Ling 115 Final

What makes a language dominant?

power! (majority of speakers, language of government, exclusive language of education, wealth)

What contributed to making English in the US:

majority of speakers, language of government, exclusive language of education (especially into the 1900s), wealth/power

English only legislation

Prop. 63, Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, Yniguez v. Mofford 1990, Gutierrez v. Municipal Court 1988, Garcia v. the San Francisco Spun Steak Company 1993

Teaching non-English languages

Meyers v. Nebraska 1923, National Defense Act 1958, Native American Languages Act 1995

English in the World

majority of speakers (20% able to use/speak English), language of government, exclusive language of education, wealth/power

Language Shift

Gradual process of minority language community using only majority language

3 Generation Effect

1st generation: survival skills, 2nd generation: bilingual, 3rd generation: language loss

Language Death

52% of people speak 1 of 20 languages. 96% of languages = 4% of speakers

Threatened Language

used by all generations but losing speakers

Endangered Language

no children speakers

Moribund Language

no children speakers, no speakers of child-bearing years

Language Death: the situation of

Hebrew (previously), The languages of Goulburn Island, Welsh, Hawaiian

Official Languages

prestigiouslanguages recognized by a government or authority used in legal and official contexts.

National Languages

Native languages that have widespread use and acceptance within a country, often serving as a symbol of national identity.

Lingua Franca

widely spoken language used for communication between speakers of different native languages.

Unilingual policy

A policy that promotes the use of only one language within a particular country or institution, often in official and administrative contexts.

Multilingual Policy

regional languages, multiple everywhere, one native plus one colonial or international language used officially alongside native languages.

Corpus Planning

Choice of graphization, choice of internal vs. external sourcing for lexical expansion

Graphization

The process of developing a written system for a language, including the creation of scripts and orthography to standardize its written form.

Lexical Expansion

The process of increasing the vocabulary of a language through the introduction of new words or expressions, often by borrowing from other languages or creating new terms. (can be internal or external)

Language Purism

North Korea. The movement aimed at preserving a language's original form by avoiding foreign influences, often emphasizing the use of native vocabulary and expressions.

Minority Languages

less prestige, fewer speakers, less wealthy/powerful

Oberwart Language Shift

The transition of a community from the use of a minority language, such as Oberwart Romani, to a dominant language, often resulting in the gradual loss of the minority language. This shift may be influenced by social, economic, and political factors.

Standard Language

a language that can be written/standardized to some degree by grammar

Is English an official language in USA or Britain?

No

language planning

activities which aim at changing linguistic behavior

status planning

efforts to change the use/function of a language

negative planning

governments banning/heavily discouraging the use of minority languages and dialects to control groups using their language in a separatist method, or to unify a population

Meyer v. Nebraska 1923

attempt to forbid the teaching of languages other than English prior to the 8th grade, violated the 14th amendment

Bilingual Education Act

expanded bilingual education from an emphasis on speakers of other languages as well (other than Spanish)

Native American Languages Act

uniqueness and value of the Native American languages and the responsibility that the country has to work to preserve these languages

Prop 63

Argued that English should be adopted as the state language of California

Two officially bilingual states in the USA

New Mexico and Hawaii

Yniguez vs. Mofford 1990

• Yniguez used Spanish during work, Gutierrez used Spanish during office; both claimed the interference with First Amendment

• English language Amendment was unconstitutional

• only government acts and not day-to-day operations

Garcia v. San Francisco Spun Steak Company

workers arguing in Spanish = implementing an English only rule → government allowed non English languages, but it was overturned

linguistic determinism

language determines thought; forces speakers to think a certain way

linguistic relativity

language has a tendency to influence thought