Rethinking Research Ethics in the Humanities: Principles and Recommendations

This AHRC-funded report is designed to stimulate reflection and discussion about ethical issues that could arise in qualitative, Humanities-based research designs that might be considered ‘risky’. The report can be used at project meetings; by University Research Ethics Committees (URECs), College Research Ethics Committees, and other governance bodies; and in discussions with project stakeholders. It is also designed to help postgraduate, early-career researchers, and PhD supervisors navigate key issues pertaining to risky qualitative research, and to provide additional readings and precedence in developing applications for ethical review. The report is organised thematically and proposes a series of principles for reforming ethical review in this space, as well as recommendations for URECs, governance bodies, and funders. The themes arising may not be applicable to all qualitative research designs, and the specific methods and context of the research will need to be reflected upon when using this report. Different types of methodologies, participants, stakeholders and local contexts will require different ethical-approval processes that use disparate forms and procedures. The reflection that this report intends to stimulate should be promoted by and among all those involved in the design and conduct of the research, including wherever possible with participants and their communities. How to cite this report: Kasstan, Jonathan R., Pearson, Geoff & Victoria Brooks (2023): Rethinking Research Ethics in the Humanities: Principles and Recommendations. doi.org/10.34737/w36yq

Teacher perspectives on the introduction of linguistics in the languages classroom. Evidence from a co-creation project on French, German and Spanish

Linguistics is conspicuously absent from language teaching in UK schools. A-level cultural topics cover a range of themes such as cyber-society, cultural heritage and multiculturalism, but the approach taken to these topics is not informed by linguistics. In previous work, we have argued that this is an unfortunate omission not only because linguistics is appealing to many language students and perceived by them to be useful, but also because the existing cultural topics could be significantly enriched by the inclusion of the critical/analytical study of language itself. In this paper, we provide concrete examples of how linguistics can be integrated into the existing A-level curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) in England and Wales. Reporting on a project in which teachers trialled linguistics materials co-created by us (a group of academics) and experienced languages teachers, we present evidence that linguistics materials are perceived to be both highly novel and nonetheless compatible with the existing A-level curriculum. Data from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with participating teachers also show that: (i) these new materials can be taught with little or no prior experience of linguistics; and (ii) adding linguistics materials to the curriculum leads to significant impacts on teacher and pupil attitudes towards language(s). Despite some challenges, which we also discuss, the results highlight again the great potential of linguistics as a component of language teaching and the contribution that it can make to the enrichment of the discipline. (DIPF/Orig.

Styles, standards and meaning

Abstract Style, in the study of variation and change, is intimately linked with broader questions about linguistic innovation and change, standards, social norms, and individual speakers’ stances. This article examines style when applied to lesser-studied languages. Style is both (i) the product of speakers’ choices among variants, and (ii) something reflexively produced through the association of variants and the social position of the users of those variants. In the context of the languages considered here, we ask “What questions do we have about variation in this language and what notion(s) of style will answer them?” We highlight methodological, conceptual and analytical challenges for the notion of style as it is usually operationalised in variationist sociolinguistics. We demonstrate that style is a useful research heuristic which – when marshalled alongside locally-oriented accounts of, or proxies for “standard” and “prestige”, in apparent time – allows us to describe language and explore change. It is also a means for exploring social meaning, which speakers may have more or less conscious control over

Exploring contested authenticity among speakers of a contested language: the case of ‘Francoprovençal'

This paper explores the notion of speaker authenticity in the context of obsolescent ‘Francoprovençal’: a highly fragmented grouping of Romance varieties spoken in parts of France, Italy, and Switzerland by less than 1% of the total regional population. While Francoprovençal has long been losing ground to the dominant language(s) with which it is in contact, new speakers have begun to emerge within the context of revitalisation movements and activities geared more favourable language planning policies and increased literacy. The emergence of these new speakers has polarised native-speaker communities, and has blurred the lines associated with the traditional view of sociolinguistic authenticity. Through an analysis of qualitative data collected in 2012, this article argues in particular that it may not be sufficient to simply examine contested authenticities from a native–non-native perspective, but rather it is important to consider how new speakers might themselves form a complex spectrum of speaker types with new sets of tensions as has been argued elsewhere

New Speakers and Language Revitalisation: Arpitan and Community (Re)formation

Today, it is uncontroversial to claim that France’s regional (minority) languages (RLs) are in decline. However, revitalisation movements have nonetheless continued to surface, and this chapter considers one by-product of such efforts: the emergence of new speakers in RL contexts. The term ‘new speaker’ refers to individuals who acquire the target language not through traditional transmission contexts (e.g. home, family), but instead as adults through language revitalisation initiatives. The chapter focuses on revitalisation efforts in the context of Francoprovençal, a severely endangered and understudied RL spoken transnationally across French, Italian and Swiss borders. A critical examination of current studies supplemented with recently collected empirical data shows new speakers to be central agents in a movement championing proto-nation-statehood across national borders, reorienting the region’s traditional sociolinguistic field

Beyond obsolescence: a twenty-first century research agenda for the langues régionales

This Special Issue of the Journal of French Language Studies celebrates a recent surge in enthusiasm for sociolinguistic studies involving the regional languages of France. Taking our cue from the contributions to the volume, which we introduce here, we argue that a changing twenty-first century landscape offers an exciting new agenda for these regional languages (and minority languages more widely), and set out what we see as six key directions for contemporary research

Language obsolescence in the Lyonnais area

This study challenges the view that language contact and gradual language shift invariably bring about the attrition and contraction of regional variation in the obsolescent dialect. A case study is provided on the Francoprovençal varieties in the Lyonnais area. Empirical data are collected from twenty informants, constituting two particular speaker types: the traditional native speaker, and a new class of L2 speaker that is emerging in the context of the movement for language revitalization, who are termed néolocuteurs (neo-speakers). By observing the speech community at two discrete points in time, the primary aim of this study is to measure how far phonological levelling and lexical erosion have impacted the Lyonnais varieties of Francoprovençal. The secondary aim of this study is to assess whether or not there is any evidence to suggest that divergence exists between the traditional speakers, and the L2 néolocuteur. The reported data suggest that, while Francoprovençal does indeed fit the ‘gradual language death pattern’, it remains intact, with no reported cases of advanced phonological levelling or lexical erosion. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that new vernacular forms may be emerging, in the context of language contact, that differ from traditional forms