Indigenous Languages
Language loss is a global phenomenon that should concern everyone. No language can be completely translated into another language because the language carries specific cultural ideas and attitudes. when a language dies, these cultural concepts die with it. How language shapes the way we think explains how culture affects the way we explain the world in terms of colours, numbers and other essential concepts. It includes an interesting anecdote about how an Australian Aboriginal group locates time within the landscape (they have no left or right). New Internationalist created an entire issue on Language loss in June, 2014. this should be accessible through your school or local library.
Random ideas:
Language retrieval
Family structure -how is this represented in language?
Vanuatu
Fiji
aboriginal Australia - NT School, Ms Farr's contacts
Linguistics
Linguistics is the study of language - Not the study of any particular language, but the study of how languages operate - their sounds, their vocabularies, their grammars, and what makes words make sense. this explained at the Virtual Linguistics Campus.
The Ling Space is a YouTube channel that explains linguistics concepts as simply and practically as possible. The sections on language aquisition and socio-linguistics will probably be useful background for this PIP.
Socio-linguistics is the study of how language frames our social interactions. Dr Emma Moore slide show is an excellent stating point for learnign about socio-linguistics. How language shapes the way we think uses
Martin Hilpert's video isn't particularly exciting but it does give a thorough introduction to different aspects of socio linguistics, including summarising some important studies.
Linguistic hegemonies
In Luxemburg everyone has to be fluent in three languages that are used in particular contexts. Everyone speaks Luxumburgisch at home, but primary school and most shopping happens in German, while French is the language of law and politics and many workplaces. Courts might operate mostly in German, with witnesses speaking Luxumburgisch but the verdict handed down in French. As you can see, each language has a particular role and this leads to each language having a particular sphere of power. We call this linguistic hegemony. If you are not fluent (and literate) in all these languages and can switch easily between them, life will be much easier and you be able to achieve a more powerful role in society than someone who is not fluent. In some languages the difference between male and female dialects reflects gender inequality (because it is taboo to speak the other gender's language).
In a colonised country power operates between people who speak indigenous languages, Creoles/pidgins, dialects and coloniser-languages (eg. English and French).
Code-switching
Even if we only speak one language, we change registers from one moment to the next depending on who are are talking to and the context of our conversation - think about being in class and talking to a a teacher about the work, a class member about the work or a friend about your weekend; your vocabulary, sentence structure and expression will change each time. This is called code-switching. If you are multilingual, the term will also include times when you switch languages, including moment when you switched languages just a for one or two words.
As you research your different language groups, it would be a good idea to locate the different contexts in which people switch languages or registers. You may be able to relate this to the way colonialism has operated in different countries.
something that might be interesting to investigate is the extent to which an individual maintains the same sense of identity in different linguistic contexts.
The Ling Space is a YouTube channel that explains linguistics concepts as simply and practically as possible. The sections on language aquisition and socio-linguistics will probably be useful background for this PIP.
Socio-linguistics is the study of how language frames our social interactions. Dr Emma Moore slide show is an excellent stating point for learnign about socio-linguistics. How language shapes the way we think uses
Martin Hilpert's video isn't particularly exciting but it does give a thorough introduction to different aspects of socio linguistics, including summarising some important studies.
Linguistic hegemonies
In Luxemburg everyone has to be fluent in three languages that are used in particular contexts. Everyone speaks Luxumburgisch at home, but primary school and most shopping happens in German, while French is the language of law and politics and many workplaces. Courts might operate mostly in German, with witnesses speaking Luxumburgisch but the verdict handed down in French. As you can see, each language has a particular role and this leads to each language having a particular sphere of power. We call this linguistic hegemony. If you are not fluent (and literate) in all these languages and can switch easily between them, life will be much easier and you be able to achieve a more powerful role in society than someone who is not fluent. In some languages the difference between male and female dialects reflects gender inequality (because it is taboo to speak the other gender's language).
In a colonised country power operates between people who speak indigenous languages, Creoles/pidgins, dialects and coloniser-languages (eg. English and French).
Code-switching
Even if we only speak one language, we change registers from one moment to the next depending on who are are talking to and the context of our conversation - think about being in class and talking to a a teacher about the work, a class member about the work or a friend about your weekend; your vocabulary, sentence structure and expression will change each time. This is called code-switching. If you are multilingual, the term will also include times when you switch languages, including moment when you switched languages just a for one or two words.
As you research your different language groups, it would be a good idea to locate the different contexts in which people switch languages or registers. You may be able to relate this to the way colonialism has operated in different countries.
something that might be interesting to investigate is the extent to which an individual maintains the same sense of identity in different linguistic contexts.
Aboriginal Language Issues
Aboriginal Language Maintenance Some Issues and Strategies.
Aboriginal Languages Reclamation: Countering the neo-colonial onslaught.
Language reclamation as resistance: Social and cultural contexts enabled by the use of reclaimed Kaurna Language.
Other indgenous languages
When the marginalised research the privileged: One Māori group’s experience.
Linguistic Reparative Justice for indigenous peoples: The case of language policy in Colombia .