6 research outputs found
Minority languages between reformation and revolution
In this thesis, I intend to further our knowledge of the sociolinguistics of Early Modern
minority languages. Social and political developments in North-Western Europe in the
16th to 18th centuries caused an emancipation of vernacular languages, which took over
from Latin as the main language in official domains. The sociolinguistics of this change
are well known (e.g. Burke 2004); the fate of languages that did not make it to this new
status, emerging âminority languagesâ, remains under-researched.
Chapter 2 introduces some of the terminology used in this study. I discuss four categories
of research methods into minority language shift and how they are applicable to research
on historical situations, which often suffers from âbad dataâ. I then present a model of
ethnolinguistic vitality that I use to survey the socio-historical backgrounds of several
minority language groups in Chapter 3.
Chapter 3 begins with a brief presentation of minority language groups from the Early
Modern period. I choose three language groups to focus on in more depth: speakers of
Norn in Shetland, of Flemish in Northern France, and of Sorbian in Germany. A survey of
these three cases, with the initial wider presentation, identifies three recurring issues that
are the focus of the subsequent chapters.
The first of these is the influence of demographic change (Chapter 4). In the formation of
nation-states in this period, many speakers of the majority language migrate to peripheral
minority-language areas. I present two historical-demographic studies showing the integration
of immigrants into the local community through intermarriage, based on 17th-century
population registers from Shetland and Dunkirk (France). Both show a large amount of intermarriage, despite a bias towards in-group marriage. Intermarriage brings the majority
language into the minority-language home; the strength of the bias against intermarriage
is likely to be a factor in the rate of shift, one of the main differences between Shetland
and Dunkirk.
Language policies are the topic of Chapter 5. They are an important part of minority
language studies in the present day, particularly with regard to language maintenance. I
survey the language legislation that existed in Shetland, French Flanders, and Lusatia, its
purpose and implementation, and its effects on language shift. Purpose and implementation
of language policies were limited, and its effect on minority language communities
therefore only secondary.
Chapter 6 is about target varieties in language shift. The question of whether language
shift happened through education in a standard variety or through contacts with majoritylanguage
speakers from nearby areas can be answered by looking at the new majoritylanguage
dialect in the minority area.
I undertake two different studies in this context. The first is an analysis of Shetland Scots
using theories of dialect contact. The dialect has a number of âstandardisedâ features, but
I argue these are mainly due to koinĂŠisation of various dialects of Scots immigrants to
Shetland and a second-language variety of Scots spoken by the local population. The
second is a study of the French dialect of French Flanders using computational methods
of data comparison on data taken from dialect atlases. This dialect shares features with
neighbouring Picard dialects, but we can also identify Standard French features. This
pattern correlates with what we know of migration to the area (Chapter 4). Both new
dialects suggest the shifting population acquired the majority language mainly through
contacts with majority-language speakers in their direct environment.
In conclusion, I show that language shift in the Early Modern period was an organic
process, where the inception, the rate, and the result of shift were steered by the minority populationâs social networks. The influence of institutions often blamed for language
shift in modern situations â educational and language policies â was very restricted. In
addition, I show that methods used in modern sociolinguistics can be successfully applied
to historical situations, despite the bad data problem. This opens the door for more
extensive research into the area
CLARIN
The book provides a comprehensive overview of the Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure â CLARIN â for the humanities. It covers a broad range of CLARIN language resources and services, its underlying technological infrastructure, the achievements of national consortia, and challenges that CLARIN will tackle in the future. The book is published 10 years after establishing CLARIN as an Europ. Research Infrastructure Consortium
CLARIN. The infrastructure for language resources
CLARIN, the "Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure", has established itself as a major player in the field of research infrastructures for the humanities. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the organization, its members, its goals and its functioning, as well as of the tools and resources hosted by the infrastructure. The many contributors representing various fields, from computer science to law to psychology, analyse a wide range of topics, such as the technology behind the CLARIN infrastructure, the use of CLARIN resources in diverse research projects, the achievements of selected national CLARIN consortia, and the challenges that CLARIN has faced and will face in the future.
The book will be published in 2022, 10 years after the establishment of CLARIN as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium by the European Commission (Decision 2012/136/EU)
CLARIN
The book provides a comprehensive overview of the Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure â CLARIN â for the humanities. It covers a broad range of CLARIN language resources and services, its underlying technological infrastructure, the achievements of national consortia, and challenges that CLARIN will tackle in the future. The book is published 10 years after establishing CLARIN as an Europ. Research Infrastructure Consortium
Comparing the Basque diaspora: Ethnonationalism, transnationalism and identity maintenance in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Peru, the United States of America, and Uruguay.
Through a comparison of Basque diaspora populations in six countries, this thesis describes and analyzes ethnicity maintenance, transnational consciousness, and ethnonational tendencies of self-defining Basques. I argue that despite geographical and generational differences, the core elements of Basque identity are defined in a constant manner, and ethnic institutions have developed according to similar patterns. I categorize these populations as 'diaspora' utilizing Cohen's definition, and give examples of their (1) traumatic dispersal from an original homeland; (2) expansion from the homeland in pursuit of colonial ambitions, trade, or work; (3) shared myth and collective memory of their homeland; (4) idealization of their homeland; (5) return movement; (6) sustained strong ethnic group consciousness; (7) sense of solidarity with co-ethnic members in other countries; and (8) distinctive and enriched lives in tolerant host countries. I suggest chain migration and consistent interaction with the homeland have strengthened transnational ties and diasporic consciousness. Contemporary relations between Basque diaspora communities and the Basque Government have fomented and reinvigorated ethnicity maintenance for many from the thirty-eight Basque associations represented. Tajfel's 'positive social identity' theory aids in partially explaining ethnic identity preservation in Uruguay, Argentina and some areas of the United States, though respondents in Australia, Peru, and Belgium tend to employ primordialist vocabulary to interpret their persistent ethnonationalism. While homeland definitions of "Basqueness" have progressed to a more civic and inclusive nationalism, diaspora definitions tend to follow the traditional conservativism of Sabino Arana and ancestry, language, and religion. A multimethod approach creates original quantitative and qualitative data from 832 written anonymous questionnaires and 348 personal interviews. SPSS empirical data analysis facilitated cross-tabulations and comparisons