ELL: Language Shift and Gender

[Birger Winsa]

In a number of minority groups men tend to be most resistant to language
shift, e.g the Tornedalians in Sweden and the Saami in Norway, Finland and
Sweden. This tendency is e.g. reflected in intermarriage patterns.
According to my own study women tend to be more inclined to marry a man
from a higher prestige language group, i. e. the national language in most
cases. Hence, Tornedalian women speaking Swedish and Tornedalen Finnish
marry with Swedish monolinguals more than the other way around. No economic
differences is perceptible. It was a common opinion earlier that a marriage
with a monolingual was one form of climbing the social ladder. This
tendency is also common in Canada, where the female is French-speaking, and
according to personal information this is also the case in Ireland (Irish)
and in Luxembourg (Letzeburgisch). However, if the minority language has
had high status and the majority language has been low valued the situation
may be reversed. In Finland there are more women speaking Finnish in
intermarriages with bilingual Finland Swedes. This tendency in Finland has
been observed for about one century, as in the Torne valley


Best
Birger Winsa
Department of Finnish
Stockholm University

  At 10:12 2001-11-07 -0900, you wrote:
>Dear Colleagues:
>
>I am working on a research project into the interaction between
>traditional gender-based communication patterns and language shift. I have
>had difficulty locating references through the usual databases/channels
>and I was wondering if anyone was aware of work in this area.
>
>Specifically, there may be evidence here in some Alaskan Athabascan
>communities, that as language shift occurs, it may overlay traditional
>male-female communication patterns such that men are more likely to
>continue using the language with other men and speak English with women
>who are themselves Native speakers, and vice versa.
>
>This research is only in its initial stages, and among other things, we
>still have to investigate traditional Athabascan male-female patterns of
>interaction (something else that doesn't appear to be in the literature).
>
>Later this winter we will begin interviewing a few key Elders, with the
>point being to begin to define/understand traditional gender-based
>interaction patterns and to try and correlate those patterns with modern
>language usage. In short, to try and understand the gender-based patterns
>that language shift may be overlaying.
>
> From there we expect to move into schools and see how traditional
> patterns of interaction are being undermined/reinforced/??? in the school.
>
> From there we hope to figure out how to work with existing patterns
> (rather than against them) in order to improve language teaching
> specifically and education in general.
>
>Any help/references people can provide would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Sincerely,
>************************************************************************
>Patrick E. Marlow
>Assistant Professor
>Alaska Native Language Center
>University of Alaska Fairbanks
>PO Box 757680
>Fairbanks, AK 99775-7680
>(907) 474-7446
>ffpem at uaf.edu
>************************************************************************
>
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Birger Winsa
Finska institutionen
Stockholms universitet
106 91 Stockholm
Fax: 08-158871
Tel: 08-162359
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