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1

The dilemmas of a gardener: discussing the arguments against language revitalisation

100%

Mętrak M.

Adeptus

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2018

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issue 11

EN

The dilemmas of a gardener: discussing the arguments against language revitalisationThe article restates and comments on the most common arguments against language maintenance and revitalisation found in popular texts and discussion articles from academic journals. By grouping them and assessing their validity we may better see which objections must be faced and which are based on easily disproven misconceptions. The described counterarguments are divided into four groups and based on the ideas of linguistic natural selection, peaceful death of a language, reductionist approach to the language, and sociopolitical factors. Most of them seem to use overgeneralisations and fail to recognise the deeper causes behind language obsolescence. The most valid, depending on the individual situation, are the arguments based on socio-political reasons. Generalisations and essentialising discourse, however, are also found in the opinions of the proponents of language maintenance. The author claims that the truly universal arguments in favour of language maintenance are in fact only those based on the subjective convictions of the people involved, as all rational arguments can be undermined in certain contexts. Dylematy ogrodnika: dyskusja z argumentami przeciwko rewitalizacji językowejW artykule streszczone i skomentowane zostały najczęstsze argumenty przeciwko rewitalizacji języków zagrożonych obecne w mediach niespecjalistycznych i czasopismach naukowych. Usystematyzowanie i analiza tych opinii pozwala stwierdzić, które zastrzeżenia oparte są na błędnych założeniach i łatwe do zakwestionowania, a które należy traktować jako rzeczywiste wyzwanie. Kontrargumenty, podzielone na cztery główne grupy, opierają się na redukcjonistycznym stosunku do języka, koncepcjach językowego doboru naturalnego i spokojnej śmierci, oraz czynnikach społeczno-politycznych. Większość z nich posługuje się daleko idącą generalizacją i nie bierze pod uwagę głębszych przyczyn wymierania języków. Najbardziej zasadne w konkretnych sytuacjach okazują się zazwyczaj argumenty odwołujące się do kwestii społeczno-politycznych. Ponieważ łatwe do zanegowania tezy, bazujące na uproszczeniach i dyskursie esencjalistycznym, są obecne również w opiniach zwolenników rewitalizacji, jedynymi prawdziwie uniwersalnymi argumentami na rzecz lingwistyki zaangażowanej wydają się być argumenty idealistyczne, oparte na subiektywnych przekonaniach konkretnych osób.

2

Understanding Language Death in Czech-Moravian Texas

100%

Hannan K.

Research in Language

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2007

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vol. 5

147-163

EN

Based on several decades of personal interaction with Texas speakers of Czech, the author's article attempts to correlate social change with some specific stages of language obsolescence and language death. Many instances of language change in that community, as well as cultural and social change, may be explained by the linguistic model known as the wave theory. One hundred and fifty years passed between the introduction of Czech and the death of that language in Texas. From the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, the Czech-Moravians represented a closed community in which individuals defined their identity primarily by the Czech language, ethnicity, and culture. In the final five decades of the twentieth century, as the social template representing Texas speakers of Czech disintegrated, spoken Czech ceased to function as a living language, and much of the ancestral culture connected with the language was lost. Today some among the elderly, described as semi-speakers, terminal speakers, or "rememberers" of language, retain a limited knowledge, but the ancestral language now has only a symbolic function.

3

Understanding Language Death in Czech-Moravian Texas

100%

Hannan K.

Research in Language

|

2007

|

vol. 5

147-163

EN

Based on several decades of personal interaction with Texas speakers of Czech, the author’s article attempts to correlate social change with some specific stages of language obsolescence and language death. Many instances of language change in that community, as well as cultural and social change, may be explained by the linguistic model known as the wave theory. One hundred and fifty years passed between the introduction of Czech and the death of that language in Texas. From the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, the Czech-Moravians represented a closed community in which individuals defined their identity primarily by the Czech language, ethnicity, and culture. In the final five decades of the twentieth century, as the social template representing Texas speakers of Czech disintegrated, spoken Czech ceased to function as a living language, and much of the ancestral culture connected with the language was lost. Today some among the elderly, described as semi-speakers, terminal speakers, or ‘‘rememberers’’ of language, retain a limited knowledge, but the ancestral language now has only a symbolic function.

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2 Research in Language

1 Adeptus

2 Hannan K.

1 Mętrak M.

1 2018

2 2007

The dilemmas of a gardener: discussing the arguments against language revitalisation

Understanding Language Death in Czech-Moravian Texas

Understanding Language Death in Czech-Moravian Texas