Sociolinguistic Context Research Articles

A Romanian 19th century document from the Vidin region

By bringing to the readers’ attention an unpublished Ottoman era document in Romanian, issued in 1861 in Rabrovo, a village in the Vidin region, back then under Ottoman rule, the article tries to shed light on the wider historical and sociolinguistic context of the Romanian-speaking population south of the Danube in the 19th century. The document is a donation-adoption act by which a Romanian man gives one of his sons for adoption to his brother, who does not have heirs. The document is handwritten in Romanian, using Cyrillic script, signed by the chorbaji, mayor and eight witnesses, and stamped by the Turkish administrator. Though very short, it reveals several important facts about the Romanian-speaking population in Ottoman Bulgaria and its origin, the language used in communication and writing, family relations, etc. Coming from a family archive, this document of great emotional value for its owner, has also undisputable linguistic and historical significance.

Políticas Linguísticas de Moçambique: Controvérsias e Perspectivas

Neste trabalho, analisamos o contexto histórico, político-ideológico e sociolinguístico a partir do qual Moçambique adoptou as suas políticas linguísticas, tendo em conta a diversidade linguístico-cultural que caracteriza o país e problematizar a sua eficácia decorrente das ambivalências geradas em torno da oficialização do Português Europeu sem o nacionalizar e da nacionalização das línguas autóctones sem as oficializar. Além disso, observamos o facto de a lógica do que está institucionalizado estar a ser subvertida pela prática consuetudinária dos usos da linguagem, isto é, o Português Europeu como norma-padrão no país está nativizado e endogeneizado à ecologia sociocultural e linguística concomitante à moçambicanidade, pelo que devia ser normatizado e consagrado como língua oficial e nacional de Moçambique. Isso se deve ao fato de que a norma-padrão europeia é uma hipóstase e cada vez menos relacionada com as dinâmicas sociolinguísticas e culturais em curso. Essa afirmação pode ser constatada por meio de estudos já consolidados de linguistas como Firmino (2006) que apontam para a consolidação de características específicas desta outra língua portuguesa nas áreas do léxico, sintaxe e semântica.

Growing up in a socially bilingual environment: simultaneous acquisition of a typologically close language (Crecer en un entorno social bilingüe: adquisición de una lengua de forma simultánea a otra lengua tipológicamente similar)

ABSTRACT Previous research indicates that developmental contexts influence language development. These developmental contexts include bilingualism, which is the focus of the current paper. This study analyses the influence that the acquisition of a language, Catalan, has when the simultaneous acquisition of another similar language, Spanish, occurs. This influence is examined according to degree of exposure to the languages. The parents of 801 children completed the Catalan version of the MacArthur-Bates CDI-II questionnaire, which assesses the acquisition of vocabulary, morphology and grammatical complexity. Subjects were divided into three groups according to age and linguistic context (Catalan monolingual, medium bilingual and familiar bilingual). The results do not reveal substantial differences according to linguistic context. However, children aged 26–30 months with a medium bilingual profile show a higher level of vocabulary as compared to the other groups. The results are discussed in relation to the sociolinguistic context, caregiver diversity, typological distance between the languages and developmental stages of language acquisition.

Social priming or not? Investigating generalizability via individual variation

Although the effects of social priming-where social information about a speaker influences linguistic decisions-have long been accepted (e.g., Niedzielski, 1999; Strand, 1999; Hay et al., 2006), recent studies call attention to a lack of generalizability across contexts (e.g., Lawrence, 2015; Chang, 2017; Walker et al., 2019). The current study finds that social priming, in the case of /a℧/-raising in Michigan and Canadian English, is primarily observed for individuals who scored high on both stereotype awareness and cognitive perspective-taking, suggesting that aspects of both the sociolinguistic context and participant sampling can impact when and why social priming effects do not occur.

Phonological change and interdialectal differences between Egyptian and Coptic: ḏ, ṯ → c = ϫ versus ḏ, ṯ → t = ⲧ

Abstract The development of the Egyptian palatals ḏ and ṯ has long been a thorny issue in Egyptian linguistics. No convincing phonological rule for it has been identified so far. In the present paper I argue that the distribution of these phonemes is the result of inter-dialectal borrowings between a pre-Coptic dialect (C‑Dialect) in which ḏ , ṯ → c = ϫ and a pre-Coptic dialect (T‑Dialect) in which ḏ , ṯ → t = ⲧ. It is then argued that the attested Coptic dialects derive from T‑Dialects with lexical borrowings from C‑Dialects. A preliminary discussion of the sociolinguistic contexts of these dialects is presented in the second part of the article, where it is suggested that the C‑Dialect may have been associated with the area of the cities of Avaris/Pi-Ramses/Tanis and may have become a prestigious dialect and thus a source of lexical borrowings starting from the 19th dynasty.

The effect of the Russian language immersion on academic achievement of students whose mother tongue is Azerbaijani

The sociolinguistic context in Azerbaijan today is one in which massive second language learning is taking place. More than a hundred thousand students in Azerbaijan study in Russian immersion schools. The motivation for this research originates from the desire to understand if those students benefit from Russian language education and how challenging it is for Azerbaijani speaking students to learn academic content in the second language. With this study, we attempt to compare the academic achievement of Azerbaijani speaking and Russian speaking students immersed in the Russian language. The aim of surveying students of Russian-medium instruction was to understand if there was an achievement gap between students whose home language was Russian and those whose home language was Azerbaijani. A self-administered survey was conducted among the Russian-taught 7th and 10th grade students across schools in Baku. The results are presented in the paper.

Exploring perceived multilingual proficiency among immigrant youth with different arrival ages in the destination country

ABSTRACT This study examines the role of age of arrival (AoA) in immigrant students’ perceived multilingual proficiency. Additionally, the study investigates the demographic, linguistic and social-psychological variables distinguishing young-arriving immigrants from their middle and older-arriving peers. The sample included 274 eleventh grade Russian (L1) speaking immigrants acquiring Hebrew as a second language (L2) and English as a third language (L3), divided into three groups according to arrival ages in Israel: 0–6; 7–9 and 10–12 years. The instruments included a ‘can-do’ questionnaire measuring multilingual self-assessment, (SA) and a background questionnaire. The results indicated a strong relationship between AoA and students’ SA in L2 and L3 extending research, based primarily on language tests, demonstrating that AoA is an important factor explaining multilingual proficiency. Further, the findings revealed that students’ self-assessed listening in L2 and L3 distinguished the young-arriving immigrants from their middle and older-arriving peers. Current use of L3, parental encouragement to study L2 and an inverse integrative orientation to study L3 distinguished the older-arriving group from the other two groups. These results highlight the role of the sociolinguistic context and the specificity of each language as a source of variation in L2 and L3 acquisition besides individual characteristics.

Poésie et langue des signes. Traduire sans trahir

Traduire la poésie en langue(s) des signes implique le passage entre deux modalités (audio-vocale/visuo-gestuelle) dans un registre singulier, et s’effectue dans un contexte sociolinguistique particulier : celui de la surdité. Cet article présente les enjeux socio-culturels et linguistiques de cette pratique et de ses éventuelles spécificités, en s’appuyant sur de récentes expériences en matière de création et traduction en langue des signes française.

Itinerario semántico del término ἐπιούσιος en Mt 6,11 y Lc 11,3

"The word ἐπιούσιος which is found in the oldest witness of the textual tradition behind the Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels, only is attested in these texts and in the divergent commentaries to these passages by later ecclesiastical authors. The present paper proposes an explanation of its origin, structure and meaning in the sociolinguistic context of Galilee, in the middle of the first century a.D. in which coexisted the Aramaic and Greek as spoken languages, as an argot between the groups of followers of Jesus from Nazaret."

Questionário sociolinguístico parental para famílias emigrantes bilingues (QuesFEB) uma ferramenta de recolha de dados sociolinguísticos de crianças falantes de herança

Empirical research in the field of bi-/multilingualism has shown that the acquisition of two (or more) languages during childhood is significantly influenced by the sociolinguistic experience of each individual, namely by the quantity and the quality of language exposure to the target languages (Unsworth 2016a). In fact, the heterogeneity of sociolinguistic contexts in which bilingual acquisition takes place leads to variation in the quantity and quality of the input to which bilingual children are exposed on a daily basis, which, in turn, originates individual variation in the levels of language development in the languages under acquisition, mainly, in the minority language (also known as heritage language/HL; cf. Montrul 2016). In order to assess the effect of language experience on bilingual development, studies usually resort to sociolinguistic questionnaires, which allow the researcher to outline the sociolinguistic profile of the subjects under analysis, as well as to obtain crucial information about predictive variables of bilingual development (see Unsworth 2019). In this paper, we present a sociolinguistic questionnaire, in Portuguese, developed for the collection of data on the sociolinguistic experience of bilingual children, between the ages of six and ten, with a migration background – the Questionário Sociolinguístico Parental para Famílias Emigrantes Bilingues (QuesFEB). This parental questionnaire, intended for researchers who conduct studies in the field of heritage bilingualism, has as its main objective the collection of biographical and sociolinguistic information not only for the detailed characterisation of the context in which bilingual children acquire the heritage language, but also, and mainly, for the quantification of their language experience in the target language, enabling the assessment of the effect that variables related to input quantity and quality have on that language. Besides providing a detailed description of the content of the sections that compose the QuesFEB, we will present, in detail, the method of codification and calculation of four key variables that have been found to be predictive of HL development, namely: (i) current quantity of HL use (i.e., input and output) in the household; (ii) quantity of cumulative exposure to the HL in the household; (iii) quantity of HL use (i.e., input and output) with migrant grandparents who are native speakers of the language of origin; and (iv) richness of the language exposure to the HL.

The impact of older siblings on the language environment and language development of bilingual toddlers

AbstractPrevious research has suggested that the language development of bilingual children benefits from more exposure and opportunities for language use. Typically, this research has used aggregated measures of exposure and use. The role of specific interlocutors and in particular older siblings has received comparatively little attention. In this study, we examine the impact of having an older sibling on the language environment and language development of a group of 31 bilingual Greek–Dutch toddlers aged 16 to 30 months growing up in the Netherlands. Approximately half (n = 14) of the toddlers had an older sibling. With respect to language environment, toddlers with older siblings were in general found to hear and use more Dutch at home than their first-born peers. There were however no differences between the two groups of toddlers in terms of parental language use. With respect to language development, toddlers with older siblings were found to score higher than first-born peers on measures of Dutch receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, and morphosyntactic complexity. For Greek, no such differences were observed. The findings are discussed in light of factors including family constellation, parental language proficiency, bilingual parenting strategies, and the wider sociolinguistic context.

Literacies in contact when writing Wolof – orthographic repertoires in digital communication

AbstractThis paper investigates the resources writers activate when they spell Wolof, a West African language they usually use more in spoken than in written communication. I apply the notion of orthographic repertoire to examine three young women’s spelling of Wolof as socially embedded practices. The analysis covers three different sets of interactional data: (1) texting by Senegalese university students, (2) discussion forum posts, and (3) transnational digital family interaction. The spelling practices are examined with reference to the colonial history of spelling in Senegal, other contemporary informal literacies in West Africa, and the sociolinguistic context of the writers. The paper shows that the different spelling resources related to the multilingual and mediated nature of their writing are drawn upon as the three young women engage in digital literacy practices including Wolof.

‘Die’ and its different situation-bound utterances in Persian

Abstract In this paper, using the tenets of Situation-Bound Utterances (SBUs) (Kecskes 2000, 2010) and referring to Pragmatic Act Theory (PAT) (Mey 2001), the verb mordan (‘to die’ in English), and its different realisations are analysed among Persian speakers. Through the analysis of authentic talk in interaction, this study aims to ponder nonstandard (situation-derived) meanings of the term mordan and its different SBUs. The primary focus of the study is on strings of linguistic events as well as the “conventions of usage” (Morgan 1978) or cultural understanding that may lead to standard and nonstandard meanings considering mordan and its different SBUs. The findings suggest that the SBUs regarding mordan, a neglected sociolinguistic context, not only is affected by its actual situational characteristics but also by prior context encoded in utterances used, which manifests culture-specific ways of thinking (Capone 2018; Wong 2010). Overall, 19 SBUs and 7 generic categories were identified with regard to the verb mordan in Persian. This paper exhibits that mordan is a versatile verb, which, when combined with situational/contextual factors, conveys different nonstandard functions that fulfil social needs. This study will also refer to linguistic features underlying SBUs that are influential in assigning various distinct meanings to the verb mordan in Persian.

L’ensenyament del valencià i prejudicis lingüístics. Un estudi de cas en un centre de secundària de la Plana Utiel-Requena

<p dir="ltr">La present recerca aborda la qüestió de l’ensenyament del valencià en les comarques lingüístiques castellano-parlants en les quals encara és vigent la LUEV (1983) que determina la possibilitat d’exempció de l’assignatura de valencià. En concret, abordem la qüestió de les creences i representacions socials sobre la llengua i el seu ensenyament a partir d’un estudi de cas realitzat en un centre de secundària de la ciutat de Requena. L’objectiu de l’estudi és identificar i diferenciar les actituds lingüístiques cap al valencià en aquest context sociolingüístic i és una oportunitat per presentar un canvi educatiu. Els resultats d’aquest estudi responen a les idees de l’alumnat i del professorat autòcton extretes mitjançant la producció d’autobiografies lingüístiques per part de l’alumnat de 4t d’ESO i la participació de docents en un focus grup. Les conclusions es basen en una proposta de bones pràctiques en relació a l’ensenyament del valencià en aquest territori lingüístic. Les activitats oferides tenen com a finalitat eliminar els prejudicis reforçant actituds d’ús lingüístic com ara la comunicació amb altres grups sociolingüístics. Aquestes es podrien aplicar a altres territoris la consciència lingüística dels quals és castellana tot i pertànyer a un territori valenciano-parlant.</p><div><span><br /></span></div>

On the Concepts of Imported Language and Newspeakerism in the Sociolinguistic Context of Lithuania

This article outlines the advantages of introducing some new terms to describe the current sociolinguistic situation in Lithuania. Its essential components are the heterogeneity of the country’s ethno-linguistic landscape, intensive internal and external migration and the different types of language practices within the country, which are the result of the first two factors. The term “imported language” proposed by the author of the article and the term “newspeakerism”, which has recently become established in European sociolinguistics, have not yet been used in the works of Lithuanian sociolinguists. However, these terms can be important for describing the linguistic specifics of some regions of Lithuania. The first term seems appropriate to denote the language of immigrants, which is used relatively widely in the host country, not only in family, but also in the everyday and official communication, and the second – for the sociolinguistic categorization of such immigrants. Most immigrants are residents of post-Soviet countries with native or well-mastered Russian language, therefore, in the article, it is Russian that is defined as an imported language.
 The paper examines the theoretical prerequisites for the introduction of new terms for a more accurate description of the current linguistic situation in Lithuania and the designation of its participants. Statistical data on migration processes in Lithuania and fragments of interviews with immigrants of chronologically different arrival streams are used.

Strategie discorsive dei bilingui e contesto sociolinguistico. Vecchie e nuove minoranze a confronto

In this paper the authors analyse the correlations between the bilinguals’ discourse strategies and the sociolinguistic context of two types of linguistic minority communities: of old and new settlement. The first one concerns the Franco-Provencal context of Faeto and Celle San Vito in Apulia, while the second one deals with the Senegalese migrants’ community in Pescara, Abruzzo. The aim of the study is to identify recurrent patterns in discourse that can relate to the presence of specific sociolinguistic variants, which are considered peculiar to the contexts characterizing each of the two minorities.

Sociolinguistic Aspect of the Advancements in Modern Digital Technologies. Benefits and Risks

The article discusses the current sociolinguistic characteristics of the development of digital technologies as a basis of modern science, all industries, the media, etc. The author outlined the advantages provided by the global process of unification of contemporary society in the sociolinguistic context. Also, the author highlighted the problems associated with the Englishlanguage platform of information technology from the current approach to ethnic-language and national identity. English is considered both as the world lingua franca and as a tool of “soft power” in the international arena. In the latter case, in the context of its use as the primary language of the modern “digital world”. The question is posed of a reasonable differentiation of the use of English beyond the scope of digital technology, where it has unconditional, sole and, in the opinion of the author, utterly natural leadership. Therefore, the author raised the question of the advisability of popularizing the Russian language as a language of higher education for international students in Russia. The author concluded that there exist the objective necessity and the completely organic possibility of using English as an international language of communication without losing one’s language (as a part of the ethnic and civil) identity of ethnic groups in the global world.

A holistic measure of contextual and individual linguistic diversity

ABSTRACT The sociolinguistic context of language use contributes to individuals’ linguistic knowledge. However, how it does so has yet to be fully conceptualised or quantitatively investigated within the language sciences. To meet this goal, a psychometrically sound evidence-based measure that captures important aspects of contextually influenced linguistic experience is necessary. In this paper we describe the development and validation of the Contextual and Individual Linguistic Diversity Questionnaire (CILD-Q). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted with data from 353 participants (62.9% South African, 37.1% UK, Mage = 29.3, SD = 10.09). A three-factor solution best describes the structure of the CILD-Q: Multilingualism in Context (contextual use and societal practice of multiple languages within a community), Multilingualism in Practice (direct and indirect linguistic exchanges and conversational interaction), Linguistic Diversity Promotion (societal and governmental endorsement of linguistic variation). Item scores corresponding to these three factors showed sufficient reliability (α’s > 0.80). The CILD-Q provides a novel and holistic manner to measure sociolinguistic diversity and can be used when measuring individuals’ language experience within and across populations from differing sociolinguistic contexts.

Exploring the Construction of Identities in Written Humorous Narratives by L2 Learners of Greek

The aim of this paper is to explore how adult learners of Greek as a second language construct their identities through humorous written narratives. Analyzing 135 written humorous narratives with Bamberg’s (1997) narrative positioning model and the knowledge resources of script opposition and target from the General Theory of Verbal Humor (Attardo 1994, 2001), we detect two main categories: (a) narratives of legitimizing identities and (b) narratives of resistance identities. Here we discuss one narrative of each category in which narrators position themselves towards aspects of the Greek sociolinguistic context. Humor emerges as a basic tool for identity construction and stance expression, as narrators either align themselves with dominant values of the L2 context or disassociate themselves from it.

Adapting MAIN to Irish (Gaeilge)


 
 
 Irish (Gaeilge) is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. It is a fast-changing, endangered language. Almost universal bilingualism (i.e. almost all Irish speakers also speak English), frequent code-switching to English, and loan words are features of the sociolinguistic context in which the language is spoken. This paper describes the adaptation of the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings - Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS-MAIN, Gagarina et al., 2019) to Irish. Data was collected using the retell mode (Cat story) and the comprehension questions. Eighteen children participated ranging in age from 5;3 to 8;7 (six female and 12 male). Results suggest that story structure is not sensitive to exposure to Irish at home and indicate that MAIN Gaeilge (Irish) is a promising tool for assessing language in Irish- speaking children from a range of Irish language backgrounds.