Sustaining Language Use

M. Paul Lewis, Gary F. Simons

• Publisher: SIL International
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781556712678
• eBook ISBN: 9781556714207
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education
• Index: Politics & International Relations

How does a language community sustain their language in the face of ever-increasing forces of language shift? This volume, both a textbook and a handbook, is the result of ten years of reflection by the authors in light of SIL International's 80 years of fieldwork in local language communities. Using the Sustainable Use Model detailed here, readers learn how to advise maintaining use of their language at a sustainable level. This could include, not only the level of active literacy, but also levels of orality and identity. The book is aimed at "on the ground" workers involved with a community, to address issues arising from language and culture contact.M. Paul Lewis (Ph.D., sociolinguistics, Georgetown University) did fieldwork in Guatemala, was general editor of the Ethnologue®, and is a Sociolinguistics Consultant with SIL. His research interests are language endangerment, language policy and planning, and language documentation. He has consulted and trained on six continents.Gary F. Simons (Ph.D., linguistics, Cornell University) is Chief Research Officer for SIL and Executive Editor of the Ethnologue®. He was involved in language development in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, co-founder of the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC), and co-developer of the ISO 639-3 identifiers for the world's languages."In this clearly written monograph, Lewis and Simons lay the groundwork for those who [work] with members of local language communities, to help them implement diverse activities that most effectively lead to a sustainable level of language use. They build appropriately upon the groundbreaking work that was carried out several decades ago by sociolinguists such as Charles Ferguson, Robert Cooper, and Joshua Fishman."- Adapted from the Foreword by G. Richard Tucker

Appendix

Examples of activities for promoting sustainable language use

A wide variety of activities can be used to help a speech community achieve the desired sustainable level of use.

A.1 Introduction

This appendix lists some activities that are representative of efforts to change the situation of a language within its linguistic ecology. It is not comprehensive but serves as the beginnings of a catalog of things that have been attempted by others in many different parts of the world. The SUM provides a way to identify which of the FAMED conditions need to be addressed. The following examples are categorized both by the change in EGIDS level that is desired in order to move towards a sustainable level of use and the specific FAMED condition(s) that need to be addressed. The sections that follow parallel the description of the principles involved as described in chapter 9 "Language Development: Achieving Sustainable Use". The examples presented here can serve as a point of departure for local practitioners. Not every example is necessarily applicable in every context. In every case, local language developers will want to make adjustments appropriate to their own circumstances. Even better, they should develop activities of their own that are more suited to the situation at hand.

It should also be clear that some of the activities given as examples may, in fact, address multiple FAMED conditions simultaneously or can be adjusted in ways that make them more appropriate for addressing one inadequate condition over another. Similarly, an example identified here as being applicable in achieving movement up or down between specific levels on the EGIDS, may also be useful, with or without modifications, in facilitating transitions between other EGIDS levels. Our categorization of an activity as addressing a particular condition does not preclude its use for other purposes or in other ways. We especially encourage practitioners to be reflective as they read and evaluate this catalog.

A.2 Achieving Sustainable Literacy

A.2.1 Introducing written functions (from EGIDS 6a to EGIDS 5)

Functions

Jicarilla Apache [apj]. Preschool teachers among the Jicarilla Apache in New Mexico organized and participated in a workshop aimed at developing written materials for language socialization. During the workshop, elders of the community and the teachers recalled sayings and anecdotes from their childhood that helped teach them the ways of the community. With the help of linguists from the local university, they put these proverbs together and created a series of illustrated booklets called “Jicarilla Teachings” that could be easily disseminated. Participants at another creative writing workshop elaborated on the booklets and wrote explanatory stories. The stories also included interactions between community members that demonstrated the appropriate manner of interacting on an informal level (i.e., teasing through proverbs).

The development of these booklets and stories increased the corpus of literature available in Apache, which had been limited. The participants fervently desired to use literacy as a means of both teaching the language and socializing their children (Gómez de Garcia, Axelrod and Lachler 2002:51–58).

Acquisition

Heritage Language Playschools in Malaysia. In 2007, UNESCO initiated a pilot project in multilingual education in cooperation with the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) in Sarawak, Malaysia. As of 2012, DBNA was operating playschools in 8 villages and kindergarten classes in 3 others. The project included the development of ongoing pre-service and in-service teacher training, curriculum development, materials production, and monitoring and evaluation of the program.

The playschools provide opportunity and re-enforcement of language use for three- and four-year olds with community involvement. The focus of the curriculum is on pre-reading and pre-writing activities and reading readiness skills. The playschools are conducted entirely in the heritage language of the community. “Effective Multilingual Education allows the children to develop their thinking and reasoning skills first in their heritage language(s) and then add subsequent languages. In cases where the child has not been allowed to learn his/her heritage language, the parents’ language(s), s/he is still able to learn the heritage language(s) as a second and/or third language. The teaching methods in a heritage language programme are designed to promote interactive and participative learning as it builds on what the child knows and moves from the known to the unknown.” (Smith 2012:3)

Producing Educational Materials (Southeast Asia). Sometimes government and educational officials and even members of local communities themselves believe it is an insurmountable problem to produce culturally relevant curricula in many different languages. Language development workers in Southeast Asia have produced a manual that demonstrates how it is possible for any group to develop quality educational materials. Following Participatory Action Research methodology, the manual uses a three-stage process of Discovering, Deciding and Developing. Community members brainstorm together to Discover cultural resources, art forms, local wisdom, traditions and values by starting with the community’s own cultural calendar. They then Decide together which topics they want to include in their curriculum. Finally, the community members work together to Develop, check, and improve their own teaching materials. Using this procedure it has been found that children learn more easily and quickly. They develop skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, creativity, and critical thinking. The school setting is more enjoyable and children become confident learners. Using a locally-developed culturally relevant curriculum also raises cultural prestige and self-esteem while preserving heritage language, cultural art forms, and local knowledge. (Foerster and Saurman 2013)

Naskapi [nsk]. Computer technical support and training was provided for members of the Naskapi community by a resident linguist allowing for desktop publishing using the unique Canadian syllabic script. This technical support made it possible to develop a Naskapi school curriculum on-site, which in turn made it possible to implement a mother-tongue-first multilingual education program, switching from English to Naskapi as a language of instruction in local schools for grades 1–3. Children not only learn to speak, but also to read and write in their language (Jancewicz and MacKenzie 2002).

Motivation

Naro [nhr]. Naro is one of 26 minority languages spoken in Botswana. There are 9,000 speakers along the border of Namibia and Botswana and despite shifting to the national language (Setswana [tsn]) and another dominant language of the area (Shekgalagarhi), the Naro speakers have begun the revitalization process through holistic empowerment.

There was minimal intergenerational transmission when the Naro speech community entered the 1990s. In 1991, a language project was begun that eventually led into a language empowerment project. As the language was developed and materials were produced (linguistic empowerment), literacy classes were started and control of those classes was placed in the hands of the elders (socio-political empowerment). Many people enrolled in the classes and what they learned spilled into their daily activities. They learned how to settle accounts and infused literacy into painting, crafting, sculpturing, and weaving. Eventually the people began to showcase their language and culture for tourists, thereby establishing an economic base (economic empowerment). Naro, once one of several endangered minority languages in the Ghanzi zone of Botswana, has become a lingua franca with a core speech community that is now aware of the economic and social benefits of their language (Batibo 2008, 2009:31–33).

Environment

Hawaiian [haw]. The ‘Aha Pūnana Leo (‘APL) was established...

Table of contents

• Figures
• Tables
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• How to Use this Book
• 1 The Sustainable Use Model
• 2 Local Language Communities in a Globalizing World
• 3 Community-Based Language Development
• 4 Local Languages in Ecological Perspective
• 5 Assessing the Ecological Profile of a Speech Community
• 6 Sustainable Levels of Language Use
• 7 Conditions of Sustainable Use
• 8 Language Development: Addressing the FAMED Conditions
• 9 Language Development: Achieving Sustainable Use
• 10 Organizing for Community-Based Language Development
• 11 Conclusion
• Appendix Examples of activities for promoting sustainable language use
• References
• Index
• About the Authors