33.3706, Review: Sociolinguistics, English: Lewis (2016)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3706. Sat Dec 03 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3706, Review: Sociolinguistics, English: Lewis (2016)

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Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2022 00:42:59
From: Ellie Passmore [elliejpassmore at gmail.com]
Subject: Sustaining Language Use: Perspectives on Community-Based Language Development

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/33/33-2051.html

AUTHOR: M. Paul  Lewis
TITLE: Sustaining Language Use: Perspectives on Community-Based Language Development
PUBLISHER: SIL International Publications
YEAR: 2016

REVIEWER: Ellie Passmore, University of North Carolina at Wilmington

SUMMARY
“Sustaining Language Use” is a [ADJ] monograph by M. Paul Lewis and Gary F.
Simons published by SIL International. This book aims to discuss language
revitalization at the community-level, with an emphasis on striving for
sustainable language use and practice. The content is primarily aimed at those
“on the ground” (xiii) in language revitalization, though it is also suitable
for people interested in revitalization but not yet in an active role (i.e.,
students and activists and community-members just starting out).
The book is divided into ten chapters and a conclusion, with an additional
two-pages each for a foreword, preface, and ‘how to use this book.’ Each
chapter includes an introduction and a ‘Going Deeper’ section, as well as a
varying number of additional sections that delve more thoroughly into specific
topics. The chapters are organized according to the Sustainable Use Model
(SUM), with each set of three chapters corresponding to an activity in the
model, and each individual chapter corresponding to a significant component of
that activity. Chapters 2-4 map to different aspects of observing language use
in the SUM, Chapters 5-7 to assessing sustainability, and Chapters 8-10 to
achieving sustainable language use.
Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of language endangerment and
revitalization and provides the answers to the questions ‘why the SUM’ and
‘what is the SUM.’ The answer to this latter question makes up the bulk of the
chapter, with the authors first explaining what the model is, then how
language vitality for the model is assessed. While still answering this
question, the authors, perhaps most critically, emphasize language
communities’ agency and the prioritization of the language community’s role in
revitalization and maintenance. The authors finish answering with a short
subsection on planning language development programs/activities. The ‘Going
Deeper’ section of this first chapter provides brief overviews on relevant
components of language revitalization/maintenance and references for where to
find additional information on each component.
Chapter 2 focuses on local language communities and how they impact, and are
impacted by, an increasingly globalized world. After a brief introduction,
Section 2.2 defines ‘language community’ for readers as a group where identity
is “clearly and tightly” associated with a particular language or language
variety (pp. 17). Lewis and Simons also define minority/minoritized
communities, and go into the limitations and barriers local language
communities may face. In Section 2.3 the authors make a distinction between
information, which is raw data, and knowledge, which is information that has
been interacted with, evaluated, and used (pp. 19). Knowledge that is crucial
for a community’s wellbeing is termed ‘life-crucial knowledge,’ which can come
from the community’s own rituals, activities, and collective knowledge
(internal knowledge) or it can come from outside the community (external
knowledge). If external knowledge is not available in the community’s
language, it can result in marginalization and a even cultural and linguistic
shift away from the local culture/language toward the dominant one. The next
section provides a brief discussion on how and why local language communities
often have multiple languages, identities, and knowledge bodies. Section 2.5
asks the question “so, why should we care?” (pp. 23), to which Lewis and
Simons provide humanitarian, human rights, ecological, and ideological
answers. At the end of this the authors include a relatively lengthy
explanation that directly harkens to Judeo-Christian religiosity and beliefs,
a questionable decision considering the topic of the book as well as the lack
of relevance for this particular chapter/section.
Chapter 3 is split fairly evenly between two sections, the first which delves
deeper into ‘community’ and the second which gets into community-based
language development. The community section of the chapter offers more detail
on the shared knowledge of a community, as well as the shared culture,
material possessions, and behaviors. Linguistic variation within a language
community is addressed, both on its own and within the context of language
development/revitalization work. At this point in the chapter, ‘speech
community’ is differentiated from ‘language community,’ with the former being
defined as a community with frequent interactions, and that is often
multilingual, “characterized by shared linguistic knowledge […] shared
linguistic possessions […] and shared linguistic behavior” (pp. 43).
Section 3.3 defines language development and planning and provides in-depth
explanations for each characteristic (purposeful, directed, overt) and
activity (status planning, corpus planning, acquisition planning, prestige
planning) involved. The final part of this section focuses on community-based
language development and how such planning often differs from traditional
language development by being holistic, language-aware, from the inside (and
bottom-up), empowering, and results-oriented (pp. 53). Community-based
language development thus emphasizes the community and the roles and aims of
community members and not just the language.
The bulk of Chapter 4 focuses on domains and functions of use. Section 4.2
introduces the topic of domains of use and notes three categories of domains:
place, participant, and topic. The next section details how domain shifts can
happen gradually and thus speakers may not be aware of their decrease in
language use until many domains have shifted away from the original language
in favor of a second one. At this stage, the authors define ‘functions’ as the
ways speaking genres are associated with topics (pp. 67). Section 4.4 goes
deeper into how functions can be categorized, with the authors offering
binaries such as private vs. public, High vs. Low, intimate vs. nonintimate
(pp. 68), and how those categories can impact speaker perspectives of the
language(s) being spoken. Section 4.4.2 introduces a new categorization of
function: sentimental and instrumental. These tie into the previously
mentioned categories, with ‘sentimental’ functions often overlapping with
private and intimate functions while the ‘instrumental’ ones are used more to
move throughout the world and thus overlap with the ‘public’ and ‘nonintimate’
categories. Unlike previous chapters, the Going Deeper section in this chapter
introduces a new topic and contains a decent amount of new information rather
than a mildly deeper look at, and other resources for, the topics mentioned in
the chapter. The Going Deeper section discusses the topic of diglossia, using
both Ferguson’s (1959) and Fishman’s (1967) definitions and models, though
Fishman’s (1967) is favored.
Chapter 5 focuses entirely on the Extended Graded Intergenerational Disruption
Scale (EGIDS). The bulk of the chapter is spent describing each level of EGIDS
in detail, with examples provided of languages that meet each of the 10
levels. After going through each level and their requirements, the authors
discuss the interaction of EGIDS and language revitalization, noting the
common criticism that EGIDS does not appropriately account for languages with
active revitalization efforts. In the next section, the authors provide a
brief overview of how to use EGIDS, with example assessment questions and
responses, and how the language(s) would be categorized based on the
responses. The first half of the Going Deeper section provides a background
and expanded explanation on EGIDS and GIDS. The second half focuses on other
approaches to ethnolinguistic identity and other evaluative scales, with an
emphasis on UNESCO’s Language Vitality and Endangerment (LVE) scale.
Chapter 6 returns to the idea of the Sustainable Use Model, with the
introduction providing brief discussions on vitality and sustainability. The
rest of the chapter is dedicated to exploring the levels of the SUM. As is in
the name, ‘sustainable use,’ the SUM doesn’t describe all levels of a language
status but is instead meant to describe only those at which a language’s
status is not increasing (gaining uses/speakers) or decreasing (losing
uses/speakers). The four levels of SUM are Sustainable History, Sustainable
Identity, Sustainable Orality, and Sustainable Literacy, with Sustainable
History being the ‘lowest’ category where the language is well documented but
not spoken, and Sustainable Literacy being the ‘highest,’ where the language
is linked strongly with identity and is the primary form of communication,
including written forms.
In Chapter 7 the authors introduce a set of five conditions (Functions,
Acquisition, Motivation, Environment, Differentiation – FAMED) that must be
met for sustainable language use. The first section of the chapter is
dedicated to explaining the need for such conditions and providing a brief
definition of each. Section 7.2 offers a more in-depth view of each condition,
describing not just what each condition is, but how it can be met and what the
impacts on the speech community may be. The third section nods at other
assessments and frameworks that have been used and suggests that the FAMED
conditions offer a less complex framework for speech communities to work with.
Section 7.4 walks through each condition and explains the levels of each
condition and how a language being assessed might look at each of those
levels, followed by an explanation in Section 7.5 of how to use the framework.
Each condition of the framework starts at level 1, which is when the condition
is met in its entirety, and goes to level 5, 6, or 7 (depending on the
condition), which is when the conditions are not being met at all. 
In Chapter 8 the authors discuss three areas of language planning: status
planning, corpus planning, and acquisition planning. Status planning is
dedicated to determining the functions the language will be used for and the
domains of use it will be utilized in. Corpus planning involves activities
like creating or standardizing an orthography and deciding on a standard
dialect. In some cases, this involves deciding not to standardize. Acquisition
planning is deciding how the language will be acquired, such as evening
classes, language nests, and/or schools.
Chapter 9 focuses on language development to meet the three ‘active’ levels of
sustainable use of the SUM, with each section of the chapter focusing on a
different sustainability level. In Section 9.2, the authors walk readers
through how the FAMED framework can be used for introducing literacy for the
Sustainable Literacy level. Section 9.2.2 looks at how to establish mass
literacy, again using the FAMED framework. The next section focuses on
Sustainable Orality, with Section 9.3.1 focusing on sustainable orality when
intergenerational transmission is present but declining, Section 9.3.2 on
sustainable orality when intergenerational transmission has been completely
interrupted, and Section 9.3.3 on how to achieve sustainable orality when the
language is solely being used as a marker of identity (i.e., only for
ceremonies or certain phrases). The final section discusses Sustainable
Identity and has two subsections, 9.4.1, which looks at arriving at
Sustainable Identity when speaker numbers are decreasing, and Section 9.4.2,
which examines how to revitalize a dormant language to the Sustainable
Identity level.
The last chapter looks at organizing community-based language development
programs. The sections guide readers through the considerations they need to
make when planning and implementing a language development program. The
authors suggest the Results-Based Management (RBM) model as one way to begin
identifying desired outcomes and chunking out work. The Conclusion follows
immediately after Chapter 10 and is a brief, 1.5-page summary of the book’s
contents.
EVALUATION
This volume aims to discuss community language development/revitalization and
offers the Sustainable Use Model as a scale for determining a language’s
status and the FAMED scale for identifying specific areas of development. The
approach adopted by the authors is to split the book into sets of chapters
that align with stages in language development: defining what it is, exploring
sustainable use and measurements/frameworks, and planning for the solution.
While it the book aimed at people actively involved in language development
and those who are interested but not yet active, it seems more suited to the
latter audience than the former as the first half of the book covers
information like what local languages and language communities are, ecological
perspectives on languages, and EGIDS, all of which people involved with
language development and maintenance likely already know. The second half of
the book may be more suited to people already “on the ground” since it
provides information on the SUM and FAMED scale. That being said, the content
is presented in an accessible manner so that readers with little to no
linguistic background will be able to comprehend the material, though an
introductory understanding of language development is recommended.

The breakdown of the SUM and FAMED scale in Chapters 6 and 7 was particularly
helpful for understanding each level of sustainable use and how a language may
be assessed at multiple levels for different conditions (Function,
Acquisition, Motivation, Environment, Differentiation). This seems to allow
for a more holistic understanding of where the language and community are, and
what areas should be worked on to achieve the community’s goals. The one issue
I had with this area is that Section 7.5.1 was somewhat confusing, and it was
not entirely clear that the SUM Assessment Grid being referenced is not the
same grid that can be found on pages 147-48, and is, in fact, only referenced
in the book and not shown. However, while including the grid, either in
Chapter 5 when it is first mentioned or Chapter 7, would be helpful for
reference, it is a relatively minor problem and the quality of these chapters
is otherwise excellent.
One criticism I have of this book is its emphasis on written language as a
measure of vitality and sustainability. The authors even acknowledge at one
point that an unwritten language with many speakers is more stable/vital than
a written language with few speakers, yet their entire SUM and FAMED
assessment is based on literacy and an insistence on gaining it. At one point,
it is even claimed that “Sustainable Literacy, which is the tacit goal of most
language development projects” (pp. 145), which may very well be true but
without the context of the research this conclusion is drawn from, it is
difficult to assess for validity. This is combined with a seeming disregard
for community-held beliefs: “users of the languages associated with informal
functions feel that the languages are incapable of being written or that it
would be inappropriate to do so. These perceptions […] are not absolutes and
can be changed” (pp. 68). While this last quote may refer to prejudices
developed as a result of linguistic oppression more than cultural or religious
beliefs, the lack of further context and the overemphasis on literacy
throughout the rest of the book comes across as blatantly ignoring the many
Indigenous languages that have cultural and religious reasons for not wanting
their language written.
 A potential fix for this could include adding additional context for these
quotes, including mentions of cultural or religious beliefs regarding
literacy/orthographies, and/or an additional subsection that specifically
addresses alternative methods of recording and passing on a language besides
orthography.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

After earning her bachelor's in 2022 with an honors thesis on commonalities
and barriers in Indigenous language revitalization, Ellie Passmore is
currently taking a gap year prior to starting a graduate program. Her research
interests primarily center around second language acquisition, bilingualism,
phonetics, and language revitalization.





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