ELL: RE: Language Shift and Gender

[Inge Genee]

While reading some of the replies to your initial inquiry, I was reminded of
something that may or may not be relevant to your work. I used to live in
Amsterdam, which has in recent years absorbed large numbers of foreign workers
and refugees. A large group of these immigrants is Turkish. These are now
beginning to be integrated into Dutch society (although much discussion is
possible about the degree to which this "integration" is real rather than a sort
of two-solitudes type situation), at least insofar as they are moving into middle
class suburban neighbourhoods such as the one I grew up in, about 35 km. from
Amsterdam. A typical pattern in the Turkish families moving into my parents'
neighbourhood (I left there 20 years ago) seems to be: fluently bilingual
children, husband speaks fluent Turkish and fluent Dutch with a Turkish accent,
wife speaks no or very little Dutch (even though she may have been in Holland for
(almost) as many years as her husband and all or most of her children are born
there). While I have always just thought of this and other immigrant situations
as a home-versus-society language issue, there is obviously also a gender issue
at play, since the women are the ones holding on most strongly to the ancestral
language, presumably forced because they are much less able to mix with Dutch
people than their husbands and children. A lot of work has been done on
Turkish-Dutch code-switching and code-mixing, as well as on educational issues
relating to Dutch-as-a-second-language for Turkish (and other immigrant)
children. I am not aware of recent work on the dynamics of mixed language
communication within Turkish families and its gender aspects, but I have not
lived in The Netherlands for the past 6 years and have not kept up with it.
Please let me know if you think this is an avenue which might be relevant for
your project. I will be visiting old colleagues in December and could pass on
your query.
-Inge Genee

Coelho wrote:

> It would also be interesting to compare this to gender-based patterns of
> shift and traditional language communication in other parts of the world.
> In India, you get families where men tend to know English better than
> women; they use the native language with women more than with men. I assume
> that this fairly typical in most of the Old World -- so I'm curious about
> why there's a different pattern in the New World.
>
> Gail
>
> At 12:59 PM 11/8/01 +1300, Toni Waho wrote:
> >All the best in this study.  In Maori society I believe we can measure the
> >proficiency levels of Maori who learned to speak the Maori language based on
> >gender roles within our traditional society.  It has not been done as a
> >specific study but I believe the strength of my male peers (we learned to
> >speak Maori as young adults) is commensurate with the roles we play as men,
> >juxtaposed with my female peers whose language could be regarded as not as
> >proficient because the traditional role of women has been undermined by
> >colonisation.  There has been a notable turn around in recent years because
> >women have been at the forefront of the Maori language revitalisation
> >movement and have increased in number as teachers in Kohanga Reo (early
> >childhood) and Kura Kaupapa Maori (schools).  I will be very interested in
> >any publications on your study.  Toni Waho.
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: owner-endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au
> >[mailto:owner-endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au]On Behalf Of
> >Patrick E. Marlow
> >Sent: Thursday, 8 November 2001 08:12
> >To: endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au
> >Subject: ELL: Language Shift and Gender
> >
> >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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