Vakhtin, Nikolai B. 2001. Iazyki Narodov Severa v XX Veke: Ocherki Iazykovogo Sdviga. Sankt-Peterburge. Evropeuskii Universitet v Sankt-Peterburge in Russian 5-86007-298-8 Siberia, languages, linguistic anthropology 7 Foreword "First and main task of the book is to collect in one place scattered materials on the sociolinguistic situation of minority indigenous languages of Siberia, the north and Far East into a systematic and chronological presentation." "The second task is to provide an interpretation of the material: an analysis of the causes of contemporary processes, their characteristics and regional specificities ... against the background of economic, social, and political changes in the lives of peoples fo the North in the last 50-70 years." 10 Introduction writers on language shift and language death have decried the dearth of data from Siberia and RFE. the main task of this book is fill that gap not pretending to be definitive or exhaustive, but substantial 11 1930-40 saw practically no work on sociolinguistics of northern minorities 12-13 terminology 13 questions on language loss circumstances --between or within generations --substitution for another minority language or a language of majority --individual loss through movement to another linguistic environment or obsolescence --group loss through a stage of half-lingualism or bi-lingualism --loss in all spheres of use or only some --loss of specific functions of the language, and if so, which? this book is not concerned with individual language loss, or the psychological or neurological aspects of language loss "My object of study is the group, language collective 14 or the linguistic community [obshchnost'], and, that means, my approach is a sociolinguistic one." the book investigates the surface aspects of language loss but not the structural ones. The book has almost no information about structural linguistic changes--phonological, grammatical, or lexical, ... I will use the term language shift for the object of investigation in the book. discussion of the English term "domain" and how to translate it 15 "identity" also tricky both will be used in latin letters 16 my use of the name Northern Region or the North refers to the political and social understanding and not a strict geographical one, and includes Chukotka, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Magadan, Primore, Khabarovsk, Yakutia, Evenskii okrug, Taimyr, Tomsk obl, Yamal, Khanit-Mansiski okrug and Nenets okrug Peoples of the North 1. Aleuts 10. Nentsi 19. Khants 2. Dolgans 11. Nivkh 20. Chuvants 3. Itelmens 12. Oroks 21. Chukchi 4. Kets 13. Orochs 22. Evenks 5. Koryaks 14. Saami 23. Evens 6. Mansi 15. Sel'kup 24. Entses 7. Nanai 16. Tofalar 25. Eskimos 8. Nganasan 17. Udegeits 26. Yukagirs 9. Negidal' 18. Ul'chi these names have come and gone, been divided and recombined (ex. Koryaks, Nymylans, Chavchuven) 17 this list was expanded in 1990s to include up to 49 ethnicities 18 many of these people don't live in "the North", also Saami are Europeans 19 via Nancy Dorian, points out that ethnicity and language are two different categories 20 ethnonyms obscure important details of languages, which are labelled as ethnic adjectives the ethnic groups and the language groups are different sets of people for example, Eskimos speak two completely different dialects (narechia)--Naukan and Chaplino 21 and Chaplino has at least 4 idioms itself this pattern is common the book follows the traditional tally of 26 peoples of the north and their languages with the above caveats in mind, because we do not have the goal of a definitive list or inventory 23 Part 1: Material 24 Initial situation: reference point (point of departure) this book is primarily concerned with the second half of the 20th century the term "minority peoples of the north" and the understanding it represents was developed only under the USSR in the 1920s 25 summary of socio-political situation of PN (peoples of the north) at beginning of Soviet era discusses Lewis 1972 as it applies to PN 26 disputes Lewis's contention that death of Stalin meant change or improvement in language policy ---opposite, death of Stalin meant improvement in general social atmosphere, but language policies only became harsher against PN 27 In the 1950s and 1960s government policy in the north underwent a sharp change. closing small villages and settling nomads intensified 28 The State of the Languages we have info from 19th century from many different sources 29 reports indicate that many PN communities were well on way to bilingualism with Russian and even at turn of 20th century were shifting from using indigenous lang to using Russian Bogoraz's 1934 publication has settled Chukchi not speaking Russian and being traditional. This is contradicted by entries in his diary when he was there 33 years earlier 30 most PN didn't know much, if any, Russian at the turn of century into 1920s 1926 was first comprehensive Soviet census "Questions about ethnicity and native language created big arguments in the preparation of the census." they decided to gather data based on answers to question about tribe of origin, so what a persons preferences for this or that ethnic group this structured discussion and investigation along the lines of classifying groups based on origins the list of ethnic groups couldhave been established after the results of the census, but it preceeded it 32 in any case it produced a lot of excellent data 33 Table 1: Population by ethnicity, native language and literacy -- 1926 census 34 Table 2: Index of PN arranged by percentage of population speaking language as native -shows that two had 0%, Kamchadals 20, Chuvantsi only 34%, although Yukagirs at that time had 80% native speakers 35 settled groups were much more likely to have a high percentage of Russian speakers than nomands 36-37 Table 3: Numbers of Russian speakers among PN from 1926 census, includes n, %, and settled versus nomadic 38-39 table of ethnic groups and languages they speak broken down into subgroups with historical and modern ethnonyms collected before 1926 census 40 "In the first half of the 20th century, about to 1950, the linguistic situation of PN began to change. There is not much data for that period ..." Russian quickly spread as a second language among everyone 41 reports from school teachers all across the north on the inability of children to speak or understand Russian in the first grade is a good indication of the level of use of Russian in their home environments in the 1930s-1940s 41-42 story of beginning school by Sirenkiki Eskimo elder (1917-1997) in 1929 42 my father wanted me to learn to speak Russian very much. I went for extra lessons and eventually became a translator PN entered Russian language in steps thus primarily through the school system and elders' understanding that knowing Russian would help their children's social/economic futures the languages of minority PN has been forcast as disappearing since the mid-to-late 19th century 43 Census Data the following census in 1937 was highly politicized Stalin didn't like the bad news of a fally population count (hunger, oppression) 44-45 1937 pops for some PN 45 unfortunately no published data on PN's languages 46 1937 PN data was usually amalgamated, not broken down into individual groups 3 tables on PN population, speakers, education 47-48 discussion of "national question" and gov. policies, and the literature on that general policy of Russification and development of Soviet language which was a peculiar kind of Russian bring up non-Russians to level of Russian civilization 49 ethnicity and native language were self-descriptions, no docs. required 49-50 discusses the microcensus of 1994--not useful, no information on specific groups and languages of the north 51 The Condition of the Languages of the Peoples of the North according to census data 1959-1989 "As far as possible I am going to present data on language (dialect) speakers, about the retention of tribal differences, and differences in identity of those or other peoples, where were intended by the organizers of the census to be united under one name." the languages themselves have been described elsewhere well enough sources include Iazyki narodov, Iazyki mira, Krasnaia kniga and other references 52 Aleuts name hides two groups living on the two Komander Islands until the end of the 1960s now they are together in the town of Nikolskoe and mixed together note 9: here and elsewhere I use the present tense, although the reality of the situation is significantly more complicated these people were brought to Commander Is. in 1826 after nearly two generations of contact with hunters and missionaries. the period of the Russian-American Co. (1785-1867) was the first tangible blow towards the disappearance of the Aleut language Table of pop. for Aleuts, % consider self native speaker of "titual" Russian, and other languages, % freely command lang. as second language This table is repeated for each group. 53 Aleuts unique among PN for such a percentage jump in native speakers from 1979 (17.8%) to 1989 (25.3%) Dolgans Itelmens 55 Kets 2 dialects, Symskii and Imbatskii, most speak latter Koryaks two groups: Chavchuvens and Nymylans, several dialects (4-7 by various measures) Before 1960s, Koryak included Aliutor and Kerek languages, and they are not tallied separately in any census. 56 Koryaks demonstrate in their answers a generally simple and direct dynamic: while population is increasing, those who call themselves Koryaks (and Kereks and Alutors), the number of people naming Koryak as their native language is continually declining, and correspondingly the number of people claiming Russian as their native language is rising. Mansi 57 similar pattern as Koryaks Nanaitses three significantly different dialects 58 Nganasans "For most of the 20th century, Nganasans have used Nenets as a lingua franca and Russian as a language for school and social life. None the less, census data shows that their language is preserved to a significant extent." Negidal'tses 59 two dialects Nentses largest group of PN two dialects and sub-groups: tundra and taiga, but they can be subdivided each into several language communities, dialects their language has long been a lingua franca for neighboring groups: Ents, Nganasan, Khant, Komi, etc. 60 language is in better position than most of PN Nivkhs two sharply divided groups: Sakhalin and Amur three dialects, two of which are not mutually intelligible 61 Nivkh is a clear example of a sharp decline in speakers over the 30 years represented here. Oroks small group on Sakhalin, two dialects, very poor statistical data on population 62 Oroches two groups, three dialects statistics not reliable given the fuzzy nature of ethnic id Saami 40,000 live in Scandinavia 63 Sel'kups Tofalars 64 Udegeis 65 Ul'ches lower Amur Khants 66 Chuvans two distinctive groups--mountain and river Yukagirs, Old Settlers, and others assimilated towards Chukchi 67 counted with Chukchi until 1989 Chukchi maritime and reindeer herders, which can be subdivided into up to 6 different territorial subgroups can't draw tidy boundary with Koryaks since they are mixed together along SE 68 Evenks one of the more populous PN, but they are scattered all over the place many aren't native speakers of Evenk, but of another indigenous language 69 Evens also scattered about, although less than Evenks Entsy small pop on Taimyr, two subgroups Madu and Bai, dialects are rather different 70 Eskimos sharply distinguished from neighboring Chukchi two dialects 71 Yukagirs two distinct groups-- northern (tundra) and sourthern (Kolyma) 72 Supplemental Data 1: Table of 1979 census pop and lang figures by Okrug, Sakha Rep. 73 2: Table of 1989 (1991) data on pop and language broken down by age Nents, Evenk, 74 Khant, Chukchi, Koryak 75 Mansi, Dolgan, Orok 76 Nivkh Table of title, Russian, Yakut speakers for Evenks, Evens, Yukagirs, Chukchi, Dolgans 1970-89 77 Interpretation and Critique of the Data census data is useful only on a very large scale most authors using census data make the error of taking the number of people calling this or that language "native" as the number of people who command, actually speak that language as a native speaker or use it as a native language the difference between people calling Koryak their native language and speaking it as a native language is 52.4% versus 5.4% according to Krasnaya Kniga 1994: 32) 78 "The term 'native language' does not have a precise sociolinguistic meaning and does not have a clear empirical referent. Most Soviet scholars have understood the term as an equivalent of "osnovnogo razgovonogo" language; but it is clear that many respondents to census questions clearly interpret "native language" as something completely different--possible, as the language used in the family, when they were children, or as the language in which one's mother spoke, or as the titular language, which is to say the language of the same name as their ethnicity." "In the significant majority of cases "native language" is not such an indicator of a certain linguistic ability or the current level of distribution of a language, so much as it is a sociopsychological transitional indicator of self-worth of the respondent in a concrete sociopolitical situation (see Karklins 1980: 419)." 79 quoting Belikov 1999: " ... a dying language in urban locations serves as a native language for a larger part of the corresponding ethnic group than in the village. ..." 80 it is not only a problem of the fuzziness of the term "native language" but also the varying sociopolitical environment of people who have left their original home and live among another ethnicity (often in city), who come to use language as a more significant indicator of personal and ethnic identity than they would if they stayed in the village 87 Summary 1. censuses from 1959-89 show a reduction in the number of people claiming titular language native and Russian as native language. 2. independent investigations verify this tendency, and that real command of the languages is even lower. 3. About one fourth of PN demonstrate a growth in the absolute number of people claiming titutal language as native. 4. Data based on the term "native language" cannot be used as a realistic indicator of speech communities or the vitality of a given dialect or language. Other psychological and sociological factors are involved in the naming of titutal versus Russian languages as native. 5. Published census data doesn't give a precise picture of the status of particular languages and dialects, since it is organized by ethnic group and not linguistic group. 6. census data (at least published census data) don't provide hope for information for the interpretation of the contemporary situation of PN languages, and especially cannot be used as a basis for the prognosis for language revival. 88 Research of the Language Situation (1960s and 1970s) not a productive period in Russian (Soviet) sociolinguistics 89 "One could have said, that all Soviet linguistics of this period completely ignored concrete sociolinguistic research, especially in broad scope, or complex, or interested in that which concerned the regions of Siberia, the Far East, and the North, if it hadn't been for the single fortunate exception--the work of V.A. Avrorin and scholars who were connected with him either formally or informally." 91 lists others who worked with Avrorin: Strakach, Nadeliaev, Bitkeev, Onenko, Badmaev, Ubriatova, Petrov, Serdobov 92 Avrorin proposed a systematic survey of Siberian PN, 100% of group which has fewer than 1000, 50% of groups which have 1000-3000, until only 2.5% of Sakha and Buriat he was dedicated to obtaining reliable, concrete data, and not speculating from incomplete or poorly-collected information 93 collecting info on native language and langauge use in different domains: family, work, with various intolocuters: children, superiors, etc. (and he knew the difficulties of questions about "native language") 94 Results of V.A. Avrorin's Group little was published, most remains unpublished inthe archived so SO AN what was published, is good there are some groups where all or nearly all of the population sifted their native language to another: Aleuts, Itelmens, Oroch, Nivkh, but these only total 4% of all PN for most, languages of PN were far from dying (at least in early 1970s) 95 nearly all of Avrorin's work has the superficial goal of showing that PN languages aren't dying out. 96 survery on native languages table of Chukchi, Nanai, Eskimo shift toward Russian begain only after WWII 87 table of knowing titular language in endogamous and mixed marriages Khant, Siberian Nentsi, Mansi, NW Evenk, Dolgan, Selkup, Ket, Nganasan, Entsy shows that mixed marriages had half the rate of endogomous ones for titual lang. knowledge 98-99 Distribution to languages by domains and by addressee Chukchi, Nanai, Eskimo 100 Attitudes towards teaching languages Khant, Nentsi, Mansi, Evenk, Dolgan, Selkup, Ket, Nganasan, Entsy, Chukchi, Eskimo, Nanai people are twice as likely to support titular language as a subject of study than as a medium or instruction, it is also not used as a medium of instruction in those areas, nor was it a subject of study, except for Evenki 101 Mansi, and part of Khants table: Should native language be taught in school? Chukchi and Eskimo overwhelming not Nanai 53.7% opposed, although the elders say yes by over 60% similar table from Strakach 1969: 54 Koryaks not included 102 from Udalova 1969, table on teaching nat lang divided by gender, men 51.9% versus women 55.7% in favor but is this difference statistically significant? 103 example from Gracheva 1978 on what people are really doing in Taimyr in 1970s, what languages they were talking in last para: Chukotka in 1970s Children of pre-school age usually know Russian better than the language of their parents (Chukci or Eskimo). 104 young parents talk to their children only in Russian discussing Krupnik, Chlenov 1979 at the end of the 19 c, Chukotkan nomads used English as one of the languages for trade the 1970s saw a worsening of the situation of preserving one of the languages of PN in the 1970s as compared to the situation before 1950 and the main cause for that is the consolidation of villages, and resettling Eskimo in larger, multiethnic villages. 105 Russian replaced Eskimo as it was the language of schools, industry and work, and general social life in town 106 Kliuchevskii investigated Yukagirs in 1976, but never published linguistic situation very fragmented, high amount of multilingualism and not many speakers of Yukagir in one place younger generation speaks only Russian 107 Taksami 1968 on Sakhalin languages Table: Age Distribution of Separate Ethnicities, which name their titual language as native or second (Sakhalin) shows that younger speaker is, less likely to command titular language 108 language loss of PN was rarely published in open, clear manner, and often not all under USSR In conlusion, In the beginning of the 1960s began a process of declining language use by generation among many PN. Young people quickly picked up Rusian, which replaced the use of titular languages. By the end of the 1970s, this process took on a massive character. Among many PN at this time is happened that entire generations (most often, people born 1940s and 50s and younger), did not use titular language in the community. 109 Research on the levels of language abilities (1980s) few data, writers discussing language education or preservation always put a positive spin on the linguistic situation stuff from 1980s rarely went beyond the census data 110 Fedorov 1983 was a small exception 111 Fedorov points out that the situation is variable across PN, depending on pop size and distribution, length and intensity of contact with Russians. Herders living more isolatedly have preserved languages better. 112 map of Vakhtin's 1980s fieldwork in NE Asia paid attention to the level of command of titular languages Aleuts, Itelmen, Koryaks, Nentsi, Nivkhi, Udegeitsi, Chukchi, Eveni, Eskimos, Yukagir, Yakut, each living in multilingual communities with many Russian speakers. 113 Research Method The method is dedicated to determining the level of language ability (LLA), based on the principle of expert evaluation. LLA is determined on an individual basis for every speaker in several spheres. for villages of 300-400 residents the entire population can be canvassed. For larger villages, it is necessary to use random sampling of a certain porion (half, third, quarter of the pop). Our method was to take an alphabetical list of residents and select every other or every fourth person so that a sample was 300-400 people for a given village. We selected no less than 5 experts for each village, preferring those who knew local residents well. 7 point scale 1. Total native command, knows "old language," folklore, often monolingual or primary language used 114 2. Speaks freely in language, native command, but can (or prefers) to use another language equally well. 3. Speaks freely, (near)native command, but co-residents in groups 1 2 notice insignificant errors: word choice, grammatical simplifications, limited lexicon, accent. 4. Speaks in the language but with serious errors. Not native command. 5. Understand speech well, but can't speak it save for a few stock phrases. 6. Understands a basic set of imperatives and questions, can understand the sense of a conversation but can't speak or follow closely 7. Doesn't know the language. ideally the expert can understand the scale and independently rate speakers this rarely happened, several questions had to be put to experts systematically in order to get clear picture 1. how well does the expert know the person 2. how well does the person understand the language 115 3. how well does the person answer in the language 4. does the person speak the language on his own? initiate a conversation in it? 5. does the person know old tales, songs? is he considered to be knowledgeable in the old language by people in the village? 6. is this the only language the person can speak in? 116 need to work with several experts because emotional ties may cause them to over or underestimate a given person's ability in language need to interview people also because experts may not notice code mixing 117 linguistic biography: individual history of a person, where and how a person learned or lost speaking ability in the target language at present carriers of languages of peoples of the north live in small groups in ethnically heterogeneous settlements, as opposed to picture presented on linguistic maps, where each language occupies a specific continguous territory with neat boundaries 118 Vakhtin has found "he speaks well" can mean many different things from his point of view. One has to know the context. He speaks Yukagir well for an Even. He can communicate in Chukchi (understand and be understood). He speaks it better than most people here, who don't speak it hardly at all. similar to Nancy Dorian's "acquisition history" 119 three typical senarios in language use in life course 120 total of 7 variants often found in biographies 121 Table 1: level of language ability cross-tabulated with life history senarios 122 three examples of linguistic biographies and the associated scores 123 Research Results 1. Situation of stable bilingualism Nenets, village Nosok 1985 125 2. Bilingual situation: shift and transition towards Russian Aleut, Nikolskoe village 1982 126 Itelmen, Kovran 1985 127 higest score is 2.0, which is only for those older than 55 younger than 30 is 6.4 and younger than 25 is 7 128 Koryak Sedanka 1988 pop -- 839 in Oct. 1988, 694 (82.7%) Koryaks one dialect, Chavchuven 129 Koryak language in Sedanka, Ossora, Ivashka same in all, children & teens not speaking it 130 Nivkh in Nogliki 1989 131 Eskimo in New Chaplino, 1984 132 3. Trilingual situation: linguistic shift and transition to Russian Udegei in Krasnii Yar, 1985 134 Eskimo and Chukchi in Sireniki, 1990 136 Table 13: Correlation LLA and type of economic activity in Sireniki traditional work consistently connected with higher LLA, but not independent of age work is not a decisive factor in lang ability gender differences are not significant 138 4. Multilingual situation: transition to Russian or another language Nelemnoe (Yasachnaia River, Yukagirs) 139 Andriushkino Kolymskoe Jochelson had already noted in 1898 that the Kolyma basin was ethnically heterogeneous 144 Yakut is replacing Yukagir in Andriushkino 147 Level of Language Ability in Nelemnoe Yukagir and Yakut are equally shifting to Russian by age 50 and younger 149-150 in Andriushkino Yakut is replacing Even and Yukagir as a second language Russian is assuming primacy in younger generations 153-57 Kolymskoe 158 Yukagir in these three villages one can use the position of Yukagir in these villages to make general comments about language shift among other languages In comparison with Nelemnoe, Andriushkino "tundra" Yukagirs are "behind" their relatives in th path of language shift by about one generation. The generation born 1937-46 speaks Yukagir as well as those born before 1927 in Nelemnoe. Kolymskoe is in an intermediate position. One can say that the language of the tundra is better preserved than taiga Yukagir. 159 The basic reason is that tunda Yukagirs before 1940 lived in more or less compact groups, migrating as practically one monolingual collective in the winter with the herd, combining with others in the summer, sometimes with Evenks or Chukchis. 160 Contemporary Situation (1990s) there has been an upsurge in scholarly and popular writings on PN and their languages since about 1987. the common theme is a documentation of the difficult and severe conditions of life which have been taboo before "ethnic catastrophe" 161 generally the situation in western siberia is better described than further east languages can be grouped according to their situation along the following lines: 1. Level of language ability by age grade: 50+, 35-50, 20-35, -20 162 2. LLA in two categories, active versus passive 3. Percentage of people in a given age grade commanding the language 4. level of langauge ability in non-titular language GROUP 1 languages spoken by all ages: Nenets and maybe Dolgan 163 GROUP 2 adults command the language, youth and children understand and can speak it, but rarely do 164 Nganasan 165 Khant 166 Chukchi 166-67 Even many Evens living in Yakutia or Chukotka speak Sakha or Chukhci as native language, not Even 168 GROUP 3 elders command language, middle speak it, but at lower ability than elders, simplifying it, younger group and children practically don't use it at all Ket 169-70 Koryak 170 M. I. Popov compared Palana and Voyampolka and found that children don't speak Koryak any better in Voyampolka Only 2/139 in Palana and 3/36 in Voyampolka showed that both Russian and Koryak is spoken at home. All the rest named Russian as the only language used at home. Nanai 171 Orok Oroch 171-174 Selkup 174 Ul'ch Cursory sentence Enets 175 GROUP 4 "Elders speak the language among the selves and with their children. Middle group can only understand when addressed, and younger and children don't speak the titular language." Mansi 176 Negidal' Nivkh 177 Tofalar Udegei 178 Yukagir GROUP 5 Only the eldest generation can speak in the language, very small part of the middle generation can understand simplified speech. The entire population is Russian-speaking. Aliutor 179 Eskimo GROUP 6 Group is 100% Russian-speaking, only rarely can even elders communicate in the language. Aleut Itelmen Kerek 180 Special Situations Evenk Speech communities are so widely scattered, and situations vary from one to another that it is impossible to generalize as above. 182 table comparing Kibrik's classification of the situation with his own Koryak not included Robbek had four groups, placing Chukci with Dolgan and Nents as possible survivors 2. 50% - Khant, Koryaks 3. Disadvantaged, but saveable - Evenk, Even, Selkup, Nanai 183 4. on the verge of disappearing - Yukagir, Ket, Eskimo, Saami, Ents, Orok, Aleut 183=87 account of Chichlo French-Swedish expedition that Vakhtin participated in includes descriptions of sociolinguistic situations in several villages Amguem (W chukotka) Chokurdakh (Yakutia) 185 Rytkuchi (NW Chukotka) Pokhodsk (Russian oldsettlers on Kolyma in NE Yakutia) 186 Russian Ust (NE Yakutia on Indigirka) Uel'kal (central Chukotka) Speaking Eskimo and Chukchi 188 Changes in the Political Situation Pika and Prokhorov's article represented a sea change in publications Since then a flood of brochures and political writings describing the social and economic situationa and cultural repressions 193 Part II: Analysis and Interpretation 194 Language Shift Starts with summary of work by Boduen de Kurtene 195 Swadesh shows that languages are not inherently weak , but social factors external to the language are the cause of shift. Language communities, in which there is occurring a transition from one language to another, foreign language, various strata (defined by gender age, economic, and cultural status) act differently in the face of linguistic conflict. Some try to hasten the transition, while others are more conservative. The society is not homogeneous in its reaction to this transition. 196 this review of the literature seems to rely heavily on English-language sources 200 summarizing Dressler, Wodak-Leodater 1977 on causes of language death 1. political - spread of one language (for example as part of an empire) and the parallel reduction in fuction of small languages 2. sociological and socio-psychological - conflicting tendencies between tradition and acepting 'the other" 3. sociolinguistic - bilingualism or diglossia leading to shift 201 4. linguistic causes - the language itself changes due to shift, for example, losing grammatical categories regional circumstances are limited to shift dependent on local conditions imperial circumstances are active and frequently aggressive domination of a group by a large state or empire global conditions are the developmenst of transport, communication systems, economic ties, etc. which lead or force a people to shift from their language to another for economic or political opportunities 209-10 summary 211 Conditions of Language Shift summarizing Crystal 1997, who claims that it is basically a political issue, tied to cultural survival of a people. People are lead or forced to abandon a language and distinctive way of life in order to fit into the dominant political/economic system. "Language exists only in consciousness, speech, ears, and hands and eyes of its carriers [speakers]." 213 "Researchers who use such metaphors [of death, murder, suicide] risk unconsciously falling into ideological fields." 215 "A simple accounting of the factors doesn't bring us to an understanding of the concrete causes and mechanisms of language shift, 216 the connections among factors, nor does it give even a weak hope of being able to predict language shift given the sociolinguistic situation." The econommic and technological aspects of language shift can explain why people learn a particular language and why, if they have choice between one or the other, they prefer to use this or that language; this choice ultimately reflects the influence on the preservation of a language or on language shift. 217 The majority of authors writing on language shift prefer to refrain from theoretical generalizatoins and emphasize the specific conditions of contributing to shift in this or that concrete situation. example on Koyukon from Kwachka 1992 The author names three interconnected causes for such quick shift. 1. the relations tribe members have to language, which are more pragmatic than aesthetic or emotional. 218 2. Social norms of the Koyukon dictate that conversations should be understandable by all participants, so people quickly switch to English in the presence of non-Koyukon speakers. 3. Traditional narrative texts need not remain in Koyukon for them to be effective, powerful. Their structure, and not the language, is what organizes the cultural worldview. example from Pany Hallamaa on Alaska Inuit schools, boarding schools, mass media example from Susan Garzon on Tektiteko (Mexico) low prestige of of native language, connected to low social status of the group it marks, not used for "serious" communication 220 David Crystal 2000 if people think the language of their ancestors/elders will hold them back or be a disadvantage in participation of wider (dominating) society, then they will have a negative attitude towards the langauge and its preservation parents also consider command of English laudatory but skill in Cree unremarkable (Darnell 1971) all of the conditions described above hold for languages of PN many researchers name the main causes: Russian-speaking population mixed village population policies of village consolidation introduction of school instruction in Russian internat fall of traditional activities 221 number of interethnic marriage lack of motivation in studying the language, where it is at least theoretically possible the maintenance of Nenets is connected to the strong preservation of reindeer herding 221 Nivkh children under care of state institutions from the earliest age and thus subject to Russification 222 Kibrik writes the main factor is the social disadvantage that language PN provides for its speakers Hill write that there are no a priori bases 223 that can account for all the various situations in a single process. agrees with Jane Hill summary of main factors: 1. Number of speakers: generally the more the better, but our situation is compounded by the fact that the total number of speakers of one language does not constitute a single speech community, but usually several, speaking different dialects. Breton had over a million speakers not long ago and now very few children speak it. On the other hand, a small number of speakers does not necessarily indicate a shift. Many languages have had very few speakers over many generations, but nonetheless, children continued to learn them. 224 2. Language environment: the more contact a language has with others, the worse its chances of survival. Although there are plenty of examples of multilingual societies, where languages co-exist just fine. 3. Kind of economic activity "If language commonality preserves traditional economic activity, then there is a high probablity 225 that this activity will be carried out in a mono-ethnic group; that, certainly, contributes to language preservation." example of reindeer herding. the specialized lexicon of traditional herders is so well suited to talking about (and doing) herding that it is automatically part of the job on the other hand, getting another kind of job means working in a (Russian) milieu however, traditional activities are abandoned due to ecological, politica, social, economic factors, and these same factors are at work on language shift. also urbanization - moving to cities leads to shift, change in linguistic ecology, although that change also leads to increase concsciousness/value of native id (lang, culture, etc.) 226 4. The production of language interruption of language transmission to children , but even when not, children can end up not using it anyway 5. Interethnic marriages if women are marrying outside their language community, then "their" men are also looking for spouses outside the community this is a common pattern all over the North, although it also implies the mother shifts to husband's language 227 6. State language policies no doubt playing large role in shift many writers mix up two separate phenomema - the spread of a large, dominant language and the disappearance of small, (socialy) weak ones the one does not necessarily imply the latter 7. Prestige the elder generation can hold a language in high esteem and be proud of it, but if youth consider it less prestigious than another language, they will be less likely to use it again this is not an independent variable, but connected to social, economic, political factors 228 8. Lack of writing - factor is often named as one in the list for language shift, but Vakhtin doesn't think it plays a critical role, for example, PN languages with high degree of literacy in the 1960s are not, as a class, better off today than the other PN languages 229 but there are counterexamples for all of these factors 230 PNG groups with linguistic exogamy the question becomes one of language loyalty, why do they not want to speak in the titular language? 230-31 summary of stories of being forceable carried off to internat 232 "language choice" term used in individual choice of which language to use "Here we follow, for the most part, Wolfgan Dressler, who explicitly connects an understanding of langauge death with language shift and the choice of language in multilingual communities." useful to analyze individual choices in aggregate fashion to understand of the phases of langauge shift 233 three criteria at the individual level: personal needs, immediate situation, background situation, which can be reformulated as motiviation of grammatical convenience, motivation of environmental expectations (prestige) and motivation of identity Motivation of grammatical convenience active in multilingual situations, can explain the choice of a second language 234 people choose the dominant language simply because it is the path of least resistance in social participation example from Chilcotin by Clifton Pye 236 Motivation of environmental expectations fashions develop, where speaking a certain language is connected with other social factors, just as clothing fashions develop and change 237 important to remember that innovative people tend to be younger, youth set fashions in culture, as well as in language use and change not everyone values their native language. there are many who want to move to a better (in their view) one ex. from Africa: person's children don't speak Dahalo. they understand, but they speak Swahili. He was proud that they finished school and knows a lot that he doesn't. Can the linguist say that this man is making a mistake? 239 tables showing change in percentage of native pop. in their okrugs for Nenets, Khants, Chukchi, Eskimo when among so many Russian-speakers, expectations will be to be able to speak Russian, and other languages are less relevant for daily life 242 Expectations of "own" and "others" among children a negative attitude toward the titular language by children is a sufficient cause for langauge shift for children, category "own" are their peers, fellow students, "others" are usually teachers and sometimes children of incomers teachers nearly universal in complaining about incapable PN children, psychologically different in capability from newcomer children "It's a fact that PN children differ psychologically, culturally, and behaviorally from children of incomers." the problem is to figure out what's normal and not in a particular individual Ex. Uelen school gave a test in distinguishing colors. Chukchi children distinguished fewer colors than Russians. Chukchi language has only four primary color terms. when native children don't fit into standardized tests, they are judged inadequate instead of different 245 examples of extreme racism by the school director at Uelen 246 such racism provides children with a negative image of self, their heritage, and titular language 247 Motivation of identity language shift associated with changes in identity such motivation is not found as often as the other two 249 Summary: pragmatic motivations are often at work, sometimes environmental and rarely identity these individual choices and motivations are enabled or hindered by social processes at work in the speech community 252 Mechanisms of Language Shift What is happening in a speech community the moment of language shift, how does that shift itself occur? Firstly, children stop speaking in the titutal language, sometimes suddenly. 253 Under the influence of social expectations youth start to actually forget the language and en masse they become so-called "halflanguage" or "forgetters." a generation gap develops between the generation of forgetters and elders speaking the titular language thus there isn't a single speech community any more since there isn't a single shared language 254 the generation on the other side of the gap, born between 1950-65 are those who grew up in a great demographic shift as Russian monolinguals flooded their villages and they were raised in a state-dominated educational system 255 the second inquiry of that process lays in the fact that the middle-aged people begin to become conscious of the process of language loss of titutal language ex. from Nancy Dorian on Scottish: middle generation didn't notice that younger didn't speak the language, only when they had become elders and they were now the only speakers. realization that younger generation didn't speak the language came to them as a shock, for which they were unprepared. the stereotype of the elders as old fashioned, speaking the "old language" and youth as carriers of progressive ideas until it is realized that titular langauge is not spoken by youth. Then the elders are "carriers of tradition" protecting the language, the only ones connecting the people to its roots, history, culture, identity 257 by the end of the 1980s, 90s, people were talking of a deficit of cultural information in their own self-assessment 258 "Elders become valued and respected carriers of tradition, protectors of the old langauge; they view the middle generation - the generation of their children - from a superior position, looking down upon those who have completely forgotten the native language." 259 If the community has strong stereotypes of "stupid, forgotten-all youth" on the one hand and "know-everything elders, preservers of tradition" on the other hand, then these preconceptions will go a long way in expert judgements of language ability at first language loss goes slowly, and then sharply increases, and then flattens out again as some knowledge is preserved a while longer over time, not a steady rate of loss of speakers over time 260 the third inquiry of this process is in the influence I call "regressive restoration of language" dying languages take a long time to die. It seems that there is always a handful of speakers who remember the native language, speak in it with one another and can serve as linguistic informants 261 at a certain age, a person begins to think of themself as a carrier of tradition, even when they considered themselves that way before, or worried about such things 262 Campbell decalres all California and most other NA languages dead as soon as current elders leave the scene because no children are learning the language as their first language. this neglects to take into consideration that the middle generation can (and sometimes does) learn the language "from the grandmothers" this generation has a passive ability in the language, and this can be activated with some effort 263 Why is language so resistant? 264-65 Yukagir has been dying out for 100 years, according to a parade of scholars over the course of the xx c. 265 Commander Isl. Aleut has been dying out for 150 years 267 Margaritov 1899 writes about Itelmens as already having lost their culture 268 scholars have been writing about the assimilation and linguistic, cultural, social, and physical demise of PN for a century or more "One shouldn't simply ignore this paradox; it's not just a mistake on the part of scholars." 269-70 example Craig 1992 in Nicaragua, same pattern as PN langs, but refuses to die adults are learning the language, continuing to speak it in a limited manner 271 these "few old women" who are the last speakers of a language can be found all over the world, and they seem to be replaced after they die 272-73 example of Suba (S. Kenya) and Luo 275 "In no case do I want to be misunderstood. Yes, of course, there is hope in the documentation of examples of disappearing languages. Yes, of course, there are elements of cultures and entire cultures, which are being wiped off the face of the earth. I have personally encountered, as have all field workers, situations where languages were being extinguished before my very eyes. When in the beginning of the 1970s I first arrived in Chukotka, the youngest informant (native speakers of Eskimo) was about 30 years old. Today the yongest speaker of that language is over 50." situation repeats itself all over north "So what is the solution to the paradox whereby languages and cultures, described as by linguists and ethnographers as dying 20, 50, 100 years ago are still alive?" "Apparently, the explanation of this phenomenon lies in an intersection of several pragmatic, socio-psychological, and semiotic factors." mistakes on part of researchers in assessing current situation and underestimating the capacity of local people to preserve the language, pass it on, and their interest in the language social-psychological includes the interaction among generations, especially the elder two, transfer of language between them has a non-linear character to it. semiotic refers to "the influences and conections with the instability and mobility of the understanging "our language" among speakers." 276 section on researchers underestimating conscious activities to preserve the language section on researchers understate the level of language preservation follows Susan Gal (1989) on the European trope of disappearing languages and cultures-- based on a static understanding of tradition--looking for the archaic, unchanged, ancient culture elements. they interpret changes as distortions (corruptions), loss of authenticity 277 ___________ = authenticity this ideology of change=loss is often found among locals, so middle-aged informants will say they have "forgotten" the language but in a few years when these people are the elders, they appear to have a good command of it 279 valuation of linguistic competence and reputation as "preserver of the language" by the community is full of politics which are not always related to a strictly linguistic competence of the language in question from the researcher's point of view this also plays a role in a chain of "last speakers of the language" the title of which can pass from one person to another. "last best speaker" may be more accurate. 281 Consequences of Language Shift emphasizes that one cannot rigorously distinguish between conditions, mechanisms, and consequences of language shift. These intellectual/analytic constructs are connected to social processes which are too interconnected for simple delineation 282 "Consequences" as described in this book of processes may become, thus, after a certain period of transformation among langauges of PN, yet to be determined "conditions" in the future for further changes and processes." "It seems to me that studying the current language situation in the North provides a base ... identify and cultivate signs of counter-proceses, to see possibilities in to develope a situation different from a simple disappearance of langauges of PN." "Everywhere we witness once and same picture: youth stop speaking in the titual language, take up a new model of life from incomers, move to the city, marry those from other nationalities." But such gross generalizations miss local complexities. "The process of language shift is never smooth, with the exception of very small, very homogenous demographically, and a compactly-living group." the level of analysis is the language community, and not nations (narod) 283 for example, can one talk about the disappearance of Evenk when one of its dialects (Arman) is no longer spoken, but another (Berezovskii) is still in good shape? 284 analogue with Inuit in Canada, where the language has prestige among Inuit and non-Inuit, now an important symbol of identity 285 language revival is always a possibility, even for the exceptionally endangered language ex. Itelmen, interesting in that Itelmens are not interested in a general Itelmen identity so much as a localized one. Khaloimova and Kasten's textbook was done in two dialects 286 even though the linguistic differences between these two dialects is minimal, truly the same language M.N. Tarasova teaching Even in Bystrinskii raion of Kamchatka found that using the official textbooks, her parents couldn't understand what she was teaching the children 290 language and culture are always changing, and sudden changes can seem like losses to conservatively-inclined participants "Linguistis, and especially ethnographers, describing situations of intensive linguistic and cultural contact often confuse two things: language (cultural) death and language (cultural) transformation." language death is a problematic phrase and metaphor at best, since "life" and "death" of languages and sociocultural systems doesn't really make sense in concrete terms 290-92 ex. with Louisiana Cajun for language and identity 292 "In order to consider oneself Cajun, it is necessary, from the point of view of the younger generation, to be able to use at least some form of Cajun-French, although not necessarily in that form which was spoken earlier." 293 "Selfidentification and determining what exactly is real Cajun are closely intertwined." the number of people identifying themselves as Chukchi, Koryak, Tofalar, Nanai, etc. increases between every census. "For the younger generations titual language is arely not absolutely required as a marker of their ethnicity, and concurrently those languages themselves are gradually becoming more prestigious: speaking in them or at least being abe to participate in some sort of communication in them, signals a reinforcement of preference towards "tradition," supporting their own status, strengthening their own rights, above all economic and political rights for land and rights to live on the territory." 294 Chuvantsi were a Yukagir tribe, but were embedded in a larger, multilingual region in the 18th and 19th centuries (including Penzhina and Slautnoe) whcih could be considered as a single culture in a sense. 295 Markovo was a center of Chuvants language, but according to Maidel 1894, it had disappeared in the 19th century already in 1996 a woman told Vakhtin that everyone, including children, speaks Chuvantsi Markovskii govor very little documentation 296 agreement that Russian came from north (Olon, Archangelsk, Novgorod, Pskov) 297 people talk about Markovski language, how it is different and others can't understand it 298 the thing is that it doesn't exist as a means of communication. there is no Markovskii govor from an external point of view certainly there was such a dialect in history, but now it is only a few words and phonetic characteristics in people's memories which they imagine as an entirely different way of speaking from standard Russian 301 Evidently a written word list makes the rounds of the village. a school teacher was very proud to show Vakhtin such a list 302 "Markovskii govor doubtlessly is connected to that which Irzhi Smolicz called 'core values of culture', which 'play a role of identifying values, symbols of the group and membership in it (1992: 279)." Functions of Markovskii govor not a means of communication, but a symbol of community identity marks us and ours analogous example from Mombasa, Kenya 304 language can survive with reduced or different functions "For example, a language can partly lose its function of control of reality, that is to say, stop being used as a language of shamanic and religious ritual, but at the same time it can continue all ofther functions. ... Or imagine that a language lost its function of identity and became a lingua franca. ... the language lost one of its functions. It doesn't mean that it's dead." however it seems that we privilege the communicative function of language, incorrectly so 305 Lotman believes that communication is far away from the most important function. Natural language is actually not very good for communication in an efficient, unambiguous manner. Artificial languages are much better suited for that. "According to Lotman, two other, much more important functions of language are its artistic function (langauge and text in the language as a generator of new ideas) and the function of memory (language and text in the language as memory about past contexts)." for us it is not important to say what is the most important function, but it is important that the loss of the communicative function, when the language is no longer used as a means of socializing, it does not automatically mean the loss of the language itself. a language which only fulfills the function of social or ethnic identity may be greatly reduced - simplified in phonetics, lexicon, and grammar, but it still exists, is used 308 Conclusion "Thus, present-day Chukotka is experiencing a process of formation of new ethnic groups, which are distinct from previous ones; there have appeared, for example, Sireniki Eskimo and Chaplino Eskimo groups, making a completely different, sharper distinction that that which existed at the beginning of the 20th century (Krupnik 1983)." same with Itelmen "Without a doubt, language is a very important symbol and means of supporting identity, but it is not the only means." 309 in short, people use whatever is at hand to demarcate identity in any manner of different ways 310 bring up one last point: why is that these languages have persisted despite a century of more or less oppressive conditions? Dixon's model of intermittent equilibrium, which may be better for understanding historical change than models of genetic trees or models of areal diffusion, and which incorporates both those models as aspects of intermittent equilibrium 311 relative stability is punctuated by sudden changes do to social conditions such as migration, war, etc. the current lingusitic situation is one of sudden change, but on of unique or last 312 transition in the development of human language - the great disappearance of linguistic variability (according to Dixon) but this seems to be another example of the "end of history" motif so popular these days the biggest difference between the end of the 20th century and earlier epochs is the lack of usefulness of "geographical area" as an analytic concept with the recent developmenst in communication and transport infrastructure "I can't accept the idea that this period is the last [for anything]." 313 Trubetskoi 1995 [1923]: abolishing national [ethnic] diversity will kill the "social organism" a total erasure of diversity is humanly impossible even the most totalitarian meatgrinders haven't been able to erase diversity, even when that was a top priority 314 the rise in indigenous activism and educational initiatives for children who are native speakers of Russian is a good sign for the maintenance of diversity maybe the particular paths are not the best, but if people are doing something because they can't do nothing, then we have an answer to the question when people do something because they can't not do it (such as walk on the ground), then we are approaching something that looks like a law of nature 32