Sociolinguistics of language endangerment

Language endangerment confronts many Tibeto-Burman (TB) languages. This paper provides a general typology of methods for reclaiming such languages, using TB examples where possible, and discusses the problems which may arise. This is followed by a case study of one such endangered language, Gong in Thailand, and attempts for its reclamation.

In the last decade of the 20th century a new sub-field of linguistics emerged that has come to be known as ‘language documentation’ or ‘documentary linguistics’ (Himmelmann 1998, 2002, 2006, Lehmann 2001, Austin 2010a, Grenoble 2010, Woodbury 2003, 2011). In this paper we explore how it was defined in the seminal work of Himmelmann (1998) and others, including what were presented as significant characteristics that distinguished language documentation from language description, and how the field has changed and evolved over the past 20 years. A focus on best practices, standards, tools and models for documentary corpora appeared in the early years, which led later to more critical discussions of the goals and methods of language documentation. The paper examines some current developments, including new approaches to language archiving, and suggests that there are opportunities for language documentation to adopt a more socially-engaged approach to languages to and linguistic research, including better engagement with language revitalisation. There are also opportunities to work towards addressing what is currently a language documentation output gap through experimentation new genres and innovations in writing and publication.

This article shows how language, literature and linguistics have been related in the past and how the literary arts have been eliminated from modern linguistics. Then it shows how sociolinguistics has tackled the description of language loss and why the literary arts should be used by linguists to document and understand language loss and decline. The patient weaving of a society, a family, or the intricacy of an individual's thoughts through text creates a space enabling a display of complexity which cannot be revealed in scientific work. Using data from literature (Victor Hugo and Annie Ernaux)this article will show the contribution literature can make to the understanding of the meaning of language loss for a people's identity.

Language Policy, 2006

The prospect of the loss of linguistic diversity on a large scale has prompted scholars such as Fishman and others to propose programs of intervention to ‚reverse language shift’ (RLS). RLS theories and efforts are byproducts of European indigenous minority problems, and the ideological bias of Fishman’s model of RLS privileges intergenerational transmission in the context of stable diglossia. This article examines the ideological underpinnings and utility of this framework as an appropriate model for stabilizing and revitalizing indigenous languages. I question the assumptions and theoretical perspectives underlying terms such as RLS and reconceptualize what it might mean for a language to be maintained and survive without intergenerational mother tongue transmission. As an increasing number of communities around the world face the impending loss of their languages, it is imperative to clarify these issues not just for theory’s sake, but in the interest of providing sound advice.

This is the first ethnographic report of the documentation project on the Rongga language, which is a minority (Austronesian) language in Flores Indonesia (with around 4000 speakers). Various aspects of the language that appear to explain why this language and its cultural practices are being increasingly marginalised are reported. The report also discusses the community response to this and the prospects of maintaining Rongga in the future.

2005

Abstract: Changes in the 'ecology of languages' after the independence of Indonesia have resulted in changes in the social, cultural and economic settings. These changes in turn have affected the well-being of indigenous languages and cultures right across the ...

Contextualizing critical applied linguistics within the diverse multilingual and multiethnic setting of Pakistan, this paper seeks to underline how important it could be for applied linguists and English teaching professionals to underpin their research on the rich insights this relatively new field of academic inquiry affords. Underlining this can be crucial because we observe that most applied linguists and English teaching professionals in Pakistan usually view the scope and application of applied linguistics rather narrowly as they believe that it only deals with English language teaching and learning. However, the fact remains that the scope of applied linguistics transcends far beyond language teaching and learning. In addition, such professionals tend to see language related issues in isolation from the political, ideological, and power dynamics, which govern them. Such an approach is termed as traditionalist, structuralist or apolitical/ahistorical. Contrary to the above approach, critical applied linguistics problematizes and politicizes language related issues, raising more critical questions that relate to access, power, marginalization, hegemony, difference, and resistance (Pennycook, 2001, p .6). Thus, the purpose of the paper is to enlighten applied linguists and English language teaching professionals by introducing some crucial conceptual frameworks within critical applied linguistics such as linguistic imperialism, linguistic human rights, critical language policy, and minority language rights and so on. We believe that applied linguists can usefully apply the above frameworks in their academic research as well as their teaching to understand and analyze the critical dimensions of language policy and planning, sociolinguistics, English teaching and so on. Towards the end, the scope of those concepts is also contextualized, and discussed in relation to language policy and planning, English language teaching, and the challenges of indigenous mother tongues in Pakistan.

Ethnomusicology Forum, 2012

The wide-spread threat to certain kinds of music genres (particularly those of indigenous and minority peoples) resulting from major socioeconomic and political shifts in recent decades has stimulated a call for applied ethnomusicological engagement with safeguarding. Discourse from the field of language maintenance, though, underscores a number of significant ethical, ideological and pragmatic concerns generated by efforts to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. For ethnomusicologists, these concerns warrant careful consideration. In this paper, I position four primary charges against safeguarding from the language maintenance literature in relation to safeguarding music cultures, thereby hoping to invite new reflections on the challenges we face and the stances we might adopt when helping communities that are trying to protect and promote their endangered musical heritage.

2010

The paper is devoted to the phenomenon of mother tongue change, which is known as the most common course of language death. The languages under consideration are Domaakí, with ca. 350 speakers in the Nager and Hunza Valleys, and Pashto as spoken by permanent migrants in ca. 150 households scattered all over the Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan). By analysing and comparing the social environment of both speech communities the author attempts to illustrate the importance of the speakers' attitude towards their own mother tongue in the process of language shift.