Learning Languages in Society with Gabi.
Learning Languages in society with Gabi is your podcasting and blogging go-to resource especially designed for advanced language learners like you so that you can feel better integrated in a new linguistic and social environment with the help of sociolinguistics.
By listening to this podcast you will:
1. Find useful tips to keep up the high level you have achieved in your favorite languages and brush up on your language skills.
2. Learn how to decode the linguistic and cultural intricacies of our societies so you can deepen your knowledge of the culture whose language you are studying and become part of that new society.
3. Learn about what the science of linguistics is and its different constituents.
4. Learn interesting facts about foreign language acquisition.
5. Listen to interesting interviews with multilingual guests and learn about their work.
6. Learn about the benefits of mindfulness meditation to learning and using a new language in public.
7. Learn about the medical benefits to learn new languages.
8. Learn about the migrations and history of people whose languages have had an influence on the local languages we speak today and realize you are also making history.
Don't forget to check the transcripts available of the podcast and the blog
https://learninglanguagesinsocietywithgabi.com/podcast-transcripts/
https://learninglanguagesinsocietywithgabi.com/blog
Learning Languages in Society with Gabi.
#055- Endangered languages: the case of the Catalan language.
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#055- Endangered languages: the case of the Catalan language.
In this episode Gabi speaks about the importance of maintaining Catalan and other minority languages alive.
check out my blog:
https://learninglanguagesinsocietywithgabi.com/blog/
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Hello everyone and happy new year.
So welcome back to Learning Languages in Society with Gabi.
Today we're diving into a topic that is incredibly Urgent and deeply important. The Preservation of as we explore this topic we discuss the state of end languages the impact of dominant languages like English or Spanish whites crucial to preserve linguistic diversity al also share real examples as the case the Catalan language the insights and what more can be done to save these languages so lets get.
Languages at rate over the past century about languages have gone ex thats roughly one every three months if look forward estimate that by the end of the century half of the six thousand five hundred languages spoken today que disappear sa researchers argu
percent this is not just a lot of words. Systems of knowledge culture and history each language carries within Unique ways of seeing and understanding the world
many indigenous languages spoken by very small often ten thousand speakers cases hundreds of languages around the.
The language often goes with them take the example of cherokee in the Eastern band of cherokee indian y north Carolina only speakers a few decades ago among them speak at home but when he realize. How few of his fellow Cher rocke people still spoke the language he decided to act he began teaching Cher rock in schools and later helped establish a language Immersion program for children today thanks to efforts like this there are around Sixty children in the community who can speak Cher rocke fluently it's a small number but it's a step in the right direction now lets talk about languages.
Are well the reason is the dominance of certain killer languages like English spanish or mandarin this language is are spreading rapid rapidly through globalization urbanization and the internet they are seen as Essential for economic and social mobility which often leads communities to abandon their native languages this dominance is reinforced in education systems for example many schools around the world.
English over indigenous languages en india regional languages like Canada to as losing ground in schools English is the primary medium of instruction when children grow up learning English they they the ability to speak their native tongue. Another factor is a stigma attached to Minority languages histori speakers indigenous languages have face discrimination ridicule and even punishment in the United states and Canada native american children were sent boarding schools they languages similar Australia where aboriginal languages have been systematically marginalized.
Even in Modern times there resistance to linguistic diversity en china ling the language was arrested s e. Now lets shift to the digital world English social media platforms like Instagram Twitter en Facebook are dominated mostly by English. This influences younger gener par priorit languages it also influences the way they speak this slang and everything else the problem is that when a language loses its presence in digital Spaces it becomes less relevant to its speakers for example there are few apps website digital tools available in many indigenous languages without this resources it becomes harder for young people to see.
The value of her native languages this digital dominance also leads to linguistic homogenization the Unique cultural and intellectual contribution of indigenous languages are overshadow by the presence of English so. Why should we care about preserving end languages anyway well first languages are repositories of culture and knowledge the contain oral history songs proves and stories that are often not recorded in any other way for instance the Cher rocke language includes words for every mu.
This words
not this of knowledge in second language is sometimes
about d. Language provide. D frameworks for understanding the world for example cherokee rather than down which allows for precise descriptions of movement and directions if can indicate whether an object is moving toward away from the speaker or down town river this level of detail is not usually found in English in the same way or is not expressed in the same way so we would lose that that part linguistic part as well and finally preserving languages is about.
Es en mi opinión de most important so many c languages who they
so de de challenges efforts to preservan in endangered languages alive right first of all there's community based programs so local communities are leading the way in language Preservation. For example the Eastern band of cherokee Indians created a language school children are to core subjects like math and Science in cherokee theres technology so digital tools are becoming powerful allies in language Preservation there are now apps for learning indigenous languages as well as projects like the reta project which is creating digital digital archive of linguistic diversity.
Number three there's policy changes so governments and organizations are promoting across the European Union and the world as well multilingual education and supporting programs that integrate native languages into schools for instance South africas post education policy encourages the use of multiple languages to redress historical inequality number raising a a root activism are crucial language activist.
Like zuckerman who is to an australian language called show how community driven efforts can make a difference so what about dos speak dominant languages like English or spanish what role can we play lingu diversity well we can learn about end languages in the communities that speak los languages so understanding the challenges they face is the first step toward meaningful support.
Instance i live en catalonia so here there's this big issue about maintaining the language alive so one way we can redress the situation is by trying to speak catal in every context right no second we can support initiatives that promote multilingualism for example advocating for policies that integrate native languages into education or to organizations that document endangered languages and finally you can challenge the monal mindset.
Multiling es a Cognitive and cultural vintage by linguistic diversity we enrich our understanding of the world and create a more inclusive global society no less head back to a comment that just made about the cat language so we'll talk about the case of of the cat language now as you know I've lived in word.
For many years en catalonia where my dad is originally from over here the catal language is a real institution so I'll give you a brief presentation of a language so catal is a romans language that originated between the eighth and tenth centuries in parts of prison day catalonia. Northern catalonia which is now France en Andorra so within the car engine Empire Hispanic theth thirtieth centur cat expanded to the rest of catalonia.
Most valencia and the a Francia the cian City val and the el the languages territorial borders were solidified during the rain of or. Today
thousand km million people so en italy cultural a development the en fragment of the forum.
Both from the twelfth century so pro as a language of literature and governance between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries during the expansion of the crown of arag across mediter
this period saw major.
Western
tradition that is really establ catal became a legislative language with texts like the de valencias de tortosa usan just.
The eighteenth century so litera and cultural exchanges with italy also lead transla of. Come de came of so de its adoption of the print press the first book print catal las de la seventy renaissance catalan litera however catalan persisted as a language of law administration and Daily life. Like vin García francec fontanella en catalonia joann ramiz in menorca.
Valencia made significant contributions during this time after the sixteen fifty northern City France in education and official use following the seventeen de of crown of aragon territories le to the laws. Of local institutions and catal was excluded from an administration education and legal documentation so in the nineteenth century catal experience a cultural revival known as the renaissance renaissance.
Influenced by romantic and nationalist movements across Europe this literary renaissance begin symbolically with bonaventura Carla salvados eighteen thirty three old la patria han continued with the play. La Atlántida can llegó and de labrador
ling
María aguilo a Giri in the press with publications like la renaissance la deuda Cataluña. The
teaching and public administration. Man de Cataluña la the i Institute de estudios catalan and it lead by Anthony al. Aquí Achievement incluye de. Dictionary and of catal gram or lex the republican Constitution of nineteen thirty one and the catalan statute of autonomy nineteen thirty two recognize catalan as an official language in catalonia and its education and institutional youth.
However similar autonomy was not achieved en valencia o the Island this period between nineteen thirty nine and nineteen seventy five the Frank regi system cat its us band in education media theater and even private context like telephone Conversations Telegram administrative judicial and commercial documents to be in spanish and public.
Exclu de
Marcel salvador John fu significant Works and censorship with franco's death in nineteen seventy five on the return of democracy the nineteen seventy eight spanish Constitution recognized the spain's linguistic diversity. Catal was declar en seventy valencia under the name of val es not really clear ds.
En la ninety three Constitution established cat as the so official language so this is the one country world catalan is the only official language in the territory in the territory right nineteen eighty three language normalization law marked the beginning of efforts to restore the use. A knowledge of cat in institutions media and education measures included adopting catalan as a language of communication in government and establishing the dirección general de política lingüística term cat and the con la normalización lingüística so.
Ah the lingüística y made catal language of instruction schools ed for success in improving catal proficiency among children and youth additionally catalan gain a strong presence in media with the creation of outlets like de de Cataluña and Cataluña radio la obra de challenges of this language in the Twenty first century cat.
The top one hundred most spoken languages globally however the language faces two significant challenges in the Twenty first century the arrival of immigrants so thirteen point seven percent of the population. Y en Twenty fifteen and the ri of digital technologies efforts to integrate new commerce into catal speaking communities remain Essential to maintaining linguistic Vitality catal has achieved a notable presence en the digital catal Wikipedia post en.
As the nineteenth most use language on Twitter the doca domain launched in two thousand and five further reflects Cattle and digital strength with over fifty thousand websites using it as. Of Twenty eleven despite this advancements catalan continues to face obstacles particularly from the spanish states reluctance to fully support its development for example catalan is not yet an official language of the European Union and it's used in judicial rulings remains minimal so eight point four percent in Twenty fifteen that's anyway now.
A bigger picture percent of the world languages are at risk obviously catal included there so around forty percent of the world languages are at risk of disappearing and catal no excepción the use of catal has declin rapidly in recent decade. Linguist karma y professor at the University of Barcelona who passed away on Twenty
catal of ex has extensive ling ecosystems through the endangered languages study group. Which found in nineteen ninety two research has resulted in Works such as life and death of languages nineteen ninety two against planning linguistic proposal nineteen ninety and making gender visible re catalan she has been critical of certain linguistic policies including the push to use gender languages gender language splits and co-author the universal declaration of linguistic rights.
Her análisis of thorough and controversial would that it only controver controversial for people have an ideology rather than people who mostly r look at statistics and and and ways of being. Dos. The ones people i ones to
diss the Architecture of the gram of the language to make it more inclusive obviously a anyway your is d. One language disappears. Ah every year many other people every few the there's never really a certainty we talking about a language or dialect so there's many different ways to think about this right uh, but what it's true is that language diversity is really uh extinguishing with the dominance of of of the big languages.
That we spoke about before such as English spanish or mandarin now the main reason is globalization as usual which has facilitated communication and mobility this process hace domino effect when one community stops using it using its language neighbor commun often follow suite over time. The Trend began symbolically with the colonization of the Americas and has only intensified since without intervention most of the world's languages could Vanish in a very short time so some regions are particularly vulnerable language Extinction for example California has seen many languages disappear due to the systemic eradication of indigenous communities.
Through force child removal and often oppressive measures which continu until the nineteen seventies similarly in Australia European colonization over the last two centuries has reduced significantly the number of languages from seven hundred fifty to just over two hundred with few remaining in inactive uses the suppression of a language.
Has profound consequences the examples of California Australia highlight this. However a language only disappears we need speakers to stop using it so prejudices often Weigh more heavily than forced migration or genocidal policies speakers may abandon their language y they believe it offers no practical value for employment o modernization.
Persistence stigmatization stigmatization leads many to view their native language es a rather than an asset which means that many people prefer to stop using their native language to accommodate the desires of of modernity and speak more often the global language. The most telling sign of a language in the is the Behavior of speak even if they have the language they often choose not to use it and i think this is pretty much de case of catalan often young people have a passive knowledge of the language but teachers don't use it in an everyday contexte spanish seems to be rolling language in the one uh containing more.
Ah
economic and social success so cat is reserved to be spoken at home in the small cities this decline everyday usage language competencia per of the language unfortunately communities often realize their language is dying only when it is too la to reverse the Trend. So yeah basically when the train is going at full speed it's just really hard to there's been cases endangered languages and even extinct languages.
Do come alive that's pretty much miracle it en tremendous efforts most of the time languages just die with the last speakers who remain and when they die the language basically die and theres just that literature behind cat catal du so the domin of hege hegemonic languages like spanish and ah and the history of persecution.
For example during regi cat was suppressed and the subconscious Effects of this re still linger even with the arrival of democracy these attitudes having fully shifted like speakers of other languages speakers tend to change their mindset only when they recognize their languages genuinely at risk.
Many cat speakers remain unaware of the languages situation this STEM from the belief that institutions will save normalization however the responsibility ultimately lies with individuals young people imit the attitudes of adults y
to the spanish and English and digital platforms. And in mas media making catalans situation even more critical borrowing words from other languages is now the real issue if a language is used as restored its full linguistic competence can also return for instance during the late franco many people used spanish words like boca bocadillo which means sandwich
cat 11.
We use nowadays in catalan what aspects of language need protection okay. Words can be replaced but when synex and phonetics are lost they're far harder to Recover this three main indicators of linguistic deterioration or um substitution. So loss of Unique categories catalan uses we pronouns that spanish does not so this distinction faing people imit the synex of spanish when they talk so a of this minor lets say lico en.
Ah, le categories
so thats pretty sad the gram more more like the spanish gram which means that. The the structure of of the language from within that's pretty sad other number two there's changes in the spatial on temporal vocabulary terms for movement such as Anna which means to go and to come are being conflated due to spanish influences.
Ah, that's also true, eh number three simplification of sentence structure. Uh personal pronouns are being dropped and phrases are becoming more similar to spanish or this changes occur the language becomes indistinguishable from the dominant one leading to its abandonment ya the more you speak like you speak catalan like you were speak in spanish.
De last un you feel like you speaking a d. Language you.
I measures to strengthen catalan in spanish speaking areas but this face challenges for program at the primary school level that they need to continue through secondary education to be effective additionally linguistic policies are often subordinated to fears of creating social division. This has led to an event enforcement of catalan instruction with reports of children finishing school without flu catal and the worst is that catal just seems to be a language that is taught within academia o within school it's only the language that teachers speak but is not a language de that students are necessary.
Ah interested in speaking and that's a problem as well. Ah, can politics save catalan legislative measure language so history shows that no language has ever saved through political actions language sur speak them and communal life. So ya many opportunities job opportunities en en catalonia can había achieved the base and have all the requirements of the job you you applying to speaking the language in many Jobs es a requirement there's a lot of there's a lot of people like gain this.
Ah. So linguistic obligation and i think it's not going to be long enough um, it's not gonna be long until they probably revo this law and you can fully work and live here without speaking se re on policies while ignoring the responsibility of individual speakers is not enough. Catalan depends on people recognizing its value is a tool for community connection so a lot of uh, a lot of times if you wanna be part of a community you obviously have to speak language it's uh kind of like the main entrance going through the main entrance to a certain culture and so that is the case of catch as well efforts to modify grammar to address Anderson tri such as splitting gender forms or using abstract terms problematic.
Ya i mentioned the case of trying to trying to make the language less. Ah dominated or something. Ah and it's created a lot more problems than it has for instance changes replaces con speak por with persona con su a person that has con invert embryo as a legal person undermining the fight for abortion rights all of Stupid consequences.
So such changes often lead to confusion and
unwanted consequences highlighting the complexities of altering language artificially right now the ke to catal survival is usage and transmission so promoting its presence in audiovisual media en social Spaces is Essential. Cat has an opportunity in the one million immigrants who arrive have arrived in efforts mas focus on encouraging them to use cat Daily life however this individual see catal speakers defaulting to spanish they may conclude that cat not necessary for integration and that es what happens every day.
All the time so
for example de the official language
s. Similar language que provoqu back without its Preservation. So catal rapid language un the Cline the early transition to democracy around fifty percent of catalonia population about catalan today that number has dropped to thirty six according to official surveys this tren began in the nineteen nineties and is not solely due to recent immigration.
Urban area catalan use particular percent so catalan survival depends on speakers legislation language offer sense of belonging and identity that no other social marketer can provide if the community fails to act catan risks becoming another lost language in history and that's probably what's gonna happen.
So unless people. Ah, it its going to happen anyway Guys thank you so much for listening to this episode again in the next episode.