National identity and belonging among gay ‘new speakers’ of Irish

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Walsh
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Urban Settings ◽  
New Speakers

Abstract ‘New speakers’ refer to people who use a language regularly but are not traditional ‘native’ speakers of that language. Although this discussion has been going on for some time in other sub-disciplines of linguistics, it is more recent in research about European minoritised languages. A feature of discourse around such languages relates to their perceived suitability for diverse urban settings removed from their historical rural heartlands. Irish is an example of a minoritised language which was long associated with conservative rural communities, a reified Catholic discourse of national identity and language ideologies based on nativism. Such an approach not only marginalised urban new speakers of Irish but also exhibited hostility to LGBTQ citizens who did not befit its particular version of Irishness. In this paper, a framework of Critical Sociolinguistics is used to analyse identity positions and ideologies expressed by urban new speakers of Irish who identify as gay and/or queer.

Specificity of Value Orientations of Native Speakers of French and Russian and Their Representation in Proverbs (Based on Dictionaries)

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-88
Author(s):  
Nataliya Yu. Nelyubova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Quantitative Composition ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Common Features ◽  
French Culture ◽  
Subjective Factor

This paper presents a linguo-axiological analysis of French and Russian proverbs based on identifying value orientations and creating their hierarchy by studying the names and quantitative dominance of various thematic groups in authentic paroemiological dictionaries. Identification of value orientations allows us to reveal both common features of ethnic groups, which are of interest in the era of globalization and mutual influence of languages and cultures, and specific ones, contributing to the preservation of national identity. The novelty of this research compared to the author’s previous studies lies in the use of two additional lexicographic sources (one French and one Russian). The examined material of the four dictionaries includes more than 30,000 proverbial units. The analysis revealed the presence of a large number of common topics (which can occupy different positions in the value hierarchy of the ethnic groups under study) not only in dictionaries of the same language, but in all four sources. The names of the categories and their quantitative composition allow us to define French culture as individualist, while Russian culture, as collectivist. When constructing a hierarchy, it is important to turn to a larger number of dictionaries and identify common proverbial units in them to avoid the influence of the subjective factor, which is the case when naming and forming categories, as well as of the researcher’s individual approach to the proportion of category names to their corresponding values. The expanding vocabulary and studies on evaluativity in proverbs aiming to identify value and anti-value components within various topics can be used for further research.

nr="309"Innere Sicherheit, Sprache und Biographie. : Eine biographietheoretische Perspektive auf einen komplexen Zusammenhang

2021 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-325
Author(s):  
Nadja Thoma
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Analytical Perspective ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Innere Sicherheit

Zusammenfassung Im Kontext der zunehmenden Versicherheitlichung von Migration, deren Bedeutung auch für sprachliche Bildung im Kontext nationaler und globaler Sicherheitsagenden diskutiert wird, werden bestimmte Gruppen von Migrant*innen als Sicherheitsbedrohung konstruiert. Die Instrumentalisierung von Sprache für Identitätspolitik, die im Konzept von Sprache als ,Schlüssel zur Integration‘ besonders deutlich wird und unter Rückgriff auf Sprachideologien erklärt werden kann, bleibt nicht ohne Folgen für Angehörige minorisierter Gruppen. Der vorliegende Beitrag geht der Frage nach, was ,innere Sicherheit‘ für Student*innen bedeutet, denen zugeschrieben wird, keine ,native speaker‘ zu sein. Den Bezugspunkt der ,inneren Sicherheit‘ bildet dabei nicht der Nationalstaat, sondern das Subjekt. Aus einer biographieanalytischen Perspektive wird rekonstruiert, mit welchen (Un-)Sicherheitsdimensionen die Subjekte an der Universität und in Hinblick auf ihre beruflichen Pläne konfrontiert sind, wie Sicherheit und Sprache biographisch eingebettet sind und welche Strategien und Wege die Student*innen (nicht) nutzen (können), um ihre Sicherheitsspielräume zu erweitern.Abstract: In light of the increasing securitization of migration, language education is discussed as part of national and global security agendas, and certain groups of migrants have been constructed as a security threat. The instrumentalization of language for identity politics is particularly evident in the concept of language as a ‘key to integration’ and can be explained with language ideologies. These ideologies are not without consequences for members of minoritized groups. The article at hand explores the meaning of ‘internal security’ for university students who are not considered ‘native speakers’. The reference point of ‘internal security’ is not the nation state, but the subject. From a biographical-analytical perspective, the article reconstructs dimensions of security and insecurity which the subjects confront at university with regard to their professional aims. It will explore how the connection between security and language is embedded in their biographies, as well as the strategies and pathways students can and cannot use to expand their security scope.

Innovative Use of ICT in Namibia for Nationhood

2011 ◽  
pp. 53-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tutaleni I. Asino ◽  
Hilary Wilder ◽  
Sharmila Pixy Ferris
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
National Newspaper ◽  
Landline Telephone ◽  
Made In

Namibia was under colonizing and apartheid rule for more than a century. In 1990, the country declared its independence, and since that time, great strides have been made in linking its rural communities into a national communications Grid that was previously inaccessible to them, often leapfrogging traditional landline telephone technologies with universal cellphone service. In addition, one newspaper, The Namibian, has been innovatively using newer communications technologies to maintain its historic role of nation-building. This study explores the use of SMS via cellphone and a traditional national newspaper in creating a sense of national identity that transcends geographic distances and a legacy of economic/political barriers.. The cell phone messages made it possible for the rural communities who have been left out of discussion relating to issues of development to be included. Like the old slogan, “information is power,” this chapter illustrates that the lives of some rural area dwellers have improved a result of a technological gadget, the mobile phone.

Deferring to the Other

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-148
Author(s):  
Joseph Sung-Yul Park
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Self Development ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Linguistic Insecurity

This chapter discusses how the notion of linguistic insecurity can illuminate the processes by which essentialist conceptions of language and identity—in particular, the persistent colonial ideology of nativeness—contribute to the hegemonic status of English in neoliberalism. This chapter conceptualizes linguistic insecurity in terms of tensions that speakers experience between conflicting language ideologies. Focusing on the case of Korean mid-level managers working in non-Korean multinational corporations abroad, the chapter argues that the notion of linguistic insecurity allows us to explore how conflicting ideologies about English in neoliberalism—one in which English is valorized as a commodifiable resource available to anyone through projects of self-development, and one in which who counts as a legitimate speaker of English is defined in ethnonational terms—can jointly create a sense of insecurity in those who are traditionally considered non-native speakers of English, and rationalize the inequalities they are subjected to in neoliberalism.

Linguistic mudes: how to become a new speaker in Catalonia

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (231) ◽  
pp. 167-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Pujolar ◽  
Maite Puigdevall
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
New Family ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
The University ◽  
Processual Time

Abstract New speakers of Catalan have come to represent, from a demolinguistic perspective, a substantial part of the community of speakers. Of those who presently speak Catalan as an “habitual language”, 41.6 percent are native speakers of Spanish. In this article, we shall follow up the various ways in which native Castilian speakers incorporate Catalan into their lives. This happens, as we will show, in specific biographical junctures that we call mudes, a Catalan term referring to (often reversible) variations in social performance. Our analysis is based on a qualitative study that included 24 interviews and 15 focus groups covering a total of 105 people of different sexes and linguistic, educational, social and residential backgrounds. We shall give a general overview of these mudes as we typified them: when subjects entered primary school, secondary school, the university, the job market, when creating a new family and when they had children (if they did). The study of linguistic mudes provides, in our view, a new and productive perspective on how people develop their linguistic repertoire, their attachment to specific languages and the significance of these aspects for social identity. It facilitates a processual, time-sensitive analysis that allows to contextualise and critique ethnonationalist discourses that have often saturated our understanding of language use.

scholarly journals “New speakers” of Gaelic: perceptions of linguistic authenticity and appropriateness

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson McLeod ◽  
Bernadette O’Rourke
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Medium Education ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Traditional Communities

AbstractThis article considers the experiences and views of “new speakers” of Gaelic, focusing on how they characterise their language production and its relationship to the language of traditional speakers. In contrast to some other European minority languages, a significant population of new Gaelic speakers in Scotland has emerged only recently, particularly with the development of Gaelic-medium education since 1985, provision that increasingly serves children who do not acquire Gaelic in the home. Given the ongoing decline of Gaelic in traditional “heartland” areas, it is apparent that new speakers of Gaelic emerging from urban Scotland will become increasingly important in coming years. This study of 35 new speakers in the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow builds on emerging research on new speakers of minority languages across other European contexts (see O’Rourke et al. 2015) where traditional communities of speakers are being eroded as a consequence of increased urbanisation and economic modernisation. This article considers issues involving legitimacy, authority and authenticity amongst new speakers of Gaelic and the extent to which new speakers are producing their own set of contexts of language use and their own standards of performance or conversely, if they continue to reproduce ideals of localism, tradition and linguistic purity. Participants expressed contrasting views on these topics, some of them endeavouring to accommodate what they perceived as native speakers’ perceptions and preferences, others expressing a rather more oppositional viewpoint, rejecting practices or assumptions that they view as impeding the modernisation and normalisation of the language.

scholarly journals ‘Northmen, Southmen, comrades all’? The adoption of discourse like by migrants north and south of the Irish border

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 745-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen P. Corrigan ◽  
Chloé Diskin
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
Chinese Adult ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
The Republic ◽  
North And South

AbstractThe Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland (NI) have recently become attractive migrant destinations. Two main dialectal varieties are recognised on the island, but little is known about their adoption by new speakers. Focusing on a panlectal feature, discourse like, we conducted a quantitative sociolinguistic investigation of its adoption by seventeen young Polish and Lithuanian migrants in Armagh (NI), and thirty-six Polish and Chinese adult migrants in Dublin (ROI), with comparator samples drawn from native speakers. Findings show that like rates in both cities diverge, but that migrants mirror local frequencies. Clause-final like is restricted primarily to native speakers, but is twice as frequent in Armagh than in Dublin. English proficiency has a significant effect on the likelihood of young migrants in Armagh adopting the clause-final variant. The article's significance also stems from the original contribution it makes to our understanding of how sociolinguistic competence is acquired in ‘superdiverse’ settings. (Discourse like, identity, migration, Northern Irish-English, Hiberno-English, Ulster English, Southern Irish-English)*

Approaches to and Strategies for Language Revitalization

2018 ◽  
pp. 442-465
Author(s):  
Leanne Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Home Schools ◽  
Critical Part ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Learning Language

There are many paths language revitalization can take, but they are not mutually exclusive. A central aspect of language revitalization is the creation of new speakers. One path is for families to learn and transmit the endangered language at home. Schools are major venues for language learning. Language nests and immersion schools have been especially effective. Adult language education has also become a critical part of language revitalization. Universities and “bootstrap” methods such as the Master-Apprentice Program have been able to bring adults to high proficiency. Linguistic archives have been useful for access to language, especially when there are no speakers left. Modernization of the language is also unavoidable, including new vocabulary and the development of writing systems if necessary. Most importantly, language revitalization should involve increased use of the language, by native speakers and learners alike.

‘New speakers’ of Irish in the United States: practices and motivations

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Walsh ◽  
Laoise Ní Dhúda
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
European Project ◽  
New Speakers

AbstractThis paper examines the experiences and motivations of ‘new speakers’ of Irish in the United States. ‘New speakers’ of Irish refer to those whose first language is not Irish but who use the language regularly and fluently. Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out among Irish speakers in five locations across the United States, the paper begins by describing the language backgrounds of participants. It goes on to analyse their use of Irish and their motivations for learning it and considers the links between practice and ideology. Although Irish heritage and culture are often strong motivating factors for Americans to learn Irish, not all learners are Irish American and only some advance to a level of competence high enough to adopt Irish as family or home language and/or attempt to influence the language ideologies of others. High and active competence is linked to deep personal dedication and is achieved despite significant obstacles facing those who wish to become new speakers of Irish in the United States. This research is part of a broader European project about the practices and ideologies of ‘new speakers’ from a range of languages.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document