The correlation between language and wellbeing: preliminary data from a global survey on language revitalization

Although literature on language revitalization is rapidly growing, it remains heavily focused on case studies and somewhat restricted to the United States, Canada, and Australia. In order to move toward more comprehensive and comparative analyses of revitalization practices worldwide, we have conducted a pilot survey of 26 language practitioners from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The pilot includes 24 questions about the origins of revitalization efforts, their objectives, specific activities, and practitioners’ perceived achievement of their objectives. We present the results of both this survey and a full-scale version that is now underway. Prompted by the theme of ICLDC 2017, we focus on the correlation between language use and the wellbeing of its community of speakers. As Whalen et al. (2016) shows, the language-wellbeing correlation is still an emerging area of research; the earliest study cited is Coe et al. (2004). Since the cases Whalen et al. cite focus on the US, Canada, and Australia, it is not clear whether the correlation extends to other geo-cultural contexts, or reflects particular regional trends or historical patterns. It is also not clear whether the correlation is evident to members of language communities themselves. This is the focus of the present paper. Strikingly, given the findings cited above, none of the respondents in our pilot, even the five from US tribes, overtly recognized a correlation between language use and wellbeing. A possible interpretation of this finding is that the correlation is less salient to revitalization practitioners than it is to researchers. In this case, our results would suggest that more outreach is necessary to disseminate the information cited in Whalen et al. The measurable correlation between language and wellbeing offers strong justification for language revitalization and could help draw support for community initiatives. Alternatively, the pilot survey design might not encourage respondents to express their views about their language’s connection to wellbeing. Although the pilot included a number of open-ended questions about the initiatives’ aims and efforts, we have changed the full-scale survey to provide more opportunities for practitioners to reflect on connections between language and wellbeing. We thus present details and implications of the pilot results as well as preliminary results from the full-scale survey. We also advocate for the pursuit of more socio-culturally and geographically diverse data, in order to facilitate comparative analysis and ultimately increase our knowledge of factors associated with language revitalization at a more global level. References Coe, K., Attakai A., Papenfuss M., et al. 2004. Traditionalism and its relationship to disease risk and protective behaviors of women living on the Hopi reservation. Health Care Women Int. 25(5): 391–410. Whalen, Doug H., Margaret Moss, and Daryl Baldwin. 2016. Healing through language: Positive physical health effects of indigenous language use [version 1; referees: 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2016 5:852 (doi: 10.12688/f1000research.8656.1)

‘Slowly, slowly said the jaguar’: Giving collaborations time to develop

Language documentation has become increasingly collaborative over the last decade (Benedicto and Mayangna Yulbarangyang Balna 2007; Czaykowska-Higgins 2009; Rice 2006 and 2011; Grenoble and Furbee (eds.) 2010; inter alia). However, collaborations have become almost a condition for research endeavors (cf. Dwyer 2010 which considers that non-collaborative linguistic research is unethical). This paper is motivated by what I consider to be insufficient discussion about the conditions needed in order to develop collaborations of value to all involved. The focus is on whether a researcher might have sufficient knowledge about a language and has had the time to develop a strong enough rapport with members of the relevant community in order to effectively contribute towards a meaningful collaboration by the time s/he is to engage in one. I describe the history of my interaction with speakers of Isthus Zapotec (Otomanguean) from La Ventosa, Oaxaca, Mexico where I began lexicographic documentation as a graduate student in 2002. A fledgling collaboration began to emerge in 2009 and only solidified in 2013 through a large-scale, one-year effort to document the local flora and the lexicon and knowledge associated with it. The collaboration was only possible when the following conditions were met: (a) having sufficient knowledge of the language to be able to earn the respect and acceptance of highly knowledgeable community members of social prominence; (b) having sufficient sociolinguistic and cultural knowledge as to be able to identify opportunities for collaboration; and (c) be in a position to secure the funding to sustain the collaboration long-term. The collaboration that emerged has developed into a project grounded on the notion of retention –rather than return– of research results in the community through the development of a one-year language, knowledge and nature conservation program with increased community ownership and views towards long-term sustainability. This case study is described in detail to explain that a forced collaboration in the early stages of the research would have been unlikely to yield results as favorable as those that have emerged overtime. In fact, had an early –and forced– collaboration been dissatisfactory to the community members involved, future work could have been at risk. As such, I advocate for allowing researchers the time to develop such collaborations and considering collaborations as a goal of linguistic research rather than a condition for it. References Benedicto, Elena and Mayangna Yulbarangyang Balna. 2007. A Model of Participatory Action Research: the Mayangna Linguists’ Team of Nicaragua. In Proceedings of the XI FEL Conference on ‘Working Together for Endangered Languages - Research Challenges and Social Impacts,’29–35. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: SKET, University of Malaya and Foundation for Endangered Languages. Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa. 2009. Research models, community engagement, and linguistic fieldwork: Reflections on working within Canadian indigenous communities. Language Documentation & Conservation 3(1), 15–50. Dwyer, Arienne M. 2010. Models of successful collaboration. In Lenore A. Grenoble and N. Louanna Furbee (eds.) Language documentation: Practice and values, 193-212. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Grenoble, Leonore A. and N. Louanna Furbee (eds.) 2010. Language Documentation: Practice and values. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Rice, Keren. 2011. Documentary Linguistics and Community Relations. Language Documentation & Conservation. 5, 187–207. ----- 2006. Ethical issues in linguistic fieldwork: An overview. Journal of Academic Ethics 4.4, 123–55

Global Survey of Revitalization Efforts: A mixed methods approach to understanding language revitalization practices

The world’s linguistic diversity, estimated at over 7,000 languages, is declining rapidly. As awareness about this has increased, so have responses from a number of stakeholders. In this study we present the results of the Global Survey of Revitalization Efforts carried out by a mixed methods approach and comparative analysis of revitalization efforts worldwide. The Survey included 30 questions, was administered online in 7 languages, and documented 245 revitalization efforts yielding some 40,000 bits of data. In this study, we report on frequency counts and show, among other findings, that revitalization efforts are heavily focused on language teaching, perhaps over intergenerational transmission of a language, and rely heavily on community involvement although do not only involve language community members exclusively. The data also show that support for language revitalization in the way of funding, as well as endorsement, is critical to revitalization efforts. This study also makes evident the social, cultural, political, and geographic gaps in what we know about revitalization worldwide. We hope that this study will strengthen broad interest and commitment to studying, understanding, and supporting language revitalization as an integral aspect of the history of human language in the 21st century.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

Strategies for activating language practices and participation in a multilingual community: Results and challenges

In Isthmus Zapotec (IZ) communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, the youths' language repertoires are increasingly dominated by Spanish, although many develop passive competencies in IZ through exposure among adult and elder generations. A program promoting the active intergenerational use of IZ has been developed as part of a large lexical documentation effort with a botany subcomponent. Beginning in 2012, this program has, from the outset, included community participation, retention of research results, and creation of learning materials, leading to an on-going effort to facilitate a year-long program of language learning opportunities. In this paper we describe strategies adopted to encourage active IZ use both within and around the documentation project. We present results of these approaches and argue that attention to language practices among all participants in revitalization and documentation initiatives is an important step towards improved program planning. Strategies within the program include privileging IZ in the research instruments and practices, and scaffolding language teaching through the creation of interdisciplinary workshops for children. The language practices of program participants resulting from these strategies are reported through analysis of recordings, ethnographic observation and interview data. Strategies outside the program activities include dissemination of bilingual learning materials and outreach to schools and cultural centers. Results are presented based on quantitative dissemination measures as well as ethnographic and interview data. We discuss how opportunities and motivations for speaking, comprehending, reading and/or writing IZ were created among participants, including the team of facilitators consisting of speakers with varying degrees of language competence, the student participants in education initiatives, outside researchers, and the wider community. Examples include speakers engaging more actively with text and intergenerational communication, passive bilinguals producing language in both spoken and written forms, and Spanish-dominant bilinguals using IZ in new domains. We also explain that the use of IZ has extended to outside researchers through their use of research tools in IZ and that the public visibility of the program has led at least some local residents to take notice of the relevance of IZ. We conclude with a discussion of the on-going challenges in making these program-induced shifts in language practice more significant and sustainable. As a series of leveled workshops are developed, current language practices will be considered as a base for new strategies aiming to maximize IZ use while drawing on the participation and varying competencies of all participants

On the Impact of the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages: Developing an Assessment Model for Archive-Based Revitalization

The National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages has provided training in archive-based linguistic research for revitalization since 2011 (Baldwin et al. 2018). Four two-week workshops held biennially through 2017 provided training in phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax; on accessing archival documentation; and on applied uses of archive-based research for language revitalization. These workshops served 117 Community Researchers from fifty-five Native North American communities. Overtime, it became important to determine the impact of the workshops on community efforts. Thus, a third-party program assessment and evaluation was carried out, supported by the National Science Foundation Documenting Endangered Languages program (NSF-DEL BCS #1561167, PI D. Baldwin). In this paper, we outline the principles upon which the assessment and evaluation were designed, delve into the quantitative and qualitative methods implemented, and provide ample discussion of the assessment findings. We engage in a discussion on the importance and value of assessment and evaluation to any program akin to National Breath of Life. We close by showing how the assessment and evaluation have given validity to the development of new tools and workshops that address the needs of advanced phases of archive-based research for revitalization, and have also provided a foundation for the design of a Native American philology model. This was especially important considering that the workshops had remained mostly unchanged since they were first developed in the mid-1990s.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

Problemáticas ambientales asociadas a la transformación del paisaje

A lo largo de los años, de la mano de distintas actividades económicas que generan cambios en los usos del suelo, se produjeron en nuestro país una serie de modificaciones de las geoformas, con improntas territoriales que desencadenaron en diversas problemáticas ambientales. En este capítulo se propone reconocer dichos problemas ambientales provocados por la transformación del paisaje, especialmente la modificación del relieve ligado al avance de la urbanización en áreas de riesgo. Se profundiza en áreas puntuales del partido de La Plata, donde estos problemas adquieren envergadura, como la planicie de inundación del arroyo El Pescado y la implantación de cavas en la zona sudeste del partido, identificando las manifestaciones directas en el territorio.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Nursing Care Plan for a Patient with Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Clinical Case

Aim. Develop a Nursing Care Plan (NCP) in a clinical case of an adult patient with a diagnosis of Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) hospitalized in a Second Level Care Hospital in the city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico. Methodology. A clinical case of a patient with a diagnosis of CAP hospitalized in a Second Level Care Hospital in the city of San Luis Potosí was identified. A nursing assessment was performed using Marjory Gordon’s functional patterns to identify the main nursing diagnoses according to the NANDA, NIC and NOC taxonomy. Diagnoses were prioritized according to Maslow’s pyramid. Results. NCP was developed for diagnoses labeled: a) Impaired gas exchange, b) ineffective airway clearance, and c) Decreased activity tolerance. Conclusion. The care provided by the nursing staff through the nursing care process for patients with CAP allows for a comprehensive approach to provide quality and warmth care; however, it is important to document best practices that the staff has in order to generate evidence based on clinical practice.Objetivo. Elaborar un Plan de Cuidados de Enfermería (PLACE) en un caso clínico de una paciente adulta con diagnóstico de Neumonía Adquirida en la Comunidad (NAC) hospitalizada en un Hospital de Segundo Nivel de Atención en la ciudad de San Luis Potosí en México. Metodología. Se identificó un caso clínico de una paciente con diagnóstico de NAC hospitalizado en Hospital de Segundo Nivel de Atención de la ciudad de San Luis Potosí. Se realizó una valoración de enfermería con el uso de los patrones funcionales de Marjory Gordon, para identificar los principales diagnósticos de enfermería de acuerdo con la taxonomía NANDA, NIC y NOC. Los diagnósticos se priorizaron de acuerdo con la pirámide de Maslow. Resultados. Se desarrollaron PLACE para los diagnósticos con las etiquetas de: a) Deterioro del intercambio de gases, b) limpieza ineficaz de las vías aéreas y c) Disminución de la tolerancia a la actividad. Conclusión. El cuidado que brinda el personal de enfermería a través del proceso cuidado enfermero en los pacientes con NAC permite su abordaje de manera integral para tener cuidados de calidad y calidez, sin embargo, es importante documentar las buenas prácticas que tiene el personal con el fin de generar evidencias basadas en la práctica clínica

Seroprevalencia de Trypanosoma cruzi en niños de Veracruz, México: línea de base epidemiológica para un modelo de control fundamentado en la transmisión activa de la enfermedad de Chagas

Introduction. In 2021 the Ministry of Health of Mexico and the Pan American Health Organization launched an initiative to interrupt intra-domiciliary vector transmission of Chagas Disease (CD), based on knowledge of the prevalence of this disease in children. The Mexican State of Veracruz was the leading of this initiative.Objective. To estimate the seroprevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection among children under 15 years of age from rural areas of Veracruz, Mexico.Materials and methods. Eight priority localities from the Municipality of Tempoal, Veracruz, were identified for baseline serology. Blood samples were collected on filter paperfrom 817 individuals (June-August 2017) for screening using a third-generation enzyme immunoassay. Reactive cases were confirmed by indirect hemagglutination (HAI), Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) tests with peripheral blood serum samples. Seroprevalence and its 95% confidence interval (95% C.I.) were calculated.. Results. In the localities Citlaltepetl, Cornizuelo, Cruz de Palma y Rancho Nuevo, CD cases were confirmed in children under 15 years of age with a seroprevalence of 1,9% (95% C.I.: 1,12-3,16%). Conclusions. These results indicate that these communities present recent transmission of CD and allow establishing an epidemiological baseline for the design and implementation of a model based on activities focused on geographic areas with active transmission to advance towards the elimination of intra-domiciliary vector transmission of CD in Mexico.Introducción. En 2021 la Secretaría de Salud de México y la Organización Panamericana de la Salud lanzaron una iniciativa para la interrupción de la transmisión vectorial intradomiciliaria de la enfermedad de Chagas (EC), fundamentada en el conocimiento de la prevalencia de esta enfermedad en población infantil. El estado mexicano de Veracruz fue punta de lanza de esta iniciativa.Objetivo. Estimar la seroprevalencia de infección por Trypanosoma cruzi en menores de 15 años de localidades rurales de Veracruz, México.Materiales y métodos. Se identificaron 8 localidades prioritarias para la serología basal en el municipio de Tempoal, Veracruz. Se colectaron muestra de sangre en papel filtro de 817 individuos (junio-agosto de 2017) para su tamizaje usando un inmunoensayo enzimático de tercera generación. Los casos reactivos del tamizaje se confirmaron mediante pruebas de hemaglutinación indirecta (HAI), ensayo por inmunoabsorción ligado a enzimas (ELISA) e inmunofluorescencia indirecta (IFI) en muestras de suero colectadas en tubo. Se calculó la seroprevalencia y su intervalo de confianza del 95% (I.C. 95%).Resultados. En las localidades Citlaltépetl, Cornizuelo, Cruz de Palma y Rancho Nuevo se confirmaron casos de la EC en menores de 15 años con una seroprevalencia de 1,9% (I.C. 95%: 1,12-3,16%).Conclusiones. Los resultados indican que estas comunidades presentan transmisión reciente de la EC y permiten establecer una línea de base epidemiológica para el diseño e implementación de un modelo fundamentado en acciones dirigidas a áreas geográficas con transmisión activa para avanzar hacia la eliminación de transmisión vectorial intradomiciliar de la EC en México

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio