Slot: 28B-7 Dec.
28, 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Panel: Sociolinguistics
Chair: Joan Chevalier, US Naval Academy
Title: Moravians in Prague: The Results of
Dialect Contact in a Society with a Socially Stigmatized and Primarily
Non-spoken Standard
Author: James Wilson, University of Sheffield, UK
This paper addresses long-term dialect
contact in a society with a socially stigmatized and primarily non-spoken
standard. I analyze to what extent 40 students from Moravia (the eastern part
of the Czech Republic) living at a hall of residence in Prague acquire variants
of Common Czech (CC), a non-standard but semi-prestigious koiné spoken
throughout Bohemia (the western half of the Czech Republic). In Bohemia, both
Moravian dialects and the standard ‘dialect’, Standard Czech (SC) – an archaic,
functionally restricted, primarily non-spoken standard with no native speakers
– are socially stigmatized and disadvantageous, although for different reasons.
Therefore, it is hypothesized
that speakers of Moravian dialects living in Bohemia are pressurized into
quickly dropping or reducing variants of their highly localized vernaculars and
accommodating towards CC (Sgall and Hronek 1992). However, this ‘hypothesis’ is based on anecdotal
evidence, rather than on empirical findings and it is the product of linguists
who promote CC as a national vernacular.
My study, which
combines a quantitative multivariable analysis with qualitative and
ethnographic data, tests the above hypothesis and provides a representative,
reliable and accurate sociolinguistically-orientated account of how speakers of
Moravian dialects living in Prague assimilate the speech norms of their host
community. I correlate informants’ acquisition of six CC variants with four
independent social variables: ‘sex’, ‘region of origin’, ‘span of residency in
the host community’ and ‘level of integration in the host community’. In this
paper, I focus primarily on gendered differences in accommodation, differences
between speakers of East Moravian and Silesian dialects and I highlight in what
ways informants’ life styles and attitudes towards language influence their
linguistic behaviour. My
results show that: (1) informants’ accommodation is a highly complex process
characterized by a high level of intra- and inter-speaker variation; and (2)
this variation is structured by a combination of language-internal and
extralinguistic factors.
Sgall, P. and J. Hronek. 1992. Čeština
bez příkras. Prague:
H&H.
Title: Communications and Consequences of
Negotiating a Language Choice for Interpersonal Communication in the Republic
of Moldova
Author: Irina Dubinina, Bryn Mawr College
The study of language attitudes in modern
Moldova is complicated not only by differences in the language policies during
the USSR and post-Soviet independence, but also by the fact that the ethnically
Moldovan population is split in half on the question of cultural affiliation:
are Moldovans identical with the neighboring Romanians or are they a separate
ethnicity? The wave of Moldovan
nationalism after the fall of the USSR led to the reversal of Soviet-time
language and educational policies in the Republic which now favor the Moldovan
language, often at the expense of Russian (Mlechko 1999).
The current study investigates language attitudes, preferences, and usage of young Moldovans fourteen years after the emergence of independent Moldova. Data from surveys and interviews conducted in Chisinau schools by the author show that despite the pro-Moldovan focus in the current language policies, the use of both Russian and Moldovan is a norm and a necessity. Both languages are required to maintain valuable social networks of friendship and kinship: 40% of respondents report using Russian with a best friend, 35.5% report using Moldovan and 23% report using both. The paper will report on a range of attitudes and observed practices informing the use of Russian and of Moldovan in the Republic.
Mlechko, T. P.
1999. Byt′ ili ne byt′: Russkii yazyk v
sisteme obrazovania Respubliki Moldova 1989-1999. Kishinev: “Inessa”.
Title: Interethnic and Intraethnic Dynamics
Influencing Language Maintenance and Shift among Belarusian University-Age
Students
Author: N. Anthony Brown, Brigham Young
University
When attempting to ascertain the degree
of acculturation in an ethnic group, language shift provides direct and
reliable source of evidence. As
defined in his seminal paper on language maintenance and language shift,
Fishman (1972) asserted that “The study of language maintenance and language
shift is concerned with the relationship between change (or stability) in
language usage patterns, on the one hand, and ongoing psychological, cultural,
or cultural processes, on the other hand, in populations that utilize more than
one speech variety for intra-group or for inter-group purposes.” Building on Stevens’ (1985) and
Veltman’s (1983) work addressing the influence of nativity and linguistic
characteristics on language shift, the present research investigates language
shift among five hundred ninety nine Belarusian university-age students by
examining linguistic homogeneity and heterogeneity (also referred to as
intraethnic dynamics) as key factors potentially contributing to language shift
in the home—a highly indicative domain of overall language utilization and, in
many respects, a last bastion in terms of language maintenance.
Participants
responded to a questionnaire that inquired as to their language use with
maternal and paternal grandparents during childhood versus their language use
with their mother and father in childhood. In addition, respondents reported their language use with
their spouse and children, including prospective use with children for those
either married without children or single. Finally, this research discusses respondents’ concern (or
lack thereof) about the future of Belarusian and the extent to which language
use with prospective children reflects that concern.
References
Fishman, Joshua A. (1972). "Language
maintenance and language shift as a field of inquiry: revisited," Language
in Sociocultural Change
(pp. 76-134). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Stevens, Gillian. 1985. "Nativity, Intermarriage, and Mother-Tongue Shift." American
Sociological Review.
Vol. 50 (February: pp. 74-83).
Veltman, Calvin. 1983. Language Shift in the United States.
New York: Mouton Publishers.
Title: Ethnic Self-Identification of Heritage
Speakers of Russian in the United States
Author: Evgeny Dengub, Bryn Mawr College
Ethnic identity is one of the facets of
an individual’s social identity. This is a dynamic and constantly-developing,
contextually-dependent phenomenon that is subject to change under the influence
of various factors, and, at the same time, guiding an individual’s behavior.
Our awareness of the mechanisms and nature of heritage learners’ ethnic
self-identification may facilitate development of both students’ language
proficiency and ethnic identity.
This paper
examines the strategies Russian heritage speakers use in the process of
identity construction, their reasons for self-identification with a particular
ethnic group, and the context in which identification takes place. Participants
in this research project were recruited from a large state university in the
northeastern United States, where they were enrolled in an advanced course for
Russian heritage speakers. The participants were born either in the former
Soviet Union or are members of a family in which at least one parent is a
native speaker of Russian.
Data from
surveys and interviews reveal three general strategies to self-labeling: 1)
identification through negation (“I am not (Russian/American/Ukrainian etc.”);
2) combinatory identification (“I am “Jewish-Ukrainian-Russian”); or
situational identification, when the choice of a particular ethnic identity is
context-dependent. For example, the data show very often heritage speakers of
Russian identify themselves with heritage identity when they can get some
social rewards or benefits, or when it is socially easier to present themselves
in this way.
Further
discussion will include the relationship between identity construction and
personality, perceptions about self and others, and the linguistic and social
factors of interaction.