Michel Degraff
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226126173
- eISBN:
- 9780226125671
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226125671.003.0011
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
How can studies of language change in Iberian America help us better understand related phenomena in the Caribbean, and vice-versa? I raise some fundamental issues about language contact and its ...
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How can studies of language change in Iberian America help us better understand related phenomena in the Caribbean, and vice-versa? I raise some fundamental issues about language contact and its linguistic, cultural and socio-political consequences in Latin America, alongside challenging questions regarding the relationship between power and the production of knowledge in and about Latin America. These issues conjure up the foundations and politics of Creole studies and of education in Haiti. Here, Haiti serves as a spectacular case study to probe the effects of (neo-)colonialism on language diversification, vitality and endangerment throughout Latin America. Rejecting Creole Exceptionalism (i.e., the dogma that Creole languages are exceptional languages on either developmental or structural grounds), I compare Haitian Creole with its counterparts in continental Latin America, particularly Amerindian languages. This exercise sheds new light on the common socio-historical roots of various myths about Creole and Indigenous languages. I then consider how the past can help us analyze, then deconstruct, some of the racially- and ethnically-based hierarchies in Latin America. I conclude with a plea for a North-South collaboration among linguists and, also, between the latter and educators—collaboration toward social justice through quality education for all in Latin America and beyond.Less
How can studies of language change in Iberian America help us better understand related phenomena in the Caribbean, and vice-versa? I raise some fundamental issues about language contact and its linguistic, cultural and socio-political consequences in Latin America, alongside challenging questions regarding the relationship between power and the production of knowledge in and about Latin America. These issues conjure up the foundations and politics of Creole studies and of education in Haiti. Here, Haiti serves as a spectacular case study to probe the effects of (neo-)colonialism on language diversification, vitality and endangerment throughout Latin America. Rejecting Creole Exceptionalism (i.e., the dogma that Creole languages are exceptional languages on either developmental or structural grounds), I compare Haitian Creole with its counterparts in continental Latin America, particularly Amerindian languages. This exercise sheds new light on the common socio-historical roots of various myths about Creole and Indigenous languages. I then consider how the past can help us analyze, then deconstruct, some of the racially- and ethnically-based hierarchies in Latin America. I conclude with a plea for a North-South collaboration among linguists and, also, between the latter and educators—collaboration toward social justice through quality education for all in Latin America and beyond.
James Woodward
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199732548
- eISBN:
- 9780199866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732548.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Pedagogy
This chapter gives an overview of how historical linguists classify languages into families. While the comparative method and internal reconstruction are preferable when abundant data are available, ...
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This chapter gives an overview of how historical linguists classify languages into families. While the comparative method and internal reconstruction are preferable when abundant data are available, the limited data on sign languages indicate that lexicostatistics is the most useful method. This method is made reliable by using the Swadesh word list revised appropriately for sign languages. Languages can have multiple ancestors, that is, languages that have contributed significantly to the daughters (thus creolization is included). The history of sign languages must be studied, not assumed, in order to be understood. An examination of families of signs in Southeast Asia and Central America alerts us to the endangered status of indigenous sign languages, often at the hand of ASL.Less
This chapter gives an overview of how historical linguists classify languages into families. While the comparative method and internal reconstruction are preferable when abundant data are available, the limited data on sign languages indicate that lexicostatistics is the most useful method. This method is made reliable by using the Swadesh word list revised appropriately for sign languages. Languages can have multiple ancestors, that is, languages that have contributed significantly to the daughters (thus creolization is included). The history of sign languages must be studied, not assumed, in order to be understood. An examination of families of signs in Southeast Asia and Central America alerts us to the endangered status of indigenous sign languages, often at the hand of ASL.
William Perez, Rafael Vasquez, and Raymond Buriel
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190625696
- eISBN:
- 9780190625726
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190625696.003.0015
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
The immigration of indigenous Mexicans to the United States has received increasing attention in the research literature, yet very few studies have focused on youth, their linguistic abilities, or ...
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The immigration of indigenous Mexicans to the United States has received increasing attention in the research literature, yet very few studies have focused on youth, their linguistic abilities, or their educational experiences. While some school districts have identified one or more indigenous languages spoken at home and school, to our knowledge, no previous study has examined Purepecha, Mixtec, and Zapotec students’ linguistic abilities. We examined their English, Spanish, and indigenous language use as part of a study in the Greater Los Angeles area. In addition to illustrating trilingual language brokering and multilingual language practices, importantly, we consider such practices to be possible tools for the educational enhancement of indigenous immigrant youth in U.S. schools.Less
The immigration of indigenous Mexicans to the United States has received increasing attention in the research literature, yet very few studies have focused on youth, their linguistic abilities, or their educational experiences. While some school districts have identified one or more indigenous languages spoken at home and school, to our knowledge, no previous study has examined Purepecha, Mixtec, and Zapotec students’ linguistic abilities. We examined their English, Spanish, and indigenous language use as part of a study in the Greater Los Angeles area. In addition to illustrating trilingual language brokering and multilingual language practices, importantly, we consider such practices to be possible tools for the educational enhancement of indigenous immigrant youth in U.S. schools.
Norbert Francis
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262016391
- eISBN:
- 9780262298384
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016391.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
When two or more languages are part of a child’s world, we are presented with a rich opportunity to learn something about language in general and about how the mind works. This book examines the ...
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When two or more languages are part of a child’s world, we are presented with a rich opportunity to learn something about language in general and about how the mind works. This book examines the development of bilingual proficiency and the different kinds of competence that come together in making up its component parts. In particular, it explores problems of language ability when children use two languages for tasks related to schooling, especially in learning how to read and write. It considers both broader research issues and findings from an ongoing investigation of child bilingualism in an indigenous language-speaking community in Mexico. This special sociolinguistic context allows for a unique perspective on some of the central themes of bilingualism research today, including the distinction between competence and proficiency, modularity, and the Poverty of Stimulus problem. The book proposes that competence (knowledge) should be considered as an integral component of proficiency (ability) rather than something separate and apart, arguing that this approach allows for a more inclusive assessment of research findings from diverse fields of study. The bilingual indigenous language project illustrates how the concepts of modularity and the competence-proficiency distinction in particular might be applied to problems of language learning and literacy. Few investigations of indigenous language and culture approach bilingual research problems from a cognitive science perspective. By suggesting connections to broader cognitive and linguistic issues, this book points the way to further research along these lines.Less
When two or more languages are part of a child’s world, we are presented with a rich opportunity to learn something about language in general and about how the mind works. This book examines the development of bilingual proficiency and the different kinds of competence that come together in making up its component parts. In particular, it explores problems of language ability when children use two languages for tasks related to schooling, especially in learning how to read and write. It considers both broader research issues and findings from an ongoing investigation of child bilingualism in an indigenous language-speaking community in Mexico. This special sociolinguistic context allows for a unique perspective on some of the central themes of bilingualism research today, including the distinction between competence and proficiency, modularity, and the Poverty of Stimulus problem. The book proposes that competence (knowledge) should be considered as an integral component of proficiency (ability) rather than something separate and apart, arguing that this approach allows for a more inclusive assessment of research findings from diverse fields of study. The bilingual indigenous language project illustrates how the concepts of modularity and the competence-proficiency distinction in particular might be applied to problems of language learning and literacy. Few investigations of indigenous language and culture approach bilingual research problems from a cognitive science perspective. By suggesting connections to broader cognitive and linguistic issues, this book points the way to further research along these lines.
Sari Pietikainen and Helen Kelly-Holmes (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199945177
- eISBN:
- 9780199333172
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199945177.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This volume examines the complexities of the processes and practices of multilingualism in a wide range of economic, cultural, political and physical peripheral sites and spaces (tourism, education, ...
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This volume examines the complexities of the processes and practices of multilingualism in a wide range of economic, cultural, political and physical peripheral sites and spaces (tourism, education, indigenous and minority language rights and politics, gender relations, marketing, airports) in different geographic locations (Austria, Canada, Corsica, Catalonia, Finland, Ireland, Patagonia, Spain, Slovenia, U.S.A., Wales). Using approaches that draw on sociolinguistics, discourse studies and ethnography, different peripheral indigenous and minority language sites varying from Arctic territories to a busy airport in Wales are examined. The volume brings together these different contexts and approaches in order to explore what kind of possible commonalities and differences might arise from processes of peripheralizing and centralising in multilingual indigenous and minority language sites. The perspective opens up new ways of thinking and theorising about multilingualism and about cores and peripheries, and necessarily involves a challenge to existing notions of straightforward power relations (e.g. majority-minority; centre-periphery etc.). It questions assumptions about peripheries as less fortunate counterparts to prosperous centres, and suggests instead that peripheries are diverse, multilingual spaces, constructed by but, crucially, constitutive to cores.Less
This volume examines the complexities of the processes and practices of multilingualism in a wide range of economic, cultural, political and physical peripheral sites and spaces (tourism, education, indigenous and minority language rights and politics, gender relations, marketing, airports) in different geographic locations (Austria, Canada, Corsica, Catalonia, Finland, Ireland, Patagonia, Spain, Slovenia, U.S.A., Wales). Using approaches that draw on sociolinguistics, discourse studies and ethnography, different peripheral indigenous and minority language sites varying from Arctic territories to a busy airport in Wales are examined. The volume brings together these different contexts and approaches in order to explore what kind of possible commonalities and differences might arise from processes of peripheralizing and centralising in multilingual indigenous and minority language sites. The perspective opens up new ways of thinking and theorising about multilingualism and about cores and peripheries, and necessarily involves a challenge to existing notions of straightforward power relations (e.g. majority-minority; centre-periphery etc.). It questions assumptions about peripheries as less fortunate counterparts to prosperous centres, and suggests instead that peripheries are diverse, multilingual spaces, constructed by but, crucially, constitutive to cores.
Curtis D. McFarland
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099470
- eISBN:
- 9789882207264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099470.003.0008
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
The Philippines possesses a great wealth of indigenous languages, and while these languages are related, the differences among them are also extensive. This chapter examines this linguistic ...
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The Philippines possesses a great wealth of indigenous languages, and while these languages are related, the differences among them are also extensive. This chapter examines this linguistic diversity. It discusses the eight largest language groups, suggesting that not only are they closely related, but also exhibit a remarkable degree of difference. It also examines their differences in all linguistic aspects: lexicon, phonology, syntax.Less
The Philippines possesses a great wealth of indigenous languages, and while these languages are related, the differences among them are also extensive. This chapter examines this linguistic diversity. It discusses the eight largest language groups, suggesting that not only are they closely related, but also exhibit a remarkable degree of difference. It also examines their differences in all linguistic aspects: lexicon, phonology, syntax.
Sari Pietikäinen and Helen Kelly-Holmes
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199945177
- eISBN:
- 9780199333172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199945177.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This introductory chapter provides a review of three conceptual areas, which are central to the thesis of the volume: core-periphery dynamics, multilingualism, and language ideological processes in ...
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This introductory chapter provides a review of three conceptual areas, which are central to the thesis of the volume: core-periphery dynamics, multilingualism, and language ideological processes in relation to minority and indigenous language spaces. Core-periphery dynamics – and how they are imagined – have a significant impact on the way that multilingualism in minority and indigenous language contexts is conceptualized and practised. An unstable model of core-periphery calls for a reassessment of what linguistic and cultural peripheries are, under globalization, and an exploration of how people evaluate and work discursively with these reconfigurations. Minority language sites are subject, by necessity, to various – and often conflicting – language ideologies, norms and practices. The chapter aims to providing a framework for exploring the evolution of language practices which, on the one hand, challenge and disregard the centrist ideology of parallel monolingualism, whilst on the other hand relying on it as a necessary resource.Less
This introductory chapter provides a review of three conceptual areas, which are central to the thesis of the volume: core-periphery dynamics, multilingualism, and language ideological processes in relation to minority and indigenous language spaces. Core-periphery dynamics – and how they are imagined – have a significant impact on the way that multilingualism in minority and indigenous language contexts is conceptualized and practised. An unstable model of core-periphery calls for a reassessment of what linguistic and cultural peripheries are, under globalization, and an exploration of how people evaluate and work discursively with these reconfigurations. Minority language sites are subject, by necessity, to various – and often conflicting – language ideologies, norms and practices. The chapter aims to providing a framework for exploring the evolution of language practices which, on the one hand, challenge and disregard the centrist ideology of parallel monolingualism, whilst on the other hand relying on it as a necessary resource.
Forrest Wade Young
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824847593
- eISBN:
- 9780824868215
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824847593.003.0017
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter illustrates how the meaning of the indigenous Rapa Nui language on Easter Island is established in ritual practices that living Rapa Nui people conduct to communicate with the ancestral ...
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This chapter illustrates how the meaning of the indigenous Rapa Nui language on Easter Island is established in ritual practices that living Rapa Nui people conduct to communicate with the ancestral spirit world. Through language studies with an indigenous teacher, the author discovers that his interpretation of Rapa Nui culture, language, and politics has become radically recontextualized. Moreover, this chapter argues that Rapa Nui language speakers, ultimately, are entangled in a political struggle for indigenous place against settler colonial discourse normalizing Easter Island as a Chilean space. The discursive practice of Rapa Nui language, as opposed to Chilean Spanish, will likely continue to be an important cultural resource for the Rapa Nui people to maintain an identity and “sense of place” distinguished from Chile.Less
This chapter illustrates how the meaning of the indigenous Rapa Nui language on Easter Island is established in ritual practices that living Rapa Nui people conduct to communicate with the ancestral spirit world. Through language studies with an indigenous teacher, the author discovers that his interpretation of Rapa Nui culture, language, and politics has become radically recontextualized. Moreover, this chapter argues that Rapa Nui language speakers, ultimately, are entangled in a political struggle for indigenous place against settler colonial discourse normalizing Easter Island as a Chilean space. The discursive practice of Rapa Nui language, as opposed to Chilean Spanish, will likely continue to be an important cultural resource for the Rapa Nui people to maintain an identity and “sense of place” distinguished from Chile.
Linford D. Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190468910
- eISBN:
- 9780190468958
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190468910.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Biblical Studies
In 1663, America’s first Bible was published in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Not only was it the first entire Bible to be printed anywhere in the Americas, it was also in Wôpanâak, making it the first ...
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In 1663, America’s first Bible was published in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Not only was it the first entire Bible to be printed anywhere in the Americas, it was also in Wôpanâak, making it the first indigenous-language Bible as well. Although John Eliot spearheaded the project, Native Americans were central to its translation, publication, and reception. When published, its reception varied. Some Natives clearly engaged with the text (as marginal writings in Wôpanâak reveal). Other Natives saw it as a sign of colonialism and either ignored it or physically destroyed it. Still other Natives used it for political purposes. By the eighteenth century, the Indian Bible had mostly fallen out of use. But the Indian Bible has once again served the Native community in New England in recent years, mostly as an important piece of the indigenous language revitalization movement among the Wampanoags in Massachusetts.Less
In 1663, America’s first Bible was published in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Not only was it the first entire Bible to be printed anywhere in the Americas, it was also in Wôpanâak, making it the first indigenous-language Bible as well. Although John Eliot spearheaded the project, Native Americans were central to its translation, publication, and reception. When published, its reception varied. Some Natives clearly engaged with the text (as marginal writings in Wôpanâak reveal). Other Natives saw it as a sign of colonialism and either ignored it or physically destroyed it. Still other Natives used it for political purposes. By the eighteenth century, the Indian Bible had mostly fallen out of use. But the Indian Bible has once again served the Native community in New England in recent years, mostly as an important piece of the indigenous language revitalization movement among the Wampanoags in Massachusetts.
Helen Kelly-Holmes and Sari Pietikäinen
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199945177
- eISBN:
- 9780199333172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199945177.003.0011
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
The chapter brings together the main findings from each of the chapters and revisit the introduction and key questions to draw out the volume’s overall contributions. The chapter reflects on some of ...
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The chapter brings together the main findings from each of the chapters and revisit the introduction and key questions to draw out the volume’s overall contributions. The chapter reflects on some of the possibilities afforded by examining multilingualism and the periphery and also some of the challenges presented, while at the same time highlighting possible future research directions. The chapter argues that the centre-periphery lens points to a fruitful, and challenging, way forward for our understanding of multilingualism as a dynamic/static, flexible/fixed phenomenon in minority language spaces and beyond.Less
The chapter brings together the main findings from each of the chapters and revisit the introduction and key questions to draw out the volume’s overall contributions. The chapter reflects on some of the possibilities afforded by examining multilingualism and the periphery and also some of the challenges presented, while at the same time highlighting possible future research directions. The chapter argues that the centre-periphery lens points to a fruitful, and challenging, way forward for our understanding of multilingualism as a dynamic/static, flexible/fixed phenomenon in minority language spaces and beyond.
Peter Elbow
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199782505
- eISBN:
- 9780190252861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199782505.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter explores the concept of speaking onto the page and how freewriting teaches how to use the unplanned speaking gear as a disciplined practice for part of the writing process. After ...
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This chapter explores the concept of speaking onto the page and how freewriting teaches how to use the unplanned speaking gear as a disciplined practice for part of the writing process. After discussing freewriting as pure exercise and how it can be used to achieve serious results, the chapter considers inkshedding, an application of freewriting that foregrounds speech, and invisible writing, a version of freewriting that foregrounds the role of attention. Finally, it cites two books by Maria Rosa Menocal that describe how indigenous languages flourished, along with oral and written literature, around Romania during the “Dark Ages”.Less
This chapter explores the concept of speaking onto the page and how freewriting teaches how to use the unplanned speaking gear as a disciplined practice for part of the writing process. After discussing freewriting as pure exercise and how it can be used to achieve serious results, the chapter considers inkshedding, an application of freewriting that foregrounds speech, and invisible writing, a version of freewriting that foregrounds the role of attention. Finally, it cites two books by Maria Rosa Menocal that describe how indigenous languages flourished, along with oral and written literature, around Romania during the “Dark Ages”.
