Patterns Of Language Shift Research Articles

Chronotopes, language practices and language shift: an ethnographic study of the Blang community in China

ABSTRACT This study explores language practices of the Blang people and their perceptions of the changes in language ecology through the lens of chronotopes, hoping to better understand patterns of language shift in the Blang community in China. It takes a qualitative approach and draws on semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations conducted in the Blang Mountain Township, Yunnan province, China. The study reveals that the Blang community has been undergoing a gradual shift from Blang to Chinese, and the decline of Blang has been most noticeable amongst the younger generation. This study uses a narrative approach with a focus on chronotopization in narratives to explore language shift. It contributes to our understanding of the way participants position themselves vis-a-vis the decline of their native tongue in the changing language ecology. Their accounts reveal the dynamic dialogic interrelationship between structure (conceptualised as external pressures) and agency (conceptualised as individuals’ freedom of action). The study contributes to the methodology of using chronotopes in sociolinguistic research.

INDONESIA LANGUAGE INFLUNCES SHIFTHING IN SIMALUNGUN LANGUAGE

This study focused in Indonesia Language influences shifting in Simalungun Language. The problem of the study is “How is Simalungun Language shift in Pematangsiantar.” The objective of the study is to determine the factor influences Simalumgun Language shift in Pematangsiantar. The significance of the research are: 1) Theoritically, the study considered to enrich the theory of language planning especially about Simalungun language shift in Pematangsiantar and the reason of Simalungunese shift into Indonesian. 2) Practically, the result of the study is considered to contribute information about language shift in Simalungunese for the researcher. The findings of the research are Language shift (especially Simalungunism) in the second and the third generation is influence by bilingualism, migration, economic factor, value and attitude, The pattern of Language shift is done through the shift of Simalungun Language to Indonesian Language in second and the third generation and The reason of the language shift (Simalungun language) into Indonesian are social success and the status of Indonesian Language.

Language proficiency and usage among second- and third-generation Rohingya refugees in Mecca

ABSTRACT This study examined responses from a questionnaire administered to 98 second- and third-generation Rohingya refugees living in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Questions concerned participants’ self-reported language proficiency levels in the Rohingya heritage language and Arabic and patterns of language use in various domains. Findings demonstrate that the respondents from both generational groups reported a good level of Rohingya oral skills, which is a departure from the typical patterns of language shift over three generations. While Arabic seems to dominate the public, media, and religious domains, Rohingya is habitually used in the private domains of the family and ethnic community. The most important factors that seem to encourage intergenerational language transfer of Rohingya include (1) habitual use of the Rohingya language at home, (2) geographical concentration of Rohingya refugees in certain ethnic enclave neighbourhoods that provide exposure to the Rohingya language and usage opportunities, and (3) the ability of bilingual Rohingya refugees to utilise their language use patterns to index their status as ethnic Rohingyas and Muslims in the Saudi Arabic-dominant context. This study contributes to the current understanding of language contact situations and calls for greater attention to be paid to contact dynamics between languages in refugee contexts.

A Chinese Australian family’s language use and attitudes

Abstract This paper presents a qualitative case study of a Chinese Australian family’s multilingual experiences in Melbourne. Couched in the framework of family language policy, I examine language shift patterns and mother tongue attitudes and analyse reasons and consequences. The findings show that the first generation uses Mandarin for general family communication, while relegating regional Chinese to functions that are, typically, private and familial and for use with older generations. The second generation uses English the most. While their Mandarin use is enhanced through community-based schooling and can be activated depending on the communicative environment, regional Chinese does not play an active role. This nested, hierarchical ecology of language shift with two dominant language constellations causes parental confusion about the children’s mother tongue and problematises grandparent-grandchild communication with a possible decrease of family intimacy.

Mitochondrial DNA variability in the Titicaca basin: Matches and mismatches with linguistics and ethnohistory

The Titicaca basin was the cradle of some of the major complex societies of pre-Columbian South America and is today home to three surviving native languages: Quechua, Aymara, and Uro. This study seeks to contribute to reconstructing the population prehistory of the region, by providing a first genetic profile of its inhabitants, set also into the wider context of South American genetic background. We report the first mitochondrial DNA first hypervariable segment sequences of native populations of the environs of Lake Titicaca: speakers of Aymara and Quechua, and the "Uros" of the Lake's floating islands. We sampled Aymara speakers from a locality where the Uro language was formerly documented, to check for possible language shift patterns. These data are compared with those for other Amerindian populations, collated from already published sources. Our results uncover the genetic distinctiveness of our formerly Uro but now Aymara-speaking sample, in contrast with a relative homogeneity for all the other Central Andean samples. The genetic affinities that characterize Central Andean populations are highly consistent with the succession of expansive polities in the region, culminating with the Incas. In the environs of Lake Titicaca, however, one subset of the present day Aymara-speaking population exhibits a peculiar position: perhaps a genetic correlate to their original Uro linguistic lineage (now extinct in the area), tallying with ethnohistorical claims for the distinctiveness of the Uro population. Our results emphasize the need for genetic descriptions to consider the widespread phenomenon of language shift.

A Geography of Language: Gaelic-Speaking in Perthshire, 1698-1879

To be anything more than a narrative of distributional shifts, the geographical study of languages and their change over space and time should investigate the social processes underlying language usage as well as the spatial extent of language areas. Studies of the changing geography of the Celtic languages within Great Britain have provided much insight into the nature and patterns of language shift over space and time and the social processes acting to change the extent of languages. The paper focusses upon the Gaelic language in the Scottish county of Perthshire for the period 1698 to 1879 and examines in detail the relationships between the spatial decline of the Gaelic-speaking area and the social processes of language change. Through analysis of several sources, the retreat of Gaelic Perthshire in that period is examined by parish and within particular parishes. The social and spatial decline of Gaelic is seen to be the result of educational policy, lack of Gaelic-speaking clergy and other related factors and was apparent in the varying use of Gaelic or English for particular social purposes by certain sections of the population. It is argued in conclusion that a 'geography of language' should seek to explain spatial patterns of language in terms of social usage and the changing patterns of usage over time, and should not concentrate upon one to the exclusion of the other.