Today
• Finish lecture (bilingualism)
• Review of Second Exam (form and content)
• Video (“Between the Solitudes”)
Language Death
• Typically based on economic and political
imperatives
• Historical reasons: overwhelming forces
• Central American case: colonialism and
conquest
• Assimilative policies: North America and
Australia
Language death among the
Arapaho
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•
•
•
English associated with power
Bilingualism becomes an asset
Bilingualism gives way to monolingualism
Indigenous language loses prestige
Other reasons for language death
• Being outnumbered: Normandy, Hungarian
speakers of Austria
• Negative attitudes towards local languages: The
Arapaho, Tiwa opposite example
• Immigration: local populations outnumbered
• Cultural imperialism; mass media, Hollywood
Summary
• Bilingualism is difficult to define
----depending of the purpose of the particular
language use
• More than half of the population is bilingual
---monolingualism versus bilingualism
• The functions of and attitudes of languages
depend on social contexts
---diaglossia: High and low form: depend on
context
Review: Form and Content
• Form:
• Three parts,
• One: Definitions--9 out of 11 (one mark)
• Two: Short Answer Questions--2 out of 4 (3
marks)
• Three: Essay Questions--1 out of 2 (5 marks)
Content
•
•
•
•
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•
Bonvillain: Chapters 8, 1, and 12
Other Readings:
Clark Blaise (North)
Eva Hoffman (Life in a New Language)
Michael Ignatieff (Blood and Belonging)
Films: “Men and Women Talking Together”, “The
Voice of the Land is in our Languages,” and
“Between The Solitudes”
Between The Solitudes
• Josh Freed (1992)
• Montreal: Early 1990’s
• Linguistic debate: English speaking
minority
• Multilingualism(bilingualism) and
politics
What it the importance of Language for
Quebec nationalism?
What are the consequences of
linguistic nationalism?
What do you think is the future of most
languages in the world? What can we do
to prevent the death of these languages.