Language Diversity

If we are to understand global linguistic diversity, we must first understand the mechanisms which engender and maintain it. This is what the Wellsprings of Linguistic Diversity project (Australian National University, 2014-2019) aims to examine by studying variation in small communities of the Australasia-Pacific region. Within the framework of the Wellsprings project, this thesis investigates the existence and spread of linguistic variation in the speech community of Raga, on the island of Pentecost, in linguistically diverse Vanuatu. It is primarily a field study, firmly grounded in the survey of social and linguistic data collected in 2015-2017 in north Pentecost, from 58 men and women representing three generations of speakers. This thesis examines variables in three different linguistic domains: use of possessive classifiers (morpho-syntactic); frequency of borrowing from Bislama and nativisation strategies (lexical); and deletion of the phonemic velar fricative (phonological). Quantitative analysis has confirmed intergenerational and intergender variation for the lexical and phonological variables. In a corpus demonstrating an overall low rate of borrowing (1.6%), the findings show that women and younger speakers borrow more frequently from Bislama than the other speakers. Young men are more prone to deleting the velar fricative, perhaps modelling their speech on consonant-dropping prestigious older men. Raga presents no regional diversity and little innovation from the reconstructed proto forms. These features set the language apart within the Vanuatu high-diversity context, and this study also investigates the mechanisms of uniformisation that inhibit the spread of innovative variants in this community of 6,500 speakers. Several factors combine to favour the linguistic conservatism exhibited by Raga. Endogamous marriage practices, maintenance of strong ties with relatives over long distances and generations, reliance on customary mutual obligations, high socio-historical status of the Raga society, and practice of a single religion all impact on the homogeneity of avoana ata raga 'the language of Raga'. With the notable exception of Meyerhoff's studies of Nkep (Meyerhoff 2015, 2016, 2017a, 2017b), there has been little attempt at probing linguistic variability in the recorded natural speech of diverse speakers of a language of Vanuatu. This thesis adds to the body of research that addresses this gap. The thesis also highlights the value of investigating languages in their social context, and in close collaboration with native speakers. This bottom-up approach is essential in identifying and untangling the factors at play in the complex history of Vanuatu's linguistic diversity.

This volume brings together researchers whose rich insights make for a comprehensive and upto-date account of Singapore's rich linguistic diversity. Applying a combination of empirical, theoretical, and descriptive approaches, the authors investigate not only official languages such as English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil, but also minority languages such as the Chinese vernaculars and South Asian and Austronesian languages. The chapters in this volume trace the historical development, contemporary status, and functions of these languages, as well as potential scenarios for the future. Exploring the tension between language policies and linguistic realities in Singapore, these contributions capture the shifting educational, political, and societal priorities over time. Ritu Jain is a lecturer at the Language and Communication Centre at Nanyang Technological University. Her research interests lie in the areas of language policy and planning, and language and identity. In her work, she has examined the role of language education policy in the maintenance and promotion of minority and heritage languages, and the implications this has for language maintenance and shift. She is currently exploring the interplay of language and identity among the Indian language communities of Singapore.

La diversidad del español y su enseñanza es la primera publicación concebida para reflexionar sobre la diversidad de la lengua desde un punto de vista crítico, interdisciplinario, institucional, aplicado e internacional. El análisis de doce lecturas y de una detallada guía de explotación didáctica potencian la adquisición de conocimientos sobre la lengua y desvelan la complejidad de la investigación sobre las variedades del español.

Características principales:

• Artículos de investigación desde diferentes enfoques y perspectivas;

• Actividades de reflexión para verificar la asimilación de contenidos;

• Análisis crítico de extractos y citas de autoridad (español e inglés);

• Preguntas analíticas sobre el estado de la cuestión y recursos institucionales;

• Modelos metodológicos de investigación empírica sobre la diversidad de la lengua;

• Propuestas de temas para la investigación y el debate dentro y fuera del aula;

• Pautas bibliográficas detalladas para profundizar sobre la materia;

• Selección de conceptos clave para potenciar la adquisición de terminología lingüística;

• Glosario bilingüe en línea (español e inglés) sobre variedades del español, sociolingüística aplicada y política lingüística;

• Soluciones de las guías de lectura e información complementaria.

Diseñado como libro de texto o material de autoaprendizaje, La diversidad del español y su enseñanza es una herramienta imprescindible para familiarizarse con la diversidad de la lengua. La información será de interés y aplicable en contextos académicos y profesionales de enseñanza, diseño curricular y elaboración de materiales didácticos de español como lengua extranjera o segunda y de herencia. Cualquier investigador, profesor, estudiante o lector podrá acceder de manera crítica y pautada a esta importante parcela de conocimiento sobre el idioma.

Recently I looked through my student essays and I believe that at least one of them "Language Universals: Myth or reality?" deserves to be placed on my Academia page and could be useful at least as a digest  with links to some key sources in this field.  When reading it please treat it generously as a non peer-reviewed student work. It was also  one of my first papers  written in English.

Ecolinguistics first emerged in the 1990s and, based on the International Ecolinguistics Association’s definition, it strives to explore “the role of language in the life-sustaining interactions of humans, other species and the physical environment” (IEA, 2018). Traditionally, two major research routes have developed worldwide to deal with the endangerment of biodiversity as well as language communities from an ecolinguistic standpoint. However, the new line of research as introduced by Stibbe (2015), seeks to uncover the stories behind human’s decisions and actions and their impacts on “life” as a whole. This way we will be able to convert destructive stories into constructive ones to respect, revive and save all forms of life. For the Iranian linguistic community, however, this relatively new field has to go a long way to be known. It is only twenty years that some scholars have tried to research ecolinguistics, although there is great potential in Iran, considering the current challenges the whole country is facing with regard to environmental issues as well as depleting resources. Iranian ecolinguistic studies are far too distant from similar international efforts, but can generally be divided into two categories of morphological and discourse studies. In this paper, we review nearly all Iranian publications bearing the name “ecolinguistics” and, at the end, we suggest toponymy studies and positive discourse analysis as two important lines of research within this branch of linguistics.

Contact between culturally distinct human groups in the contemporary ‘glocal’  -global and local- world is much greater than at any point in history. The challenge we face is the identification of the most convenient ways to organise the coexistence of different human language groups in order that we might promote their solidarity as members of the same culturally developed biological species in the globalization era.

Processes of economic and political integration currently in motion are seeing increasing numbers of people seeking to become polyglots. Thus, English is establishing itself as the usual world supra-language, although it coexists with other lingua francas that are widely used in certain parts of the globe.

All this communicative reorganization of the human species may very well pose new problems and aggravate existing tensions as regards language and identity. It would seem that these processes comprise at least four major conceptual dimensions which must be taken into account above all else, as they are both widespread and, left unaddressed, may lead to significant social instability. These dimensions concern linguistic recognition, communicability, sustainability and integration.

While accepting the utility of having an inter-national language, the keystone of the system is clearly that it must ensure the linguistic sustainability of each group. The basic principle is likely to be functional subsidiarity, i.e., whatever can be done by the local language should not be done by another one which is more global. As in the quote from Paracelsus  --“the dose alone makes the poison”-- contact between languages is not ‘poisonous’ per se, but when the correct dose is exceeded it can prove harmful to the language whose position is weaker. A multilingual and communicated humanity is possible.

Vivimos en esta circunstancia histórica un aumento exponencial del contacto lingüístico. Los estados tradicionales se han integrado en unidades  político-económicas más amplias, tienen a la vez que reorganizarse internamente para dar cuenta de la propia diversidad de sus grupos humanos constituyentes, se exponen a las nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación, y reciben migraciones importantes de procedencia muy distinta, y todo en el marco de una conciencia superior de la unidad de la especie y, simultáneamente, de su diversidad cultural y de las crisis de la bio- y de la linguodiversidad. Desde el plano lingüístico, lo que tenemos específicamente encima de la mesa es el problema de la organización lingüística de la humanidad, es decir de una especie biológicamente única pero culturalmente diversa a causa fundamentalmente de su dispersión y fragmentación históricas y, a la vez, de su enorme potencial de creatividad. ¿Cómo re-unirnos de nuevo en un espacio comunicativo común, asegurando la intercomunicación, y a la vez, manteniendo lo que ya hemos construido en la diversidad de situaciones en que nos hemos tenido que desarrollar? La gran cuestión deviene, pues, ¿cómo hacer posible la comunicación entre todos los humanos y a la vez el mantenimiento de la diversidad lingüística, que también amamos y que nos define grupalmente?

Would there be some way of transferring the procedures and the conciliating conceptualisation of ‘sustainability’ to the language field, and combine the competence and use both of languages of greater communicative scope and group tongues? An ecological and egalitarian perspective on linguistic diversity would have aim to stop and reverse expansionist and dominating ideologies. To put an end to the value hierarchy implied by the belief in linguistic superiority/inferiority is equally urgent and just. Passing into another historical phase of humankind where the predominant vision would be one of recognising the equal dignity of all languages and linguistic groups is, clearly, an aim that cannot be put off. To paraphrase Ramon Folch, we could say that lingüístic sustainability should be a process of gradual transformation from the current model of the linguistic organisation of the human species, a transformation whose objective would be to avoid that collective bilingualism or polyglottism of human beings must require theabandonment by different cultural groups of their own languages. Basically, the ideology opposed to this would come from the negative human tendency for dichotomous thinking: black or white, one language or the other. Today, however, from the paradigma of complexity we know that there are other possibilities. We can imagine new concepts and design new principles of organisation.

Human linguistic phenomenon is at one and the same time an individual, social, and political fact. As such, its study should bear in mind these complex interrelations, which are produced inside the framework of the sociocultural and historical ecosystem of each human community.

Understanding this phenomenon is often no easy task, due to the range of elements involved and their interrelations. The absence of valid, clearly developed paradigms adds to the problem and means that the theoretical conclusions that emerge may be unclear on certain points. It is true that in the last fifty years sociolinguistic studies have advanced considerably, and today we have access to an impressive set of data and a wide variety of theoretical reflections. But as a discipline sociolinguistics does not yet have unified, powerful theoretical models able to account rigorously and clearly for the phenomena it studies.  Sociolinguistic studies are today a diverse set of contributions in which certain and theoretical schools and lines of research emerged; but as is to be expected in a relatively new field, there is not enough communication between the various schools and they cannot yet be said to be integrated in terms of their conceptual and theoretical postulates.

Against this background, our work aims to contribute to the overall, integrated understanding of the processes of language contact. Via an interdisciplinary, eclectic approach, it also aims to aid the theoretical grounding and integration of a unified, common sociolinguistic paradigm. Our strategy will not be merely to combine the contributions from ongoing research lines, but to address the question from a more global viewpoint which, together with the more innovative contemporary scientific disciplines, permits a harmonious integration of the various sociolinguistic perspectives in a broad, deep and unitary approach to the reality. The materials used to construct this unified approach are taken from many sources: Theoretical physics, ecology, the philosophy of science and mind, anthropology, phenomenological and process sociology, cognitive sciences, political science, pragmatics, history, systems theory, approaches to complexity and obviously sociolinguistics, are all involved in a dialogue in this desire for integration.

Unlike the traditional perspective that separates linguistic varieties from their bio-psycho-socio-politico-cultural contexts and makes of them specialized objects existing in a vacuum, the eco-sociolinguistic perspective is based on the fact that linguistic structures do not live in isolation from their social functions – the existence of matter is indissoluble from its activity, says Einstein. Equally, linguistic structures must be situated ecologically in relation with the sub- and supra-systems that determine their existence if we are to understand their vicissitudes – the unit of survival is the organism-in-its-environment, says Bateson. So our proposal aims to provide the basis of an integrative focus from the perspective of complexity – distinguer sans disjoindre (Morin) – which draws on the contributions of traditional approaches to the study of language systems, but goes beyond them to establish a vision that is more interrelated with the other coexisting sociocultural factors, thus permitting a better understanding of the linguistic  phenomenon as a whole.

This chapter presents the preliminary results of an exercise in reading certain contributions to the study of biological diversity from a 'linguistic' viewpoint. Though a firm believer in transdisciplinariety and the mutual nurturing of knowledge I am nonetheless aware that an uncritical transfer of ideas and concepts from one field to another is unacceptable. We must explore the immense potential of the concept of interdisciplinariety but without falling into a blind mimetism which, instead of helping us to describe and understand more accurately the phenomena that interest us, could lead to the construction of theoretical scenarios which have their own internal logic but are not entirely suited to the ontology of the facts we are examining.
If  biological objects are controlled fundamentally by genetic chance and the  biosphere, linguistic objects are also controlled by the sociocultural experiences of their speakers; this fact differentiates clearly between the reproductive aspects of the two. In their struggle to survive through history organisms are affected by their natural environments, while linguistic systems are additionally affected by the socioeconomic and politicocultural conditions of individuals, who are able to decide personally on the language to be transmitted to their successors. Similarly, given the greater flexibility of cultural reproduction, language change will be faster than genetic change. Since linguistic varieties are the products of human social mechanisms, they may be constricted to the decisions  –conscious or unconscious– of humans, in the framework of their personal autonomy, whereas non-human biological species will be in general much more subject to instinctive programming. The reproduction of biological diversity is a matter in which the protagonists –the species – have little say, controlled as they are by contextual conditions. But in the reproduction and preservation of linguistic diversity the main actors are human beings themselves, humans endowed with awareness and emotions who, confronted with change in their sociocultural context, have to take decisions which will ultimately affect the continuity or demise of the linguistic diversity that has built up over human history. The existence of important differences between natural and cultural objects does not necessarily mean that we cannot find interfaces of connection between the two theoretical fields or useful conceptual suggestions or adaptations for a fuller understanding of the nature of the level of language and communication.

Neste artigo apresentaremos uma breve perspectiva de um projecto de investigação que se centrou na competência de intercompreensã o, que, por sua vez, se encontra associada às competências de comunicação intercultural e plurilingual. A nossa intenção foi despertar nos nossos aprendentes a curiosidade para com outras línguas e culturas para além da portuguesa e inglesa. Escolhemos, assim, o Alemão e o Neerlandês, por pertencerem, tal como o Inglês, à mesma família linguística e, principalmente, por apresentarem enquanto línguas bastantes semelhanças. Quisemos sensibilizar os nossos aprendentes para as línguas germânicas, de forma a terem a oportunidade de alargarem os seus horizontes linguísticos e culturais. Para tal elaborámos várias estratégias e materiais sempre com o objectivo de os manter motivados e interessados em conhecer o desconhecido. Nesta breve reflexão, apresentaremos as competências fulcrais do nosso projecto, isto é, a competência de intercompreensão, a competência de comunicação intercultural e a competência plurilingues, assim como também as estratégias e os materiais usados em quatro aulas de sensibilização às três línguas germânicas.

This coauthored paper written together by Ekaterina Lyutikova, Maria Konoshenko and myself serves as preface to the third issue in the series "Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters" (Moscow: MSPU, 2016). We discuss the application of parametric methods in linguistic typology and formal framework and present research articles included in this volume.

Настоящий выпуск продолжает серию изданий [11] и [12], посвященных лингвистической типологии и параметрической грамматике. Параметризация грамматического разнообразия естественных языков — чрезвычайно ак-тивно и плодотворно развивающееся направление лингвистики конца XX – начала XXI века, см. обзорные статьи [9; 8] Смысл параметризации состоит в том, чтобы с определенным значением параметра был связан не один признак языка (в таком случае параметр ничем не отличается от конкретно-языкового правила), но, по возможности, — группа свойств, образующих кластер и харак-теризующих грамматику языка. Таким образом, параметризация одновременно и исчисляет языковое разнообразие, и ограничивает его. Это свойство параметрических систем отмечается не только в типологически ориентированных исследованиях, но и в формальных теориях.

(ENGLISH TRANSLATION published as a chapter in: Massip-Bonet, A., & A. Bastardas-Boada (eds.), Complexity perspectives on language, communication and society, 2013).
As the sociologist Norbert Elias pointed out, there is a need of new procedural models to get to grasp the complex functioning of human-beings-in-society. An ecological complexity approach could be useful to advance our knowledge. How can we think of a sociolinguistic «ecosystem»? What elements do we need to put in such an ecosystem and what analogies could be applied? The (bio)ecological inspiration is a metaphorical exercise to proceed toward a more holistic approach in dynamic sociolinguistics. However, a language is not a species and, therefore, we need to make our complex ecology socio-cognitive and multidimensional. We need to create theories and represent to ourselves how language behaviour is woven together with its contexts in order to maintain language diversity and, at the same time, foster general human intercommunication on a planetary scale.

CATALÀ: El sociòleg Norbert Elias assenyalava que les ciències socials es trobaven en una cruïlla que havien de saber superar. Per una banda, havien de distanciar-se de les categories conceptuals corrents de la vivència quotidiana de les persones  -tot i que, és clar, havien de ser tingudes en compte-  i per l’altra havien potser de ser crítiques i anar en compte si adoptaven els models de ‘cientificitat’ que els oferien les més experimentades ciències de la matèria, ja que aquests podien ser inadequats per al tipus de realitat que hom volia tractar d’entendre i explicar. Elias era ja conscient de la necessitat de noves eines de pensament i de nous models processuals si algun dia volíem arribar a capir el funcionament força complex dels éssers-humans-en-societat.
Durant la segona meitat del segle XX especialment, des de distints camps han anat sorgint diverses eines conceptuals i noves imatges que sembla que ens poden fer avançar en la direcció que demanava Elias. Autors com ara Gregory Bateson, Edgar Morin, David Bohm, o Fritjof Capra, entre d’altres, obren perspectives capaces d’anar produint una comprensió més adequada dels fenòmens sociomentals humans, basades en l’ecologia sistèmica. Altres autors, centrats més en la modelització de xarxes i dels sistemes dinàmics no-lineals des de perspectives més generals, van aportant també noves possibilitats de representació i comprensió d’aquest tipus de fenòmens. És a tot això que hem anat convenint d’anomenar perspectives o teories de la ‘complexitat’, tot cercant un rètol general que ens permeti integrar el conjunt d’aquestes innovacions. L’aplicació d’aquests enfocaments a la comprensió de diversos fenòmens socials, comunicativo-cognitius i lingüístics, resulta, doncs, plenament adequada ja que ens permet visualitzar molt més encertadament esdeveniments quotidians com ara les converses i, en general, la interacció social, les interrelacions lingüístiques de grups humans diferents, l’ús i el desús social de formes i varietats lingüístiques, el canvi històric d’aquestes, o bé els seus sociosignificats segons els distints grups i subgrups socioculturals. Alhora, podem construir una imatge multidimensional molt més integrada i coherent del propi sistema lingüístic tot connectant-lo, tal com cal, amb els individus i les seves cognicions i els seus comportaments socials, dins de l’ecosistema físicosocial en què tots aquests elements existeixen. La ‘mirada complexa’ se’ns ofereix com un camí per explorar, engrescador i plenament útil per a l’avenç dels nostres coneixements del nivell humà.

Koalib is one of the aboriginal languages of the Nuba Mountains. It belongs to the Heiban branch of the Kordofanian family.
The Koalib ethnic group is made up of approximately 200,000 people (estimate for 2011), the majority of whom speak Koalib. However, a large proportion of the Koalib now no longer live in their homeland which was ravaged by fighting between the government and SPLA supporters during the second Sudanese civil war, which lasted from 1983 (Prunier 1989: 414-426) to 2002 in the South Kordofan area (when a local cease-fire was agreed between the SPLA and government troops). Indeed, during the war, tens of thousands of Koalib found refuge in Sudanese cities, particularly in Khartoum, where I began studying Koalib in 2000 during my first field-trip, before visiting Koalib-speaking villages in the Nuba Mountains from 2001 onwards. Since the formal signing of a peace agreement between the Khartoum government and the SPLA (on 9 January 2005), there has been a reverse flow of Koalib, who are now leaving the Sudanese cities and
relocating back in the Koalib homeland. However, the Koalib diaspora continues to represent a considerable proportion (probably over 50%) of individuals who consider themselves to be ethnically Koalib. All linguistic data presented in this article are derived from the Rere (ŋèrɛ́ɛɽɛ̀) dialect, spoken in the centre of the Koalib area (in the localities of Dere and Abri, see Quint 2009: 20-23, 2006b: 23-25). It has a written tradition dating back 80 years, linked to the arrival in 1923 of the first Protestant missionaries in Abri (Spartalis 1981: 58-59; Stevenson 1984: 72).

Contact between culturally distinct human groups in the contemporary world is much greater than at any point in history. And the difficulties we
face today in organising this coexistence and the relations between different
national and language groups are acquiring even greater urgency in an
age that is marked by significant technological and economic changes, and
by major migratory movements. Thus the challenge we face is the identification
of the most convenient ways to organise the coexistence of different
human language groups in order that we might promote their solidarity as
members of the same culturally developed biological species.

Integration policies are intended to have the dual aim of providing immigrants with the means to function in the society where they live and develop their potential, while preserving their cultural and ethnic identity, and familiarising the non-immigrant population with the rights of immigrants, their culture, traditions and needs. Integration also appears in documents specifically directed at the protection of traditional national minorities. This paper looks to identify the main cultural traits that define minorities in the institutional language and that are relevant for these integration policies. Language and religion emerge as a widely recognised identity factors in this respect. Other possible cultural identity factors gather around the idea of ethnicity, being more difficult to determine.

"As the sociologist Norbert Elias pointed out, there is a need of new
procedural models to get to grasp the complex functioning of human-beings-in-society. An ecological complexity approach could be useful to advance our knowledge. How can we think of a sociolinguistic “ecosystem”? What elements do we need to put in such an ecosystem and what analogies could be applied? The
(bio)ecological inspiration is a metaphorical exercise to proceed toward a more holistic approach in dynamic sociolinguistics. However, a language is not a species and, therefore, we need to make our complex ecology socio-cognitive and multidimensional. We need to create theories and represent to ourselves how
language behaviour is woven together with its contexts in order to maintain language diversity and, at the same time, foster general human intercommunication on a planetary scale."

This article examines a group of Vietnamese ethnic minority students’ language attitudes towards formal and informal language policies of the domains of school, church and ethnic community and towards their individual bilingualism. Multiple semi-structured interviews with eight college-age minority students are used as the main source of the data. Findings reveal that school language policy contributed to shaping the students’ view of “language-as-problem” in valuing Vietnamese, while church and community language policies shaped the “language-as-right” orientation in relation to their first language. Under the mixed influences of language policies of these domains, the students considered their bilingualism as a “resource” that could help them to maintain their ethnic features and join the mainstream flow simultaneously. Being aware of the sample size and other methodological considerations, we suggest that there may not be essential conflicts between bilingual identity and national solidarity in the same minority language speaker in a polity such as Vietnam. Based on these insights, we would like to consider language diversity, bilingualism and cultural heterogeneity as a resource rather than a problem in defining language policies for national development and social inclusion and harmony in Vietnam.

Authors: Trang Thi Thuy Nguyen & M. Obaidul Hamid

Full text available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/N3JhAMdGgfzbs6CkhWBY/full

(Please inbox me for full text if the above link does not work)

The comparison between various language policies that aim to manage multilingual communication ought to rely on some robust methodology for evaluation. This paper discusses the possibility to found such a methodology on the well-established concepts of efficiency and fairness. Assessing efficiency implies comparing how resources are allocated under alternative policy options (or scenarios) in order to identify the policy promising the best overall allocation. Assessing fairness calls for the evaluation of the distributive effects of each scenario on the linguistic groups involved in communication—that is, ascertaining who benefits and who loses (and how much) under alternative policy options.
This paper develops indicators of effective and fair communication, which synthesise some desirable characteristics of communication processes, and which enable us to rank-order, with respect to their relative efficiency and fairness, different ways of handling communication in multilingual settings. In order to assess effectiveness and efficiency, we work with three (not mutually exclusive) definitions of communication, namely, informatory, cooperative and strategic communication, which reflect the different (main) communicational intents of the actors. In order to assess fairness, we establish a distinction between communication in terms of access, process and outcome.

Several authors have described the language situation of Gabon with regard mainly to native languages, as one of language diversity. In this article, we portray this language situation with regard to both foreign and native languages, and introduce the concept of a Gabonese Language Landscape, which we contrast with a concept of a language situation. The concept is introduced in comparison to that of a language situation. Based on observations, we present an inventory of both foreign and native languages in an attempt to display the language situation of Gabon in a realistic way. The article also examines the status of the various languages used in Gabon as well as Gabon’s language policy.

This article raises a number of questions that should be dealt with in drawing up a lexicographic plan for Gabon. For which of the Gabonese languages should lexicographic units be established? This question entrains the issue of inventorying the Gabonese languages and their standardization as well as the issue of language planning for Gabon. What is the status of those foreign languages widely spoken in Gabon? What about French? Should Gabon keep importing its French dictionaries from France, or should the Gabonese compile their own French dictionaries, including French words and expressions exclusively used in Gabon? Finally, after trying to answer these questions, a number of suggestions are made for the establishment of a lexicographic plan for Gabon.

"Diversitats. Llengües, espècies i ecologies" és un llibre divers que aplega aquests sis treballs: «Diversitat biològica i diversitat lingüística: algunes pistes transdisciplinàries per a una socioecologia de les llengües», pel sociolingüista A. Bastardas; «Formes de la diversitat en la cultura: l’argument de la diferenciació», per l’antropòleg Claudi Esteve i Fabregat; «Lingüística genètica», per l’antropòloga lingüística M. Carme Junyent i Figueras; «De la destrucció de la diversitat lingüística i d’algunes raons per a evitar-la», pel lingüista Joan A. Argenter; «Valoracions ètiques i polítiques de la diversitat des de l’ecologia», per l’ecòleg Jaume Terradas, i «Valoracions ètiques i polítiques de la diversitat des de la filosofia», pel filòsof Josep M. Terricabras.

Around Europe, minority and lesser-used languages are being diluted and submerged within or by dominant nations through active or passive policies. By analysing and comparing the situation of national media landscapes in several European stateless nations and regions, the authors of this book have developed new proposals about how to promote and protect languages and cultures through media systems.

Reflections on this issue remain pertinent and relevant as media contributes to the prestige and use of a language. In the case of languages that find themselves in a minority position, where there is also often a growing sense of linguistic insecurity and social disharmony, media can play a decisive role in their survival and well-being.

Media is an undeniable part of our everyday life, and more than ever before, it is easily within reach and surrounds us at all times, everywhere we go. Mass media, be it traditional or social, remains the primary source of information and education in contemporary societies, cultivating public opinion and constituting new realities in subtle and not so subtle ways. Furthermore, plurality of media is one of the touchstones for measuring the quality of democracy. Any movement, be it social or political, that wants to have an impact on society needs to have access to media in a fair and sustainable manner.

This book provides a theoretical road-map for social and political movements for setting up their own communication agendas in the context of globalisation and neoliberalism, which have transformed media landscapes, making them highly heterogenous, complex and competitive. Smaller players face the challenge of creating their own unique brand of meaning(s), which not only provide internal cohesion, but distinguish it from all others.

The task of minority media is to reclaim a geographic and symbolic space for the disadvantaged language community by using minority languages, asserting national or cultural identities, maintaining and sharing social practices, and interpreting or amplifying political priorities. As this book shows, developing a communications agenda for a national minority or stateless nation is a collective act of cultural and political resistance, because it can challenge prejudices and stereotypes, as well resist central powers and state-nationalist ideologies, that are embedded in language and disseminated by media, and later, reproduced by consumers themselves in their daily lives.

Sound Comparisons hosts over 90,000 individual word recordings and 50,000 narrow phonetic transcriptions from 600 language varieties from eleven language families around the world. This resource is designed to serve researchers in phonetics, phonology and related fields. Transcriptions follow new initiatives for standardisation in usage of the IPA and Unicode. At soundcomparisons.com, users can explore the transcription datasets by phonetically-informed search and filtering, customise selections of languages and words, download any targeted data subset (sound files and transcriptions) and cite it through a custom URL. We present sample research applications based on our extensive coverage of regional and sociolinguistic variation within major languages, and also of endangered languages, for which Sound Comparisons provides a rapid first documentation of their diversity in phonetics. The multilingual interface and user-friendly, ‘hover-tohear’ maps likewise constitute an outreach too...

The extraordinary tendency of human beings to think in terms of dichotomies could be the root of the problem. In the past, and even nowadays, this tendency to think in terms of dichotomies seems to have dominated the view of language contact, thus making it impossible for all groups concerned to live in more harmonious contentment. The vast majority of states seem to find it impossible or very difficult to structure themselves politically in a way that would permit both the continuity of the linguistic life of their constituent groups and the intercommunication necessary for common living between these groups. The great majority seem to choose one over the other: they either impose a single official language for all groups, without recognizing the diversity (and often explicitly against this), or the existing linguistic groups are recognised but the matter of intercommunication is not resolved satisfactorily. It is hard to believe that either option can have a future in the current era of mankind: against the background of positive growth of the democratic and egalitarian conscience of human groups and the dignity of each and every one of these,historical groups that have been thus far subordinated will not sit back and allow the introduction of solutions condemning them to a reduced linguistic existence when this could be full and normal. Moreover, a political and linguistic organisation that does not consider the forms of intercommunication between its components in the best possible way is not sustainable.Thus, there is no alternative but to explore imaginatively other forms of political and linguistic organisation that could make the two objectives above compatible: preserving the linguistic diversity and dignity of all historical linguistic groups, while ensuring fluent intercommunication and a feeling of solidarity among our species.

Sound Comparisons hosts over 90,000 individual word recordings and 50,000 narrow phonetic transcriptions from 600 language varieties from eleven language families around the world. This resource is designed to serve researchers in phonetics, phonology and related fields. Transcriptions follow new initiatives for standardisation in usage of the IPA and Unicode. At soundcomparisons.com, users can explore the transcription datasets by phonetically-informed search and filtering, customise selections of languages and words, download any targeted data subset (sound files and transcriptions) and cite it through a custom URL. We present sample research applications based on our extensive coverage of regional and sociolinguistic variation within major languages, and also of endangered languages, for which Sound Comparisons provides a rapid first documentation of their diversity in phonetics. The multilingual interface and user-friendly, ‘hover-tohear’ maps likewise constitute an outreach too...

Today’s growing mobility in European urban regions results in a more widespread language diversity, which is increasingly challenging current language policies. Against this background, this volume deals with the interface between language policy, language planning and actual practices. The impact that prevailing language policies have on language practices is observed in a series of urban settings, leading to a reflection on the changes that need to be brought about to promote social inclusion and valorise linguistic diversity in a context of globalisation-affected and migration-related multilingualism. The topics of discussion draw on different theoretical perspectives and span the research fields of linguistics, education, (family) language policy and planning, language acquisition and sociology.

This study investigated the extent to which students were able or not able to translate mathematics word problems to linear algebraic representations. A multilingual class of forty Grade 11 mathematics students at one secondary school in South Africa was given a word problem test and five students were subsequently interviewed based on the responses they had written. Qualitative analysis of data revealed that students committed more semantic than both syntactic and schematic errors, suggesting that their linguistic mastery of mathematical language was generally insufficient. The study also indicated that the sources of observed errors emanated from students’ lack of mathematical vocabulary, unfamiliarity with expository text structures, lack of symbol and syntax awareness, and limited metacognitive skills required in word problem solving.

Sound Comparisons hosts over 90,000 individual word recordings and 50,000 narrow phonetic transcriptions from 600 language varieties from eleven language families around the world. This resource is designed to serve researchers in phonetics, phonology and related fields. Transcriptions follow new initiatives for standardisation in usage of the IPA and Unicode. At soundcomparisons.com, users can explore the transcription datasets by phonetically-informed search and filtering, customise selections of languages and words, download any targeted data subset (sound files and transcriptions) and cite it through a custom URL. We present sample research applications based on our extensive coverage of regional and sociolinguistic variation within major languages, and also of endangered languages, for which Sound Comparisons provides a rapid first documentation of their diversity in phonetics. The multilingual interface and user-friendly, ‘hover-tohear’ maps likewise constitute an outreach too...

Sound Comparisons hosts over 90,000 individual word recordings and 50,000 narrow phonetic transcriptions from 600 language varieties from eleven language families around the world. This resource is designed to serve researchers in phonetics, phonology and related fields. Transcriptions follow new initiatives for standardisation in usage of the IPA and Unicode. At soundcomparisons.com, users can explore the transcription datasets by phonetically-informed search and filtering, customise selections of languages and words, download any targeted data subset (sound files and transcriptions) and cite it through a custom URL. We present sample research applications based on our extensive coverage of regional and sociolinguistic variation within major languages, and also of endangered languages, for which Sound Comparisons provides a rapid first documentation of their diversity in phonetics. The multilingual interface and user-friendly, ‘hover-tohear’ maps likewise constitute an outreach too...