n Answer question: practical; sounds, symbols, gestures; deeper; language is a reflection/expression
of who we are. Culture; dynamic social systems, shared patterns
Good day; different perceptions
Culturally shared values define the context
Should be studied -> effective plans for resources for maintaining culture and language
This lecture and next week:
Understand the region
1. What language policy means
2. Differences between mainstream and indigenous education in LA
3. Peculiarities of mono and multilingual orientations in LA
4. History of some general characteristics of the indigenous and immigrant educational settings
(Hamel)
5. Explore different solutions of some Latin American countries to the challenges of
globalization on foreign language policies
How many languages are there in the world?
7099 known living languages (Ethnologue)
Portuguese and Spanish are widely spoken
South America; how many languages? – 456
-> many indigenous and immigrant languages are being spoken in SA
Central America; how many languages? – 326
There is a common element to ‘being’ Latin American, but there are also many differences between
people. (in culture and language) – diverse region
Who is bilingual?
Definition has changed from more conservative to broader.
,1926: Bilingualism is the condition in which two living languages exist side by side in a country, each
spoken by one national group, respecting a fairly large proportion of the people.
1933: in … cases … where perfect foreign- language learning is not accomplished by loss of the native
language, it results in bilingualism, native-like control of the two languages.
1953: the practice of alternatively using two languages will be called bilingualism, and the person
involved bilingual.
Later: you are bilingual if you speak to languages or dialects (not necessarily a native speaker, or
completely fluent)
Most of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual, the minority is monolingual – Latin
America is no different – minority is monolingual
Official languages in countries:
Many countries have multiple official languages, some have one official language, but they are
functionally multilingual. There are also countries that do not have an official language, those are
functionally multilingual as well.
Official language comes with status -> political issues
Difference between national language and official language
There are also countries that have multiple official languages but act as a monolingual country, many
countries in LA
Language policy; powerful political instrument
Language vitality factors (UNESCO) -> used to develop measure language maintenance &
revitalization;
How does language maintenance and revitalization happen?
-> intergenerational language transmission
-> absolute number of speakers
-> proportion of speakers within the total population
-> response to new domains and media
-> availability of materials for language education and literacy
-> governmental and institutional language attitudes and policies including official states and use
-> community members’ attitudes toward their own language
-> amount and quality of documentation
Research; focus on one factor and develop from there
Alan Patten;
,Language policy: issue of ethical, political and legal importance
Political movement; “English-only” movement
Others places of movement:
- Quebec
- Catalonia
- Belgium
- New Zealand
-> common: (attempted) institutionalization of language through a language policy/planning process
Is language that powerful to cause disputes? – yes
Language is understood as a social fact, the medium in which most social interaction takes place. ->
what you speak matters
What if someone can speak only one language?
What happens when someone speaks many languages?
What if an adult/elderly person is ‘obliged’ to learn a new language?
People want to normalize the language use of their language (majority languages) – dispute
Public recognition -> language in public places excludes groups that do not speak that language
Translation is part of planning and policy – but sometimes not efficient
Linguistic autonomy
Concerning language policies
When is someone linguistically autonomous? Patten: when they are free form state interference to
choose the language they want to use in various non-public domains, and public ones.
Multilingual setting; language policy visible and present
Patten: Each of the various languages spoken in the community should be accorded the same
recognition
Important to discuss language recognition because: ones language is recognized
- Communication happens
- Symbolic affirmation happens
- Identity promotion happens
, What should be considered when studying language policy in Latin America?
- Construct their group identities
- Distinguish themselves from the ‘others’
- Build power structures
Hamel: main strands of research
1. Construction of Spanish and Portuguese as independent national languages (nation building,
beginning 18th – 19th century)
2. The relation of Portuguese and Spanish as colonial and national languages to indigenous and
immigrant languages
3. Language policies toward the teaching and values of foreign languages – less attention ->
overlaps with focus on European immigrant languages
2 types of linguistic communities in LA
Indigenous and immigrants
Differences and similarities; both have own bilingual communication and education system
Both are bilingual spaces – social historic formation -> mostly oriented by European models ->
focused on homogeneity; not much room for differentiation -> exclusion from society
No equality
Dominant language ideology -> expect people to be monolingual to the dominant language
-> foreign languages are accepted, but not indigenous languages.
Problems with homogeneity?
-> everyone equal but everyone very different -> but; areas that are plurilingual, are excluded and
hidden from public recognition
History colonisation: pressure to assimilate to European culture
Indigenous groups are still here -> lived in isolated areas -> able to survive
Nowadays: struggle with rights and recognition, but also sometimes resist own culture and
bilingualism because they have copied the dominant language ideology
Language policy; social historical process that changed language constellations/systems, which
happened because of the state institutions -> intervention
Social historical process – transformation of discursive and linguistics processes
-> lead people to standardization
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