Contact, attrition and shift in two Chaco languages: The cases of Tapiete and Vilela
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Lucía A. Golluscio
Abstract
This paper focuses on Tapiete (Tupi-Guarani) and Vilela (Lule-Vilela), the two most severely endangered languages in the Argentine Chaco. Both show the results of linguistic attrition without obsolescence. However, the state of each one and chances for revitalization differ radically. While multigenerational Tapiete communities exist and are strengthening ties among themselves, the extreme paucity of Vilela speakers and the lack of a speech community have proven to be critical threats. The paper examines two particular aspects of language shift: borrowing in Tapiete and attrition in Vilela. Creative processes in the adaptation of loanwords have revealed linguistic resistance in Tapiete. In the case of Vilela, despite documented phonological and grammatical reduction, core linguistic structures have been activated through language remembering strategies. Although the pressure of Spanish has long been present, its structure has not been decisive to vernacular language loss. Rather, the abandonment of Tapiete and Vilela is rooted in the speakers' history of socio-cultural subordination.
Abstract
This paper focuses on Tapiete (Tupi-Guarani) and Vilela (Lule-Vilela), the two most severely endangered languages in the Argentine Chaco. Both show the results of linguistic attrition without obsolescence. However, the state of each one and chances for revitalization differ radically. While multigenerational Tapiete communities exist and are strengthening ties among themselves, the extreme paucity of Vilela speakers and the lack of a speech community have proven to be critical threats. The paper examines two particular aspects of language shift: borrowing in Tapiete and attrition in Vilela. Creative processes in the adaptation of loanwords have revealed linguistic resistance in Tapiete. In the case of Vilela, despite documented phonological and grammatical reduction, core linguistic structures have been activated through language remembering strategies. Although the pressure of Spanish has long been present, its structure has not been decisive to vernacular language loss. Rather, the abandonment of Tapiete and Vilela is rooted in the speakers' history of socio-cultural subordination.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- A world of many voices: Editors' introduction 1
- Sri Lanka Malay revisited: Genesis and classification 13
- Working Together: The interface between researchers and the native people - The Trumai case 43
- Tense, Aspect and Mood in Awetí verb-paradigms: Analytic and synthetic forms. 67
- Tonogenesis in Southeastern Monguor. 111
- Language, ritual and historical reconstruction: Towards a linguistic, ethnographical and archaeological account of Upper Xingu Society 129
- Endangered Caucasian languages in Georgia: Linguistic parameters of language endangerment 159
- Contact, attrition and shift in two Chaco languages: The cases of Tapiete and Vilela 195
- Tofa language change and terminal generation speakers 243
- Hocank's challenge to morphological theory 271
- A Preliminary study of same-turn self-repair initiation in Wichita conversation 317
- Multimedia analysis in documentation projects: Kinship, interrogatives and reciprocals in ǂ Akhoe Hai ǁ om 355
- Index 371
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- A world of many voices: Editors' introduction 1
- Sri Lanka Malay revisited: Genesis and classification 13
- Working Together: The interface between researchers and the native people - The Trumai case 43
- Tense, Aspect and Mood in Awetí verb-paradigms: Analytic and synthetic forms. 67
- Tonogenesis in Southeastern Monguor. 111
- Language, ritual and historical reconstruction: Towards a linguistic, ethnographical and archaeological account of Upper Xingu Society 129
- Endangered Caucasian languages in Georgia: Linguistic parameters of language endangerment 159
- Contact, attrition and shift in two Chaco languages: The cases of Tapiete and Vilela 195
- Tofa language change and terminal generation speakers 243
- Hocank's challenge to morphological theory 271
- A Preliminary study of same-turn self-repair initiation in Wichita conversation 317
- Multimedia analysis in documentation projects: Kinship, interrogatives and reciprocals in ǂ Akhoe Hai ǁ om 355
- Index 371
