Chapter 7. Surveying the ethnolinguistic vitality of two contested languages
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Nicole Dołowy-Rybińska
Abstract
In this chapter we present the results of a Polish-Italian research project aimed at evaluating and comparing the vitality of two contested languages: Kashubian in Poland and Piedmontese in Italy.
Despite their different institutional status (Kashubian is a language recognised under the Polish law while Piedmontese is a contested language that remains unrecognised under Italian law), they show similarities with regard to their range of uses and speakers’ attitudes. The ethnolinguistic vitality of both communities is low, and so are the status and prestige of both languages in their respective countries. Consciousness about the importance of their maintenance is weakening, both within the communities and in wider social contexts. As they belong to the same language family as their respective dominant languages, they were/are treated as dialects of the state languages and thus not worthy of preservation. However, current accounts of language vitality for Kashubian and Piedmontese are rather optimistic. We believe that this optimism is mainly due to an over-estimation of the importance of number of speakers as a parameter for assessing vitality over others that address the ideology surrounding the language, such as speakers’ attitudes, stigma, and the comparison between actual and perceived use of the language.
This chapter presents the preliminary results of a new survey addressing the vitality of these two languages. The survey makes use of a new combination of ethnolinguistic vitality parameters and is specifically focused on aspects related to language ideology.
Abstract
In this chapter we present the results of a Polish-Italian research project aimed at evaluating and comparing the vitality of two contested languages: Kashubian in Poland and Piedmontese in Italy.
Despite their different institutional status (Kashubian is a language recognised under the Polish law while Piedmontese is a contested language that remains unrecognised under Italian law), they show similarities with regard to their range of uses and speakers’ attitudes. The ethnolinguistic vitality of both communities is low, and so are the status and prestige of both languages in their respective countries. Consciousness about the importance of their maintenance is weakening, both within the communities and in wider social contexts. As they belong to the same language family as their respective dominant languages, they were/are treated as dialects of the state languages and thus not worthy of preservation. However, current accounts of language vitality for Kashubian and Piedmontese are rather optimistic. We believe that this optimism is mainly due to an over-estimation of the importance of number of speakers as a parameter for assessing vitality over others that address the ideology surrounding the language, such as speakers’ attitudes, stigma, and the comparison between actual and perceived use of the language.
This chapter presents the preliminary results of a new survey addressing the vitality of these two languages. The survey makes use of a new combination of ethnolinguistic vitality parameters and is specifically focused on aspects related to language ideology.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Chapter 1. What are contested languages and why should linguists care? 3
-
Section 1. The broader picture
- Chapter 2. Contested languages and the denial of linguistic rights in the 21st century 21
- Chapter 3. Democracy 41
-
Section 2. Identifying and perceiving contested languages
- Chapter 4. Mixing methods in linguistic classification 59
- Chapter 5. The cost of ignoring degrees of Abstand in defining a regional language 87
- Chapter 6. Deconstructing the idea of language 105
- Chapter 7. Surveying the ethnolinguistic vitality of two contested languages 125
- Chapter 8. Contested orthographies 143
- Chapter 9. Revitalising contested languages 163
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Section 3. Working with contestedness
- Chapter 10. Community-based language planning 185
- Chapter 11. Teaching Piedmontese 199
- Chapter 12. Publishing a grammar and literature anthology of a contested language 209
- Chapter 13. Which Sardinian for education? 221
-
Section 4. Beyond contested languages
- Chapter 14. Citizenship and nationality 237
- Chapter 15. The language ideology of Esperanto 247
- Index 269
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Chapter 1. What are contested languages and why should linguists care? 3
-
Section 1. The broader picture
- Chapter 2. Contested languages and the denial of linguistic rights in the 21st century 21
- Chapter 3. Democracy 41
-
Section 2. Identifying and perceiving contested languages
- Chapter 4. Mixing methods in linguistic classification 59
- Chapter 5. The cost of ignoring degrees of Abstand in defining a regional language 87
- Chapter 6. Deconstructing the idea of language 105
- Chapter 7. Surveying the ethnolinguistic vitality of two contested languages 125
- Chapter 8. Contested orthographies 143
- Chapter 9. Revitalising contested languages 163
-
Section 3. Working with contestedness
- Chapter 10. Community-based language planning 185
- Chapter 11. Teaching Piedmontese 199
- Chapter 12. Publishing a grammar and literature anthology of a contested language 209
- Chapter 13. Which Sardinian for education? 221
-
Section 4. Beyond contested languages
- Chapter 14. Citizenship and nationality 237
- Chapter 15. The language ideology of Esperanto 247
- Index 269
