Language and Power in Multilingual Contexts
Language and Power in Multilingual ContextsRebecca Still for
Massey University; Language, Discourse and Power.
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Top 10 Languages based on speakersLanguagePopulation% of Worlds
Pop.Chinese
(Mandarin)885,000,00015English322,000,0005.4Spanish266,000,0004.5Bengali189,000,0003.2Hindi182,000,0003Portuguese170,000,0002.8Russian170,000,0002.8Japanese125,000,0002.1German98,000,0001.6Chinese
(Wu)77,175,0001.3
Data provided by Nettle, D. and Romaine, S. (2000) Vanishing
Voices; the extinction of the worlds languages p. 29
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DefinitionsLanguages may be:* Safe actively learned and
promoted*Endangered not necessarily promoted, possibly small
population, likely to not survive 100yrs*Moribund not learned by
children, unlikely to survive.Linguistic Imperialism dominance
through military or economyCultural Hegemony dominance with support
of minorityLinguicism discrimination on basis of languageLinguistic
Genocide individuals who do not wish to identify with own culture
and language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language3
EXAMPLES OF LINGUIstic declineAboriginal languages of Australia
DyirbalIrish LanguageUNESCOs Atlas of the worlds languages in
danger... has a list of 2,500 endangered languages ranked according
to five different levels: unsafe (607), definitely endangered
(632), severely endangered (502), critically endangered (538) and
extinct (200). Of these languages, 199 have fewer than 10 speakers,
and 178 have between 10 and 50 speakers
http://www.omniglot.com/blog/?cat=74
DyirbalOne of 250 Australian languages, now
moribundReasons:Taking of land by European settlersIntroduction to
disease they broughtPrevented from education
Nowadays no one under the age of 15 is even able to construct a
Dyirbal sentence.Fluent speakers...(can) easily create new
utterances...(Dyirbal speakers now) depend much more on routine and
formulaic speech
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyirbal_languagehttp://www.macalester.edu/linguistics/endangered/Dyirbal/Dyirbal.htmhttp://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/racism.html
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Kevin Rudds Apology"For our nation, the course of action is
clear ... and that is to deal now with what has become one of the
darkest chapters in our nation's
history."http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161227.htm"As
Prime Minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the
Government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Parliament of
Australia, I am sorry. And I offer you this apology without
qualification."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161227.htm
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Aborigine Languages
"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations,
their descendants and for their families left behind, we say
sorry,
land tribunals...have provoked a backlash from racist
politicians
Shows Linguistic Imperialism even today
many Aboriginal languages and dialects became extinct because
their speakers were forbidden to use native language over many
years
Aboriginal deaths from preventable infectious diseases still
exceed the white average three hundredfold, and Aboriginal infant
mortality in Western Australia is higher than the level found in
Bangladesh.
[It] leads to the disappearance of many forms of intangible
cultural heritage, especially the invaluable heritage of traditions
and oral expressions of the community that spoke it from poems and
legends to proverbs and jokes. The loss of languages is also
detrimental to humanitys grasp of biodiversity, as they transmit
much knowledge about the nature and the universe.
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/language/index.htmlhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161227.htmNettle,
D. and Romaine, S. (2000) Vanishing Voices; the extinction of the
worlds languages p.
123http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/03/06/the-unesco-atlas-of-the-worlds-languages-in-danger/7
Rise, fall and rise of Irish14th Century after coexisting for
200 years with English, Irish was suppressed, teaching banned and
speakers threatened with beatings at school endorsed by parents
Cultural HegemonyEmigration and The Great FamineGaelic League was
founded in 1893
1921 Irish free state
2005 became an official language of the EU
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-fall-and-rise-of-the-irish-language.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language
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Language Distribution 1851 and early 20th Century
http://www.uni-due.de/DI/Modern_Irish.htm9
Language Maintenance a Success or Failure?Declined from 1.5
million speakers in 1861 to around 600,000 in 1901 where this level
has stayed...despite political support revitalization of Irish has
been widely judged a failureWithout political policies and grass
root effort Irish would not be in such a position today
http://www.uni-due.de/DI/Modern_Irish.htmNettle, D. and Romaine,
S. (2000) Vanishing Voices; the extinction of the worlds languages
p. 189
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SummaryEffects of Power, Multilingualism and BilingualismWhy
linguistic diversity is importantWhat methods can be used to
revitalise endangered languagesImpact language and culture have
togetherHow we can embrace linguistic diversity and learn about
ourselves, the planet and our history.
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ReferencesP. 2, 7 & 10 Nettle, D. and Romaine, S. (2000)
Vanishing Voices; the extinction of the worlds languages p. 29, 123
& 189P. 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_languageP. 4
http://www.omniglot.com/blog/?cat=7P. 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyirbal_language
http://www.macalester.edu/linguistics/endangered/Dyirbal/Dyirbal.htm
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/racism.htmlP.
7 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161227.htm
http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/03/06/the-unesco-atlas-of-the-worlds-languages-in-danger/
P. 8
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-fall-and-rise-of-the-irish-language.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language p. 9
http://www.uni-due.de/DI/Modern_Irish.htm P. 10
http://www.uni-due.de/DI/Modern_Irish.htm
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=44605&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
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