LING 115 Midterm 1

invariant system hypothesis

defines language as a set of words/vocabulary and a set of rules of grammar and pronunciation

problem with invariant system hypothesis

no two individuals have the same identical set of rules and vocab (American Linguistic Atlas Project)

idiolect

the unique and personalized way that each individual speaks

mutual intelligibility hypothesis (mih)

defines language as mutual understanding

danish, swedish, norwegian (from scandinavia) and hindu and urdu (from india)

example of varieties of speech that are mutually intelligible, but classified as different languages (problem with mih)

mandarin, cantonese, taiwanese, shanghainese (dialects of chinese)

examples of varieties of speech that are mutually unintelligible, but classified as under one language

socio-political conflict of hindi and urdu

20thC gained independence from Britain, hindi used by hindu, urdu used by muslim

1947 independence led to separation of india and pakistan, urdu became pakistan's NL

socio-political conflict of serbian, croatian, bosnian, montenegrin

1946 balkan states were unified, language called serbo-croatian

1991 disintegration of yugoslavia, split into four languages (mutually intelligible)

socio-political conflict of ryuukyuan

mutually unintelligible with japanese, but considered a dialect of japanese because of japan's wish of being mono-ethnic, mon-cultural, and mono-lingual

"a language is a dialect with an army and a navy"

quote that means that political power often decides whether a form of speech is a language or dialect

natural selection

particular group becomes more powerful over time, leaving to that group having a higher status and considering their variety as a language

deliberate selection

particular variety is selected for a special role (NL or OL) and developed through standardization

standardization

establishing and promoting a single uniform variety of a language as the accepted "correct" standard for a community

historicity

variety may be considered a language because its speakers have a long attachment to it

autonomy

variety may be considered a language because it distinguishes its speakers from neighboring groups

property 1 of dialects

dialect is a variety not recognized as a distinct language, but related to an officially recognized language

property 2 of dialects

differences between dialects and standard forms of language occur in accent and pronunciation, vocab, grammar

property 3 of dialects

dialects are commonly associated with a single geographic or region

property 4 of dialects

assumption that dialects of a language are all mutually intelligible to a large degree (counter example: chinese)

isoglosses

boundaries lines between variations in pronunciations or word usage

fuzzy dialect boundary

when some isoglosses don't fully line up with others

dialect continuum

when dialects blend in with one another, making it hard to identify where one ends and the other begins

religious dialects

people with different religions speak the same language in different ways

religious dialect examples

(dialects of iraqi arabic) baghdad: muslim, christian, jewish

social dialects

people from different social groups speak the same language in different ways

social dialects examples

india: hindu caste groups speak gujarati differently

ethnic dialects examples

early italian american immigrants, african american vernacular english

register

individuals changing their speech based on specific activities or jobs

style

individuals changing their speech based on participants, settings, topics, functions

referential communication

language used to convey information to others (news programs, documentaries, scientific discussions)

affective communication

communication for initiating, maintaining, and strengthening social relations

official language (OL)

language used in area of life/activity (teaching in schools, government administration), geographical area (state/province/region)

national language (NL)

symbolic language intended to represent and unify the nation

paraguay OL and NL

OL = spanish, NL = guarani

tanzania OL and NL

OL = swahili, english, NL = swahili

singapore OL and NL

OL = malay, mandarin, tamil, english, NL = malay

status planning

step 1 in language planning; gives special roles to certain languages/varieties (NL or OL)

corpus planning

step 2 in language planning; developing vocab, dictionaries, pronunciation, grammatical rules, writing system

promotion

step 3 of language planning; spreading the knowledge of new NLs/OLs

acceptance

step 4 of language planning; gaining the acceptance of the NL and OL by the people having them be proud of it

advantage of multiple NLs

avoids inter-ethnic discontent (NL/OL)

disadvantage of multiple NLs

weakens the unifying affect of having a single NL (NL/OL)

advantage of multiple OLs

all segments of the population have equal linguistic advantages (NL/OL)

disadvantages of multiple OLs

very expensive; OLs have to be produced in multiple languages (NL/OL)

advantage of no NL, just OL

ethnically neutral; OL is standardized and ready to go (NL/OL)

disadvantage of no NL, just OL

no stimulation of national unity; OL could have negative colonial associations; learning a non-indigenous language may be hard (NL/OL)

japanese, polish, french

examples of NL and OL being the same language

pakistan and bangladesh NL and OL conflict

west pakistan was politically powerful, but had less of a populationm, declared urdu as the NL, rejected bangali from being an NL or OL, causes agitation and leads to civil war; separation between pakistan and bangladesh

sri lanka NL and OL conflict

sinhala becomes OL, tamil books/films were banned, leads to riots, deaths, and civil war

unifying (NL function)

unifies the nation and offers advantages to speakers that other languages don't (NL)

separatist (NL function)

distinguishes speakers from those of other nations (NL)

prestige (NL function)

seen as a 'real language' with high status (NL)

frame of reference (NL function)

provides a model of correctness and is well standardized (NL)

language-internal sourcing

creating new words by re-using old works or sub-parts of words already in a language

language-external sourcing

borrowing a word and its meaning from another language

linguistic purification

purging of words of foreign origin to make NL pure; borrowed words are replaced with new native/internally-sourced words

linguistic protectionism

new words should only be created from internal resources

example of linguistic purification

north korea changed thousands of words and are almost unintelligible from south korean

example of linguistic protectionism

french aimed to block new english borrowed words (loans); fined government workers who used english loans

example of government inference with NL/OL

azerbajian (azeri, originally written with arabic), wrote in roman alphabet/latin script after joining soviet union to weaken islamic identification, turkey switched from arabic script to roman alphabet/latin script, all languages switched to cyrillic

language assimilation

adopting the dominant language of a new country

taiwan example of language suppression

taiwan was pressured to speak in japanese and chinese was suppressed (goal: stimulate loyalty to japan); created anti-japanese identity

ainu example of language suppression

ainu was forbidden to learn or speak japanese, started adopting russian, japan feels threatened and encourages ainu to learn and speak japanese, russian adopting stops, japan forbids ainu from learning japanese again; results in ainu almost disappearing

language shift

observation that people frequently shift their daily speech away from dominant/regular use of one language into the increased use of a different language

what causes language shift?

migration, expansion of territory, realignment of two nations' borders

generation 1

immigrants; fluent speakers of HL

generation 2

children of immigrants; bilingual

generation 3

grandchildren of immigrants; competence in HL, monolingual in local language

generation 1.25

immigration at 13-17

generation 1.5

immigration before teen age

generation 1.75

immigration at 0-5

generation 4 effect

desire to reconnect with heritage background, blaming parents for not passing down HL

factors that help transmission and maintenance of HL

size and concentration of minority, arrival of new and monolingual immigrants, media availability in HL, isolated communities, visits to home country, parents committed to passing down HL

capacity-opportunity-desire (COD)

framework for assessing prospects for HL maintenance to be successful

capability (COD)

abilities that individuals develop in the HL (COD)

opportunity (COD)

chances speakers have to use HL outside of home in daily life (COD)

desire (COD)

eagerness individuals have to use HL (COD)

quecha example of generation 4 effect

showed that HL maintenance thrives best when speakers are comfortable and feel secure in prosperity and maturity to value their HL as an important symbol of ethnicity; located in equador

mirpur pahari

demonstrated how dense, local community and ongoing connections with home helps sustain HL; lives in UK and originated in pakistan

hindi

demonstrated how lack of parent effort and lack of opportunity does not help in sustaining HL; lives in US

when is a language considered endangered?

when it has less than 20,000 speakers

what portion of the world's language is endangered?

2/3

how much of the world's population speaks the world's 96% of languages?

4%

moribound

language that will almost certainly become extinct in the near future; because no children speak it as their first language

causes of language endangerment

economic factors, social factors, growth of larger languages, globalization, urbanization, invasion and colonization, physical causes

language documentation

recording and preserving languages for future generations

language revitalization

teaching and spreading new knowledge about ELs to stop disappearance of ELs

hebrew revitalization

not spoken for 2,000 years, revived in the 20th century

cornish (UK) and miami (USA)

had no living speakers until recently and have been revived

maori (new zealand)

invention of language nests after english schooling and urbanization

language nests

immersion programs that teach preschoolers their heritage languages

hawaiian (USA)

emergence of pidgin from poorly trained english teachers, most successful case of revitalization

diglossia

switching between two different varieties of language in different areas of life

code-switching

switching between two or more different languages in a single conversation

domains of H (high) variety

religious activities, political discussions, government administration, newspapers and technical writing, news programs

domains of L (low) variety

TV soap operas, family and friends

extended diglossia

involved two separate language patterning in H and L ways

triglossia

situation where there are three varieties in H/L relations to each other

tanzania example of triglossia

H = english and swahili, L = regional tribal languages

classical arabic

what the qur'an/korean was written in