Heritage and Resilience V: Consequences of Language Shift
Consequences of language shift
Lenore A. Grenoble
University of Chicago
Bryan Kirschen
Binghamton University, State University of New York
PROGRAMME | REGISTRATION required by December 4, 2024
December 6, 2024, 4 p.m.
Theatersaal
Sonnenfelsgasse 19, 1010 Vienna
Lenore A. Grenoble | University of Chicago
Structural consequences of language shift, with a focus on Eurasian languages
A large percentage of the world’s languages—anywhere from 50 to 90%—are currently spoken in what we call shift ecologies, situations of unstable bi- or multi-lingualism where speakers, and often younger speakers, are not using their ancestral language but rather speaking the majority language. Widespread, ongoing language shift today provides opportunities to study language change and loss in process, rather than as an end product.
This talk considers contact-induced change and shift within a framework of shift ecologies that encompasses both structural linguistic features and social process (Grenoble and Osipov 2023). Shift ecologies are dynamic: language choices and preferences change, as do speakers’ proficiency levels. One result is high levels variation of multiple kinds in these speech communities, including variation in the linguistic systems of speakers, as well as in terms of their proficiency. Even rapid shift occurs unevenly across the larger community of all speakers, with some members continuing to use the language in the home even after others have given it up. Moreover, people have varying opportunities to use the language, varying motivations, and varying ideologies (Gal & Irvine 2019); these all have an impact on linguistic outcomes of contact and shift. The analysis draws heavily on my ongoing research in Arctic language communities in northeastern Russia, with examples from Even and Evenki (Tungusic) and Chukchi (Chukotko-Kamchatkan). Comparative data further come from Sakha (Turkic, Republic of Sakha, Yakutia), a language with a larger speaker population and (arguably) higher status.
Bryan Kirschen | Binghamton University, State University of New York
Linguistic Ramifications of Postvernacularity: The Case of Judeo-Spanish in the United States
Classified by Ethnologue (2024) as a shifting (level 7- Turkey), moribund (level 8a -
Israel), and nearly extinct (level 8b - Greece and Bosnia) language, Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) has seen a sharp decrease in L1 speakers around the world since the second half of the twentieth century. Not accounted for in the aforementioned catalogue, this presentation considers the linguistic vitality of Judeo-Spanish in the United States and the questions that arise in determining levels of endangerment and assessing variation. In particular, this talk applies four sociolinguistic models to the case of Judeo-Spanish in the United States to not only document the ways in which present-day speech communities utilize their heritage language but also to explore recent initiatives to document, teach, and revitalize the language. Research is based on the author’s ethnographic fieldwork throughout the country’s largest Sephardic populations in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, and South Florida. As a result, the following frameworks will be applied to these regions: the ethnolinguistic repertoire construct (Bunin Benor 2010), ethnolinguistic infusion (Bunin Benor 2019), postvernacularity (Shandler 2006), and metalinguistic communities of practice (Avineri 2012). Together, these models provide an understanding of the diverse ways that Sephardim in the United States utilize their heritage tongue and expand upon the notion of what it means to be a speaker of Judeo-Spanish today. Further, this study will compare findings with research on Sephardic populations in other countries where Judeo-Spanish speakers still reside.