DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DIPLOMA COURSE CODE 101: English DIPLOMA COURSE CODE 101: English Language development: 1.Language ecology 2.Language Shift 3.Language Death 4.Language Revitalization 111

What is Language Ecology? the study of the interaction of any given language and its environment What environments: –Weaken language health? (language shift = language endangerment + language death) –Foster language health? (language revitalization)

Language Shift The decline or extinction of a language in situations where languages come into contact with each other ( language contact).

LANGUAGE DEATH The disappearance of a language as a mother tongue. A language, particularly a minority language, may come under enormous pressure from a more prestigious or more widely used language spoken nearby. Language death is a type of language shift. However, unlike bilingualism, which involves speakers shifting from one language to another in different contexts, language death occurs when, over time, a language loses all its speakers.

5 Language Shift and Death Language death: when the last speaker of a language dies Language shift: the process by which communities adopt another language Language shift & death: Cornish (to English) Shift without death: Welsh (to English) Norwegian (to English) in the US Death without shift: Tasmanian etc. – normally because population is killed.

Language shift 3 Criteria for “Endangered Language” The number of speakers currently living. The mean age of native and/or fluent speakers. The percentage of the youngest generation acquiring fluency with the language in question.

The path to language Death Stable – language is passed to the younger generation ↓ Endangered – fewer and fewer children learning the language; learn majority language instead ↓ Moribund – no longer passed to younger generation; speakers all middle aged or older ↓ Extinct – no living native speakers

8 What causes language shift and death? Difficult to pinpoint exact causes that will always accurately predict language shift or death … but … War and conflict, especially genocide Population movement e.g. migration, re-settlement or taking of traditional land Also (similarly) re-drawing of national boundaries in e.g. colonial Africa Economic reasons such as choosing to adopt a majority language e.g. for jobs Demographics (e.g. declining birth rate, exogamy) Institutional support: whether ‘laissez-faire’ or overt proscription Etc. – But often a combination of different historical social and political factors (see Mesthrie et al 2000)

External causes of LS (“murder”) Genocide or plague Geographical displacement because of war, famine, or religious persecution Repressive policies toward minority languages –forbidden to speak in school –taught to despise “I still remembered that when I was first grade, I was forced to speak Burmese. If I spoke Mon, I had to pay fine for 25 pyar.” Pon Nya Mon, Chairman, Monland Restoration Council

Internal causes of LS (“suicide”) Pragmatic –Trade or employment –Higher education or government –Intermarriage Ideological –Enamoration with Western culture –Indigenous language as inferior or shameful –Religious conversion Language contact will not lead to language death as long as some domains of use are retained.

Language shift diglossia/triglossia—use in a society of more than one language, each with distinct domains Colonial language ↓ Dominant indigenous language ↓ Minority language(s) domains of use—situations that call for use of one language over another

Language shift H Language Learned by formal education Used in prestigious domains (religion, education, business, government) Attributed greater beauty and elegance Owns the written domain Language of economic advantage L Language Learned in the home Used in domains of solidarity (home, w/ friends and family)

Language Revitalization External helps Funding Expert help –Linguists—produce orthography, grammar, dictionary, literacy materials, etc. –Teachers—language and literacy training Governmental support –Recognition of minority languages –Allow teaching in primary education –Political autonomy Forums for use –Immersion programs, “language nests” –Radio broadcasts

Language Revitalization Internal helps Linguistic “patriotism” and commitment Ingenuity –Vocabulary development –Production of written work

Three examples of language revitalization Hebrew Maori Welsh In what ways are these revitalization programs succeeding? Where could they do better?

Why “save” languages? 1.To preserve diversity 2.To prevent loss of scientific knowledge 3.To value the people who speak them

17 The Development of New Languages? Language contact situations can (and do) produce ‘contact languages’ (i.e. a mixed language) Also produce pidgins, and later, creoles. They can add vitality and innovation to a new language by enriching the lexicon. This is why the language death argument – as if languages were biological ‘species’ – is a bit odd: ‘if a dog and a bird are in the same house, the dog doesn’t sprout wings, nor does the bird grow paws’ – languages in contact can produce new languages.