Language maintenance and shift Lecture 4; Holmes-Chapter 3

Language maintenance and shift Outline: Language shift Migrants Language death Language maintenance Language revival Lecture 4; Holmes Chapter 3

Language shift A community shifts from using one language for most purposes to using a different one. One language replaces the roles and functions of another language in a community. A strong language becomes weak; a weak language becomes strong in a community.

Migrant Minorities Ex. Indians, Chinese, Italians..etc. in Uk. Why do they need to shift? (to assimilate the original monolingual community, to be a member of the new community..etc.) How many generations are needed to shift to be completed? Three to four generations, sometimes in just two.

Question Explain how a migrant community shift from being monolingual to bilingual, then to monolingual again.

Non-Migrant communities Political, economic, and social changes could result in language shift. E,g, Oberwart , an Austrian town on the border of Hungary. The community had been shifting from Hungarian to Germany for sometimes. P.55.

Table 3.1. p. 56

Migrant Majorities Colonial effect. Morocco, Lebanon, New Guinea, India…etc. Communities were monolingual then bilingual, then some of them are back monolingual. When shift occurs, it is almost toward the dominant powerful communities.

Social and economic factors. Shift toward the language of the high status, prestigious, and social success communities.

Direction of language shifts Whose language would be stronger? seller ------------- buyer minority ------------- majority poor --------------- wealthy low social status ---------high social status ruled -------------- ruler

Factors contributing to language shift Economic factor Seller buyer Demographic factor Minority majority Social factor Poor wealthy Low social status high social status Political factor Ruled ruler

What factor(s) account(s) for the following movements of languages in Hong Kong? 1) PTH has become more important in HK after 1997 (political factor) 2) PTH has become a more important language than English for people working in the retailing industry (economic factor) 3) Cantonese has replaced some major functions of English in HK in the past decades e.g. a) the language of the government; b) the language of HK Legislative Council; c) the medium of instruction in secondary schools. (political and demographic factors)

4) The Filipinos are the biggest group of foreign population in HK (2 4) The Filipinos are the biggest group of foreign population in HK (2.1%) but their language is not as popular as that of the British which make up only 0.3% of the HK population in 2001. (social factor) 5) The HK population using other Chinese dialects as a usual language has decreased from 7% in 1991 to 5.5% in 2001. (social and demographic factors)

Language Death and language loss How can a language die? 1) when all the people who speak that language die; 2) when the domains in which a language is used are totally replaced by another language; 3) when a language is suppressed by a political power. Which is more likely to die, a standard language or a dialect?

Examples of endangered languages. South Arabian Languages

Language Death and language loss Q. what is the difference between language shift and language death.

Spanish could be lost in US among the fourth generation of Mexican community, but not in their original countries.

Attitude and value when, do you think, language shift will be slower among minorities?

When the language is seen as an important symbol of ethnic identity When the language is seen as an important symbol of ethnic identity. “Positive attitude”. E.g. French in Canada and in the United States.

Language maintenance A language will last long and remain strong in a community if: The social status of the target language speakers remains high; The number of people using the target language remains large; Institutional support to the target language remains high.

How can a minority language be maintained? If a language is an important identity marker; If a minority group is cohesive (e.g. China Town); If a minority group keeps close contact with the homeland; If a minority language gets institutional support

Ethnolinguistic Vitality Ethno – different ethnic groups Ethnolinguistic – different ethnic groups speaking different languages Vitality – strength

Three factors to assess ethnolinguistic vitality Howard Giles: Social status of the speakers Demographic strength Institutional support

Language revival/ revitalization reverse shift. What brings dead/dying languages back to life?

Language revival/ revitalization reverse shift. New Zealand: Maori (cultural crisis) https://sites.google.com/site/hongkonglinguistic s/Downhome/language-shift/te-reo-maori Israel: Hebrew (nationalism) Taiwan: Taiwanese (political independence) Wales: Welsh (cultural identity) Scotland: scotch (cultural identity) Who brings dead/dying languages back to life? Acceptance by Institutions (i.e. government, university, church, media etc.) Acceptance by people