich, continuous linguistic experiences for the young people they teach that can lead to long-term, sustained engagement with language over time. How effective a given approach or practice may be in delivering a linguistic outcome in different contexts depends to a large extent on the skills and competence of the teacher involved (Fitzpatrick et al., 2018, p. 59), and the skills and competence of the teacher are usually rooted in their early experiences as student teachers. Initial teacher education (ITE) programmes are therefore central to the delivery of effective classroom-based practices and fundamental in generating autonomous teachers who can explore critically the different pedagogical approaches as they pertain to minority language contexts. This paper provides a comparative overview of the current issues and challenges facing ITE for primary education in two distinct minority language settings, namely Wales and Ireland. Both settings provide Welsh-medium or Irish-medium immersion education, as well as English-medium education offering Welsh or Irish as statutory subjects up to age 16. Both contexts also offer ITE programmes through the medium of Welsh or Irish, catering specifically for those student teachers wishing to teach in immersion settings. Both contexts face a number of shared challenges in terms of the content, design and delivery of an effective ITE programme for the context. We therefore highlight areas in which resources and methodologies could be shared amongst all those involved in ITE where minority language maintenance is a key component of education.

Revitalization and revival of indigenous languages and cultures with applied linguistics and technology

ABSTRACT The Applied Linguistics field is criticized for neglecting Indigenous languages and cultures as well as social justice issues. Some see technology as exasperating the digital divide. We are urged to reflect on our work to see whose interests the field serves and respond with action. I discuss these issues in relation to existing work, arguing that Applied Linguistics should view the revitalization and revival of endangered Indigenous languages and cultures as a social justice issue. I will then show how this can be done from a broader sociolinguists perspective and through projects with technology to benefit both the Indigenous and the Applied Linguistics professional communities.

Language reclamation and ethnic revival in P’urhépecha territory

In P’urhépecha territory, Central Michoacán, Mexico, Indigenous revival processes have characterized in recent years by a resurgence of language reclamation projects that revendicate ethnic identity in Indigenous communities. In a country that has historically highlighted language as a marker of indigeneity, how do ethnic revindication processes tied to language emerge in communities where the Indigenous language has been entirely displaced by Spanish? This article discusses the case of Huecorio, a community of P’urhépecha descent located in Lake Pátzcuaro, where community members have engaged in language revival practices in the past 5 years. Grounded in Indigenous-based participatory research, we center our discussion on the use of the P’urhepecha language in the interrelated spheres that make up the community to demonstrate how Indigenous communities that no longer speak their heritage language are contributing to the reconfiguration of their ethno-cultural identity through language reclamation practices.

The Application Of Linguistic Landscape In Mataram City Kota Madya Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

This research investigated; the language and how the languages are used in the official and unofficial spaces of the linguistic landscape in Mataram city, West Nusa Tenggara Province; the motive of the use of both monolingual and bilingual language on the use of linguistic landscapes; the contribution to the enrichment of landscape linguistic studies. This research used qualitative study which aims at describing the results of linguistic landscape analisys to find the structure of language use on monolingualism and bilingualism and the motive of language use. The researcher found that the use of top-down pattern shows a usage of monolingualism and bilingualism of Bahasa Indonesia, English, Arabic and Balinese language, while the bottom-up pattern indicates a monolingual and bilingual pattern in Bahasa Indonesia, English, Arabic and Balinese language. The researcher also found the motives for the appearance of language codes in landscape linguistics demonstrates three factors pursuant to the concept of Gorter (2006); language revitalization including national languages as official language, language preservation, and historical; markers of globalization including modernization, branding strategies, expansion strategies, cultural introduction, identity existence includes cultural recognition, cultural preservation, branding strategy, and community formation.

The World's Languages in Crisis (Redux): Toward a Radical Reimagining for Global Linguistic Justice

The world's languages are in crisis: intergenerational transmission of around half the world's languages is collapsing. I argue that to understand and intervene in this situation, we need to radically reimagine what it means to call it a crisis. We need to think about this crisis not simply as an acute emergency (which it is), but also in Antonio Gramsci's sense of a period in which 'the old is dying but the new cannot be born'. In this sense, our present moment of crisis is one in which language oppression and language revitalization co-exist in dynamic tension. To analyze this Gramscian crisis of linguistic justice at a world scale, I argue that we need to conceive of a world system constituted by the articulation of nationalism, colonialism, racism, and capitalism. My description of this system and how it produces language oppression aims to support scholars and activists to seize our current moment of crisis and make positive interventions in the global system towards a future of greater linguistic justice.

Analogy and similarity as a resource in new speaker styles of Basque

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: The study examines contact between the Basque standard variety, Spanish, and Basque dialects in the speech of new speakers of Basque, euskaldun berriak, who have Spanish as their language of primary socialization and who have learned standard Basque in classroom contexts. The overall goal of the study is to determine what linguistic features new speakers draw from in the construction of a colloquial style of Basque. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study combines third-wave approaches of sociolinguistic variation with cognitive, usage-based approaches to language contact. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the city of Bilbao between 2016 and 2017. Data and Analysis: Forty-seven new speakers of Basque participated in metalinguistic interviews. Many others were observed in the larger context of the ethnographic fieldwork. The data consist of field notes and more than 30 hours of recordings. The analysis combines the metalinguistic commentary of the participants with observation of their linguistic practices. Findings/Conclusions: New speakers’ morphosyntactic and stylistic variation in constructing a colloquial style is explained through analogy and similarity, as they draw from interlingual and intralingual analogies and similarities in the process of register construction. The variation can be largely explained by the speakers’ social networks and their involvement in the Basque-speaking cultural sphere. Originality: This study examines the role of new speakers in linguistic change. The study presents a novel approach by combining analyses of common cognitive processes with an understanding of shared social language practices that are influenced by language ideologies. Significance/Implications: An integrated approach of cognitive processes and the social meaning of language change allow the examination of the interplay of social competence and human faculty. Variationist studies can benefit from studies conducted at the sites of language revitalization with complex indexical fields and rapidly changing social dynamics.

Language Politics and Recognition under Tsai Ing-wen

Abstract This paper surveys developments in language politics and policy in Taiwan under Tsai Ing-wen’s presidency (2016–present). Drawing on historical-institutionalist premises, it shows that recent language policy developments were path-dependent and built upon initiatives proposed under Chen Shui-bian’s presidency (2000–2008). The paper argues that the comparative success of Tsai’s initiatives owed not only to her party forming a legislative majority, but also to a broad sociopolitical consensus on transitional and historical justice, and to an incrementalist strategy that consisted in legislating on minority languages before laying out a comprehensive multilingual legal framework. Although recent language developments do fall within the purview of identity politics, these factors have enabled the Tsai administration to justify and legitimise measures towards language recognition and revitalisation as intrinsic to Taiwan’s democratic consolidation, rather than as tools for identity building.

Indigenous Online Creative Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Western Australia

Abstract In response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many communities of endangered Indigenous languages have utilised digital technologies and created online language resources with renewed motivation. In this article we explore the ways that Noongar community members have shifted, adapted and persisted in creating new language revitalisation resources for their endangered Aboriginal language, describing three case studies of video content created and shared online through social media as localised responses to the pressing need for easily produced, accessible and engaging online approaches to support Indigenous communities and their languages.

SGaawaay K‘uuna

At the intersection of Indigenous language socialization, linguistic preservation of endangered languages, and a sociocultural anthropology of Indigenous media, lies how Indigenous languages are being revitalized by film and the production process. The critically acclaimed production of the first all Haida language feature film, SGaawaay K‘uuna: Edge of the Knife (2018), tells an inspiring story of bringing hope to the elders, Indigenous language to the youth, and a passionate revitalization of language and community with its radical approach to language revitalization through its community-driven production process.

Place identity and authenticity in minority language revitalisation: Scottish Gaelic in Glasgow

Aims and objectives: This paper first aims to examine how young Gaelic-English bilinguals in immersion education produce aspects of Gaelic phonology. We second consider the extent to which they acquire aspects of a traditional dialect. Third, we investigate how young new speakers outside of a traditional community negotiate place identity and authenticity. Methodology: Our methodology first consists of quantitative acoustic and auditory phonetic analysis of word list production data, accompanied by mixed effects regression. Second, we employ qualitative analysis of interview data from the same participants. Data and analysis: Data are presented from 22 speakers aged 13–14 in Gaelic Medium Education in Glasgow and 15 speakers aged 13–14 in GME on the Isle of Lewis. For comparison with a traditional dialect, we also include three speakers from Lewis aged 65–80. Our quantitative analysis considers 3,605 tokens in total and the qualitative analysis considers interview data with all speakers. Conclusions: Our findings show that young speakers reproduce traditional aspects of Gaelic phonology, though generally to a lesser extent that older speakers. Young new speakers in Glasgow recognise that they do not speak a traditional dialect of the language. They are beginning to create a new authenticity associated with belonging to Glasgow, which represents a new acquisition setting. Originality: This study is the first to explore acquisition of dialect and phonology among young new speakers of Gaelic. We explore perceptions of dialect and the implications of not coming from a traditional Gaelic-speaking area for the first time in young people. Implications: Revitalisation settings can lead to successful language acquisition but may also contribute to dialect levelling. However, institutional support structures can lead to increased confidence and new place identities emerging in young speakers.

Indigenous language revitalization through Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours: a rationale and description (Revitalización de la lengua indígena por medio de Observar y Acomedirse en las actividades de la familia y la comunidad: fundamentos y descripción)

ABSTRACT This article promotes a grounded approach to Indigenous language revitalization that honours Indigenous peoples’ desire to restore Indigenous language use in their daily lives. The approach offers a way of revitalizing Indigenous languages by reintegrating them into Indigenous social life and an Indigenous way of learning, thus also sustaining and revitalizing Indigenous cultures. Drawing upon studies of informal learning in Indigenous-heritage communities in the Americas, as well as studies of family and community language revitalization programmes, the approach promotes Indigenous language communicative competence through participation in everyday-life activities. It capitalizes on the prevalent practice in Indigenous communities of Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours (LOPI), which serves as social and cultural scaffolding onto which communication in Indigenous languages can be intentionally reattached. In this way, the family- and community-centred approach that is promoted complements daycare- and school-based Indigenous language revitalization initiatives.

Advances in understanding Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours (LOPI). Introduction to the special issue (Avances en la comprensión de Aprender por medio de Observar y Acomedirse en las actividades de la familia y la comunidad (LOPI). Introducción al número especial)

ABSTRACT This article presents conceptual and empirical advances relating to Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours (LOPI). The opening article offers a new version of the LOPI model and a focused analysis of the key role of community. The other nine articles provide evidence of the social organization of LOPI, based on an axiology of relationality, respect, reciprocity and pitching in, in many Indigenous communities of the Americas. They discuss Indigenous theory and axiologies, as well as ethical attunements in LOPI; the importance of observation, respect, autonomy and laughter for learning; and the opportunities that LOPI brings to the revitalization of Indigenous languages, in learning at school and in online gaming communities. This issue shows how the LOPI paradigm is based in relationality and respect in communion among people, other beings and the land that we inhabit.

Revival of Russian Language in Central Asian Republics in the Twenty First (21st) Century

Russian language went into a decline during the 1990s when Central Asian Republics (CARs) simultaneously embarked on the process of nation and state building along with economic transition. The CARs desired to diversify their political and economic relations and to lessen their dependence on Russian Federation during their early transition period. Due to its own economic and political problems associated with its transition, Russia could not pay full attention to its former Soviet states during the immediate post-Soviet period. However, due to the Tsarist and particularly Soviet legacies, the economic connectivity and interdependence of former Soviet states on Russian Federation proved long lasting. The revival of Russian language in former Soviet Central Asian Republics is mainly due to the theory of Economics of Language which explores mutual effects of language and economic variables. It says that fluency and command over a dominant language i.e., a language of science and technology and trade provides more dividends. The CARs are still heavily dependent on trade and remittances of their nationals working in Russia. A large number of workers from the countries of Central Asia work in the Russian Federation. Their remittances contribute immensely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDPs) of these countries. The CARs re-started promoting Russian language in their countries due to a significant role of this language in their economies and economic relations with Russia. Since 2000, the Russian economic revival has naturally strengthened its political and economic role in the former Soviet space which also includes Central Asia. Consequently, the Russian language also received fresh emphasis.

Altsasuko hizkuntza-paisaiaren azterketa euskararen biziberritzearen testuinguruan: merkataritzako esparrua

One of the areas of investigation in the domain of language revitalization is the study of the linguistic landscape, and the languages plans aimed to revitalise the Basque language have influenced it, for instance, the plan «Merkataritza euskaraz» set up by the Community of Sakana in Navarre. In this context, this work constitutes a preliminary approach to the study of linguistic landscape of the commerce in the town of Altsasu. Results show that Basque is present in Altsasu’s commerce; however, important differences have been identified depending on some sociolinguistic variables.

‘His Best Part Lies Hidden in His Learned Heart’

This article proposes that the historian Aernout van Buchell was a cultural go-between, quietly engaged in a transnational project of globalization. The young van Buchell’s first album amicorum, begun in 1584, reveals an intellectually restless young man who was given to depression and even attempted suicide but who discovered the study of antiquities on his year-long stay in Paris. His second album reveals an older, settled, purposeful historian whose album friends were scholars and artists of considerable reputation. At least since his year in Paris, van Buchell was committed to obliterating the boundaries of space and time and removing the intellectual limits of his mind. As with the antiquities he studied, van Buchell’s alba endorse a common heritage and offer to posterity the wisdom of the ancients and that of the many contributors to his album. His stance was that of a humanist, which, in the early modern period, entailed a revival of classical languages, literature, and moral precepts.

Creation of a speech environment for preschool children in their native language in conditions of its insufficient functioning in family and society

Preschool educational organizations participating in the revitalization of the ethnic languages ​​of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East need a special bilingual educational system with an effective methodology for creating a speech environment, developed on the basis of the federal state educational standard for preschool education and an environmental approach. In this regard, in order to eliminate language deprivation, which has become a stable phenomenon in preschool educational organizations in which children of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation are brought up, it is necessary to take systemic measures aimed at improving the quality of the native speech of teachers, creating didactic materials, including digital resources to create a developing speech environment, the development of a special technique that reveals the speech potential of children. The purpose of the research is the creation of a model of the ethnocultural speech environment in the native language for preschool children in conditions of insufficient functioning of the native language. The article provides a comprehensive description of the research results on the creation of a speech environment in preschool educational institutions in native languages ​​of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation. The results are presented: 1) a description of educational practices, built on the principle of “one person – one language”, aimed at the development of early bilingualism in preschool children; 2) analysis of the main problems of the speech environment in preschool educational organizations located in places of compact residence of indigenous minorities; 3) a description of the model for creating an ethnocultural speech environment in the native language for preschool children based on the principle of “one person – one language” and the concept of “developing speech environment”. As part of this study, a model for creating an ethnocultural speech environment for preschool children has been developed, taking into account the requirements of important state documents regulating the educational activities of kindergartens. First of all, the model is intended for the use by kindergartens implementing an educational program in conditions of insufficient functioning in the family and society of the native language of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation. In order to introduce a model for creating an ethnocultural speech developmental environment for preschool children in the educational process, guidelines have been developed for parents and employees of preschool educational organizations.

Miskasowin askîhk: Coming to Know Oneself on the Land

miskâsowin askîhk is a nêhiyawêwin word that translates roughly “as finding oneself on the land.” Throughout this paper, I aim to tell a story about the journey I have taken on the land, with the language. The paper also addresses a process of coming to find myself throughout these experiences and relationships with land and language. Through my stories on the land, I have learned that I belong to the land and that the land teaches me. The article also shares what I have learned from Elders, Knowledge Keepers and literature. Namely, learning language on the land, with the land's resources, is an effective way to revitalize language and reclaim Indigenous identity in a balanced way. I finish this paper with the description of a project that I would like to research further. The project involves hand making beaded leather mitts while learning to speak nêhiyawêwin. This project is connected to asōnamēkēwin, a word in nêhiyawêwin that means that it is our responsibility to pass on knowledge that we learn. This is another important nêhiyawêwin phrase that guides me on this journey. It is my responsibility and I pass this responsibility onto anybody that I teach, to teach what they learn. Keywords: land-based learning, Cree language learning, language revitalization, best practices