31.1787, Review: Anthropological Linguistics; Language Documentation; Sociolinguistics: Sallabank (2019)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-31-1787. Thu May 28 2020. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 31.1787, Review: Anthropological Linguistics; Language Documentation; Sociolinguistics: Sallabank (2019)

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Date: Thu, 28 May 2020 21:12:46
From: Zuzana Elliott [zuzana.elliott at ed.ac.uk]
Subject: Attitudes to Endangered Languages

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-4745.html

AUTHOR: Julia  Sallabank
TITLE: Attitudes to Endangered Languages
SUBTITLE: Identities and Policies
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2019

REVIEWER: Zuzana S Elliott, University of Edinburgh

SUMMARY

Julia Sallabank’s book explores her insider’s perspective with activist’s
leanings, her involvement that is reflected through her awareness of
celebrating linguistic diversity and multilingualism across the Channel
Islands and the Isle of Man. Her insights made this book an invaluable tool
for exploring language attitudes and ideologies, while addressing issues on
how to “save a language,” with a reference to what it means to the islanders
and how it affects them in the first place. The chapters contribute towards an
understanding of language revitalisation efforts, while considering
theoretical contexts such as language ideologies. 

The chapters are organised thematically, where the initial three chapters
introduce the islanders and their vernacular languages, language policy
practices, and the islanders’ attitudes and ideologies towards their heritage
and future of their vernaculars. The subsequent chapters discuss the findings
and implications, using the current and follow-up studies, and how these
contribute towards understanding language revitalisation efforts and applying
them to global perspectives. 

The first chapter explores language globalisation and its place among previous
and current matters on language endangerment, formation of identities and
ideologies. Sallabank sets off introducing language endangerment in the
academic field, and records community responses in bi- or multilingual
contexts of language endangerment in both the Channel Islands and the Isle of
Man. She argues that the “small islanders” as a community switch between
indigenous varieties, such as Norman, French, standard English, and local
dialects of English, as a result of expressing their feelings, attitudes and
reactions towards power and economic success of the language. The chapter
defines the basic concepts of endangerment and sets the pace on explaining the
ideological viewpoints and linguistic purism associated with traditional
speakers in Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man. The literature review is
essential as it provides the social, political, and linguistic context
necessary for understanding the analysis in later chapters. Of particular note
is the model of language policy, which is used repeatedly in later chapters as
the foundation of her narrative. 

In the second chapter, Sallabank brings together extra-linguistic factors
which contribute towards the sociolinguistic development of Manx (Isle of
Man), Jèrriais (Jersey), and Guernesiais (Guernsey) language varieties. The
chapter outlines the small islands, their political background in relation to
the European language policy and their social position in relation to the rest
of the Great Britain. Although the  Ministry of Justice (2006) granted these
islands their own separate parliaments, their local languages still have no
official role or status, and as Sallabank comments, “[they have] never been
taken seriously enough to be seen as language[s] of public life” (p. 34). The
indigenous varieties have been under myriad influences due to dynamic cultural
shifts and population growth in recent generations. In particular, the chapter
touches on in- and out-migration, as well as how the islanders’ personal
preferences are reflected through their attitudes and ideologies concerning
their local languages and cultures, mainly with respect to recent immigration
from England, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. The chapter closes
with thoughts on how the Channel Islands’ geographical proximity to France and
political proximity to England is thus reflected in their sociolinguistic
situation. 

The third chapter examines processes involved in researching language
attitudes and ideologies. Sallabank opens the chapter by exploring traditional
research on language attitudes and language ideologies as a means of
understanding how cross-generational economic stability and growth might
fulfil a prerequisite for identity, as defined by individuals in the small
islands (p. 67). The chapter highlights that studies on language endangerment
tend to emphasise decline in language use, and rarely examine motivations of
people who are involved in attempts to cease or reverse a language shift. The
revitalisation process is thus presented as meeting an urgent need, which if
well addressed and acted upon is often most successful via the utilisation of
multiple different campaigns. Sallabank approached her study using both
qualitative and quantitative methodologies to investigate societal tendencies
and changing ideologies among individuals on the small islands. Ethnographic
interviews and observation techniques enabled a greater familiarity with local
informants, and brought insights into their public and private opinions on
their indigenous language. She ends the chapter by encouraging researchers to
continue engaging with locals, activists, and language planners simply because
locals’ language ideologies need to become the starting point of
revitalisation research rather than being dismissed altogether.

In Chapter Four, Sallabank explores new avenues for language revitalisation
via social media use in the small islands. The chapter starts by exploring the
islands’ usage of Twitter and Facebook as two means of revitalising indigenous
languages among the local population. Her research finds that in Jersey and
Guernsey islands, the fluent speakers are predominantly elderly residents who
have no interest in using media, while the vast majority of young people are
not fluent enough to read literature in their local languages. Social media
has seen some exceptions, such as Badlabeque’s Twitter, which often tweets in
the Jèrriais variety. The hope of the revitalisation activists is that this
Twitter feed may promote minority languages and encourage new learners to feel
comfortable expressing their views in local tongues without engaging with
speakers face-to-face, allowing learners greater freedom of expression and
capacity for trial and error from the comfort of their homes. It is the main
aim of revitalisation efforts that blogging and texting in endangered
languages might motivate younger learners and thus create an opportunity to
rebuild the community of speakers who use endangered languages. 

Chapter Five examines the extent to which local attitudes, identities, and
language ideologies have shifted over the years, and how language use has been
viewed as a means of heritage in the process of language maintenance and
revitalisation. The chapter starts with introducing the minority vernaculars,
Guernesiais, Jèrriais, and Manx, and their role in social advancement.
Sallabank explains that for much of the 19th and 20th Centuries, the role of
these languages was mostly undermined and that people were taught from a very
early age that “only stupid people” spoke the local vernacular (p. 106). 

Sallabank’s use of methodologies attempted to verify anecdotal reports of
attitude shifts among the local residents on the small islands. The Guernsey
surveys aimed to collect explicit attitudes in the manner of an opinion poll
or market survey, and were distributed to workplaces, civil service,
education, and banking sectors. As part of her follow-up studies, Sallabank
describes how she continued her research by incorporating language activists,
politicians and officials, and the general Channel Islands population. Her
findings indicate that people with less educated backgrounds tended to express
fewer positive attitudes towards local vernaculars than did those with higher
(i.e. postgraduate) qualifications. Her ethnographic observations show that
locals found the use of their vernacular language less practical than British
English in relation to the modern world. Also, her findings revealed that
Guernesiais supporters split up into groups of those who wish to expand their
domains of language and open it to new speakers, while the “traditionalists”,
or language purists, favoured attachment to their heritage that reflects their
nostalgia. Sallabank concludes the chapter that along with class, occupation,
and origin, language attitudes cannot simply be correlated with what she calls
“essentialist interpretation of ethnic identity and nationalism” (p. 112), due
to the islands’ increasing ethnic diversity.

Chapter Six compares language policies, planning processes, and management in
the small islands. Sallabank examines case studies in the language-related
school programs, adult learning, and corpus planning. Using one-on-one
interviews, she visited each island to talk to language activists and
learners, civil servants and politicians, business people and the general
public to explore how locals’ opinions towards vernaculars shape their
language attitudes and practices. In particular, she investigated language
revitalisation efforts in Guernsey and influences by appointed Language
Officers, whose goal was to establish government language policies and support
revitalisation efforts of the islands’ languages. Officers’ tasks have met
with largely positive response, particularly among young people, resulting in
increased support for language learning and promotion of the local languages.
However, despite revitalisation efforts met by government, Sallabank finds
that people cease using their language at home because each local vernacular
continues to be perceived as inappropriate at school. Notions of low prestige
tend to be reinforced at school, and thus the revitalisation movement faces a
challenge in gaining acceptance at schools. However, formal education is not a
guarantee that the language will be accepted outside school, unless the users
themselves participate in it. A further challenge Sallabank indicates is that
the increasing age and isolation of locals are factors leading to individual
and societal language loss. As a result, revitalisation efforts on the islands
aim to replace the traditional views and networks with opportunities for
interaction with other speakers and learners.

The seventh and final chapter considers implications for language policies in
endangered language revitalisation. Sallabank discusses the language status,
education, and issues of beliefs and ideologies, and questions who has the
authority to speak on behalf of the community and make decisions for the
future of the endangered languages. She highlights that the language for each
small island is a powerful tool in preserving cultural identity, a symbol that
represents both traditional and modern practices. However, labelling cultural
identity as either traditional or modern tends to be misleading, as neither
label is fully shared by everyone who wishes to participate in language
revitalisation. Guernsey continues to see tensions between traditionalist
self-appointed language owners and more modern language revitalisers. The
divergent ideologies in Guernsey reflect subjective identification with
language, as well as tensions between past and present use. Sallabank notes
that traditionalists feel threatened by language revitalisation efforts due to
their perception that they can no longer effectively claim ownership of the
language, even when increased positive attitudes about the language gain
attention from political and financial sponsors. Meanwhile, her research finds
that young people on the small islands recognise values to their local
language via their heritage and future, and as such are at the forefront of
revitalisation efforts. Sallabank argues that language documentation plays a
more important role in language revitalisation than just recording the
historical events of the language. Instead, language documentation provides
information, multimedia, references, and teaching materials that all exhibit
“authentic” usage, including pronunciation, traditional songs, and more (p.
210). 

EVALUATION

Researchers interested in language endangerment and revitalisation will
certainly find Sallabank’s in-depth study of revitalisation efforts an
interesting and inspiring resource. The book addresses what it means to save a
language with specific reference to people on the Channel Islands and the Isle
of Man, and utilises a combination of ethnographic approach and quantitative
surveys to investigate “beliefs about language, culture, identity, language
change, ownership, legitimacy and authority” (p. xiii).

Overall, the book provides valuable reading for anyone interested in the
fields of sociolinguistics and language endangerment, as the primary focus
applies to speech communities that are losing their local traditions,
language(s), and identities. This volume presents accounts of the locals from
the small islands interviewed by the author, Julie Sallabank, who is herself a
Guernsey local and insider, and considers Guernesiais to be her “heritage
language.” As a researcher interested in language variation and change across
minority communities, I found these accounts to be a great contribution to my
research. 

Covering the speech and revitalisation efforts across all three islands within
a single book while examining case studies in myriad contexts is a challenge,
especially considering the similarities and differences Sallabank explored.
But by doing so she was able to employ a comparative approach in her
assessment of language endangerment, whereas three separate studies covering a
single island each would create barriers for an outsider’s understanding of
their similarities and differences. The fact that she has done a combination
of ethnographic research and quantitative surveys is what makes this volume
special: the author confronts the key issues (i.e. discussion of symbolic
ethnicity, authenticity, and linguistic landscape) that often go unnoticed in
other research on endangered languages.

Reading this as a researcher focusing on minorities, their attitudes, and the
construction of their identities, I found Chapter 5, “Language attitudes,
ideologies and identity on a small island,” somewhat difficult to understand
effectively. A particular hurdle in this chapter is how Sallabank moves
between discussing her findings from her PhD study and her subsequent
research. Although all studies were relevant to the small islands, the
frequent swaps between her own findings and those of the subsequent Marquis &
Sallabank study (2013) made the narrative rather unnecessarily complicated.
Additionally, I would appreciate the details of the production study, which is
only briefly mentioned in the chapter but does not explain its relevance to
the attitudes. More detail on methodologies used, such as types of attitude
statements asked or description of the ethnographic research, would enable
students to better understand how to approach and replicate future studies.
Finally, I would have liked to have seen more about identity and ideologies,
and how these were constructed among the islanders in relation to the locals,
British, and other minorities living in the area.

However, the challenges listed above are far outweighed by the book’s
contributions to research in language documentation. Sallabank creates a
thorough and detailed narrative exploring language revitalisation efforts
across the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, acknowledging both the absence
of similar analyses in previous research and the cultural, political, and
logistical challenges facing revitalisation efforts. By demonstrating the
effective use of the numerous social research tools at her disposal, this book
serves as an excellent resource to stimulate discussions with students and
colleagues alike.

REFERENCES

Marquis, Y. and Sallabank, J. (2013). Speakers and language revitalisation: a
case study of Guernesiais (Guernsey). In M. C. Jones and Ogilvie, S. (Eds.),
Keeping languages alive. Cambridge University Press.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

I am a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where I am
involved in a number of projects that focus on sound change, multilingualism,
Asian Englishes and globalisation. I finished my Ph.D. in 2018, during which I
investigated sociolinguistic variation in language production, attitudes, and
identities among the Slovak immigrant community in Edinburgh. My research
interests relate to sociophonetics, second language acquisition, language
attitudes and ideologies, language variation and change. I am particularly
interested in the sociolinguistics of migration and globalisation, and
language documentation.





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