The Revitalization of Endangered Languages
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语言学作业代写 The aspect of vernacular loss has been witnessed since the 16th century, with colonization appearing as the main driving factor.
Introduction
The aspect of vernacular loss has been witnessed since the 16th century, with colonization appearing as the main driving factor. Before the colonial period, vernacular loss had been caused by tribal wars and battles featuring tribes such as the Aztecs. However, the post-colonial period demonstrated the most devastating effects as the languages belonging to the European nations spread and diminished and exterminated native vernaculars (Tsunoda, 2006, p. 4). Not all seem to be gone as a solution to the loss of vernaculars can be put across through vernacular revitalization. Another solution can come in the form of vernacular revival.
One seems to have the edge over the other as language revitalization appears more ideal than vernacular revival. Language revitalization refers to restoring vitality to a vernacular that has already lost or is on the verge of losing its quality. In contrast, vernacular revival is usually associated with extinct vernaculars that have been totally forgotten (Tsunoda, 2006, p. 168). This paper will discuss both strategies of preventing vernaculars’ death with more focus on vernacular revitalization as the more ideal and effective choice. It first touches on the context of endangered language followed by a solution through vernacular revitalization in the form of education, establishing cultural identity and pride, and making use of modern technology. All these will be demonstrated via Khoisan vernaculars case study.
Revival and Revitalisation of Vernacular 语言学作业代写
There is more in vernacular loss than just featuring a loss of a communication medium; the extent is seen in the incorporation of the loss of culture and history. As a result, it is essential to prevent any form of vernacular extinction. The procedure of revitalizing the utilization of vernacular for the sole purpose of evading extinction is known as vernacular revitalization (Crystal, 2000). Government officials and linguists forming part of the third parties, are involved in this technique for the purpose of promoting and producing more indigenous vernacular speakers.
Akira Yamamoto, discusses nine elements of avoiding the death of vernaculars according to his book, Vernacular Death: there is need for a dominant group that boost the diversification of linguistics 2) To promote vernacular preservation, the endangered group must have a clear ethnic identity 3) The promotion and development of systems that inform students about jeopardized vernaculars and cultures 4) Also, the effect of bilingual and bicultural school syllabus 5) The initiation of native speaker teaching education systems 6) The jeopardized speaking groups must be fully engaged 7) Development of user-friendly vernacular sources 8) Written materials must include modern and conventions data in the vernacular 9) The vernacular ought to be utilized in current contexts, also the old and new geographic locations used by the vernacular must be strengthened (Crystal, 2000, p. 191). 语言学作业代写
The language loss process is referred to differently relying upon the language death phase:
when a vernacular is on the verge of extinction, it’s referred to as revitalization; on the other hand, in the context of extinction, it is referred to as revival. The two tactics necessitate distinct perspectives. Anthropologists ought to increase the number of users by encouraging the vernacular’s utilization for revitalization; for revival, relevant authorities should strive to boost morale for groups to begin grasping the vernacular, depending on resources left by prior users.
To date, only one successful example of vernacular revival exists, featuring the modern Hebrew (Studies, 2019). The distinction of the revival was realized since it was made possible by a common ethnic identity as well as a dedication to incorporating Hebrew in day-to-day life as a result of the strong religious beliefs associated with the vernacular. For the case of vernacular revitalization, only a few instances currently exist, including Manchu in China, Quechua in Peru or Ainu in Japan (Alicia, 2018). Revitalisation seems more effective and realistic since languages have a more possibility of being save when they still exist.
Case Study: The Khoisan Vernacular 语言学作业代写
The term “Khoisan” is derived from the Khoekhoe vernacular roots “Khoe” and “San.” In one of Africa’s most widely spoken non-Bantu vernaculars, the Khoekhoe vernacular, the term “Khoe” means “person.” The term “San” comes from the Khoekhoe vernacular and means “gatherers” (Greenberg, 1963). The Khoisan vernacular is quite old compared to most modern vernaculars. A group originating from Auckland’s New Zealand University estimated in 2012 that Proto-Indo-European came to existence nearly eight to nine thousand years ago. Archeological proof claims that about 60,000 years ago, there were people in South Africa who spoke the Khoisan vernaculars, which implied that Khoisan could be the oldest of all human tongues. 语言学作业代写
The Khoisan vernacular group is an African vernacular family distinguished by its use of click sound consonants. Such vernaculars are defined by having extensive phonological inventories, featuring the most phonemes as compared to other vernacular on the planet. The Juhoan vernacular, for example, possesses forty-eight click sounds and almost as many non-clicks sounds. Additionally, it contains four tones, pharyngealized vowels, and strident. The Xó and H vernaculars have even more phonological variety. Overall, the term “Khoisan” is now used to refer to African non-Cushitic and non-Bantu click vernaculars (Miller-Ockhuizen, 2003).
Even though they happen to be less significant African vernacular families, the Khoisan vernacular family is used by several ethnic groups belonging in the Southern part of Africa.
Territorial lines, political boundary lines and various national borders have divided Khoisan vernacular regions. Due to this division, it has resulted to emergence of regional differences, both grammatically and lexically.
Despite the Khoisan vernacular family being known for its click consonants, every vernacular and dialect showcases some differences, either in tone, vocabulary, or grammar. The Khoisan vernaculars are currently only spoken in Southwestern part of Africa, in the area surrounding the Kalahari Desert, which stretches in the small portion of Tanzania as well as from Angola to South Africa. The KHOE vernacular group, also known as “Central Khoisan,” is the most significant subgroup of the Khoisan vernacular group. Moreover, central Khoisan featured as the first Khoisan vernacular to be introduced to Europe in colonial times. Consequently, KHOE continues to be the most thoroughly researched and written Khoisan vernacular group, with consistent grammar and official wordings (du Plessis, 2019).
Khoisan Vernaculars Endangerment 语言学作业代写
The Khoisan vernaculars are divided into several branches, each with its own distinct characteristics. The level of endangerment for these vernaculars varies. Many Khoisan vernaculars have died out already. There is a proposed that a vernacular must possess one hundred thousand communicators before it can be perceived to be secured. According to such criteria, roughly sixty-six percent of Khoisan vernaculars are believed to be in danger. Few vernaculars feature speakers exceeding a thousand in this “in danger” category.
The count of communicators in each of these “in danger” vernaculars is rapidly declining. As a result, both linguists and Khoisan vernacular users are emphasizing the importance of vernacular revitalization. The roots of personal Khoisan vernacular endangerment differ; however, some prevalent factors exist that are recognized by the majority of scholars according to current studies. There are three elements that are often connected, such as urbanization, globalization, and vernacular competition. Globalization and urbanization often result in vernacular competition, that mostly leads to language users leaving their indigenous vernacular in favour of another with greater value or economic opportunities. Additionally, desertion might be encouraged by politics in some cases (Batibo, 2009).
Historically, colonization has had a significant impact on the distribution of local vernaculars. The effect of imperialism on domestic Khoisan families in South Africa can be tracked back to two effective outcomes of the Berlin Conference in 1885, whereby Europeans led by the United Kingdom and French started competing for Africa’s lands. In order to boost their profits, imperialists arbitrarily partitioned the African continent, disregarding existing cultural and linguistic distributions and distinctions. Consequently, the new territory borders separated pre-existing ethnic groups.
Because of the division of vernacular users, separate vernacular evolution occurred, resulting the Khoisan vernacular family to split into different forms.
Beyond separating its speakers, colonization had an impact on Khoisan vernaculars. Following the Berlin Conference, colonization swept across the African continent, thoroughly starting colonial vernaculars and diminishing the social status of indigenous vernaculars. Through education, the French and the English enhanced their respective vernaculars. The establishment of the value of colonial vernaculars resulted in vernacular desertion since Western vernacular utilization provided more significant economic outcomes. As a result, most users abandoned their native language for the sake of the colonizers’ socially advantageous and more economical vernaculars (Ajala, 1983).
Urbanization has resulted in the migration of Khoisan vernacular users into multicultural and multilingual towns (Chebanne, 2010). As a result of this population shift, most Khoisan users deserted their mother tongues in favour of more widely spoken vernaculars such as English and Swahili. This vernacular desertion has put Khoisan vernaculars at risk by reducing the count of users. Furthermore, the globalization tendency has resulted in swifter vernacular desertion. Individuals possess more connection with other groups as a result of globalization, resulting in ethnic transfer. 语言学作业代写
Individuals not only gain knowledge about different ethnicities as a result of cultural exchange but they also sometimes combine their own customs with the lifestyles around them.
Intermarriage, for instance, results in families where the parents might use different languages. When parents talk to their children abode, they speak a common vernacular. This can feature as one of the parents’ local languages or a widely spoken vernacular shared by all parties, such as English or Swahili. Even though children can be rendered bilingual without challenges and without danger, the difficult area is ensuring that they possess adequate innate subjection to both vernaculars (Grosjean, 1982, p. 7).
Children are most likely to be raised with an inclination towards one vernacular, rendering them less fluent with the other. Consequently, one vernacular is lost in that era. In the event the children go ahead to sire their own offspring and refrain from teaching the lesser language, the disappearance grows, reducing the count of users of the less-used vernacular in that household. It tends to explain how the vitality of Khoisan vernaculars have waned in comparison to other more common vernacular groups like the Bantu vernaculars (Klass, 2017).
Revitalization Strategies
Establishing cultural identity and pride
Vernacular is inextricably linked to ethnic identity. One reason people abandon their native vernacular is a lack of pride in their vernacular and/or customs, believing their lifestyle to be weak or economically inferior, a notion that is frequently intentionally enforced by imperialists. As a result, pride in one’s customs, vernacular, and ethnic identity is needed for an individual to value vernacular preservation. As a result, motivating vernacular usage as part of promoting cultural pride has historically been a successful method of vernacular revitalization (Eisenlohr, 2004).
Education 语言学作业代写
This is a powerful method of ensuring that future generations continue to learn the jeopardized vernacular. Most conventional, ancient Khoisan vernaculars, like the Nuu, lack documentations or official articles to study. As a result, the vernacular cannot be restructured from texts but must be maintained via utilization by future generations. Many generations have benefited from Khoisan vernacular revitalization attempts via education, which teaches learners to value their vernacular and customs. As this cultural acknowledgment is intangible, it is priceless (Eisenlohr, 2004). 语言学作业代写
Modern Technology
The new technology can be used to aid revitalization, both within and outside of the educational system. Technology, featuring videos or CDs, can help with vernacular procedure within the context of education. Katrina Esau, for example, aims to utilize the new technology to aid in the revitalization of the Nuu vernacular. She also strives to produce educational DVDs and CDs so that people, regardless of location, can grasp the Nluu vernacular. As technology advances, more relevant resources will become available on the internet, allowing materials to be accessed from anywhere in the world (Cruz, 2019).
Conclusion 语言学作业代写
To avoid such cultural losses, vernacular revitalization is required. This paper discusses both strategies of preventing vernaculars’ death with more focus on vernacular revitalization as the more ideal and effective choice. It also provides the context of endangered language followed by a solution through vernacular revitalization in the form of education, establishing cultural identity and pride, and making use of modern.
Despite various attempts at vernacular revitalization utilizing common tactics such as cultural pride development, technology, and incorporation of artistic traditions and education, the Khoisan vernaculars remain endangered. This progressive desertion generally exemplifies the problematic overview of vernacular revitalization. Despite the fact that several techniques of vernacular revitalization or vernacular revival are already in use, most issues concerning jeopardized vernaculars continue being unresolved. Although Khoisan vernacular revitalization has been successful thus far, it has an uncertain future. There is still a risk of a second extinction if future eras fail to grasp the vernacular.
References 语言学作业代写
Ajala, A. (1983). The nature of African boundaries. Africa Spectrum, 177-189.
Alicia. (2018, May 7). Vernacular Revival: How 7 Communities are Bringing Vernaculars Back to Life. Bilingua. https://bilingua.io/vernacular-revival-bringing-back-vernaculars-to-life
Batibo, H. M. (2009, April). Vernacular Documentation as a Strategy for the Empowerment of the Minority Vernaculars of Africa. In Selected proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on African linguistics (pp. 193-203). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Chebanne, A. (2010). The Khoisan in Botswana–Can multicultural discourses redeem them? Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 5(2), 87-105.
Cruz, H., & Waring, J. (2019). Deploying Technology to Save Endangered Vernaculars. arXiv preprint arXiv:1908.08971.
Crystal, D. (2000). Vernacular death. Cambridge University Press. http://textos.pucp.edu.pe/pdf/287.pdf
du Plessis, M. (2019). The Khoisan vernaculars of Southern Africa: Facts, theories and confusions. Critical Arts, 33(4-5), 33-54.
Eisenlohr, P. (2004). Language revitalization and new technologies: Cultures of electronic mediation and the refiguring of communities. Annu. Rev. Anthropol., 33, 21-45. 语言学作业代写
Greenberg, J. H. (1963). The vernaculars of Africa. International journal of American linguistics.
Grosjean, F. (1982). Life with two vernaculars: An introduction to bilingualism. Harvard University Press.
Miller-Ockhuizen, A. (2003). The Phonetics and Phonology of Gutturals: Case Study from Ju/’hoansi. Psychology Press.
Studies, S. C. F. J. (2019, February 8). How to revive an ancient vernacular, according to 19th-century Hebrew and Persian revivalists. UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies. https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/israel-hebrew/reviving-hebrew-persian-ancient-vernaculars-eliezer-ben-yehuda-manekji-limji-hataria/
Tsunoda, T. (2006). Vernacular endangerment and vernacular revitalization: An introduction. De Gruyter Mouton.
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