Language preservation in strangely familiar places: How traditional skills have helped preserve Shaetlan
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Viveka Velupillai
Abstract
Shaetlan is the indigenous language which pre-dates English in Shetland, the northernmost part of the UK. It is of a mixed ancestry, with Norn and Scots as its main input languages, but with a linguistic history shaped by intense contact with the Low Country Germanic languages. Shaetlan has seen severe stigmatisation over the last few centuries and is now in an endangered state, with dwindling intergenerational transmission. However, the structure of the language has remained remarkably resilient and still shows its unique Mixed Language ancestry not only in its vocabulary but also in its grammar. It is the skills that have been transmitted in informal, safe and familiar places which have allowed the language to remain resilient and intimately connected to its environment, and which have allowed it to make it into and claim a place in the digital era, despite widely internalised and perpetuated stigmatisation.
Abstract
Shaetlan is the indigenous language which pre-dates English in Shetland, the northernmost part of the UK. It is of a mixed ancestry, with Norn and Scots as its main input languages, but with a linguistic history shaped by intense contact with the Low Country Germanic languages. Shaetlan has seen severe stigmatisation over the last few centuries and is now in an endangered state, with dwindling intergenerational transmission. However, the structure of the language has remained remarkably resilient and still shows its unique Mixed Language ancestry not only in its vocabulary but also in its grammar. It is the skills that have been transmitted in informal, safe and familiar places which have allowed the language to remain resilient and intimately connected to its environment, and which have allowed it to make it into and claim a place in the digital era, despite widely internalised and perpetuated stigmatisation.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Language in strange and familiar places: A short introduction 1
- The eternal and the ephemeral 9
- Language preservation in strangely familiar places: How traditional skills have helped preserve Shaetlan 39
- Hidden landscapes and the images of the “unseen”: from north-west Amazonia to the Middle Sepik region of New Guinea 75
- The intersection of language, religion, identity, and scholarship: Opportunities for the revitalization of Ge’ez 131
- Speaking of oneself in multi-term evidential systems: From the Himalayas to Amazonia 149
- Ideological and communicative perspectives on divination amongst the people of Northern Ghana 193
- Beyond participants–researchers–research outsiders: food talk and the (co-)construction of knowledge in multi-sited participatory ethnography 223
- Making and selling Greek food in London: Migrant hospitality professionals talk about food authenticity over dinner 257
- Feierabendziegel: Roof tiles with celestial bodies on them, and how they are relevant for understanding experiences of contingency 287
- Index of authors 329
- Index of subjects 335
- Index of languages, language families, areas, and peoples 339
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Language in strange and familiar places: A short introduction 1
- The eternal and the ephemeral 9
- Language preservation in strangely familiar places: How traditional skills have helped preserve Shaetlan 39
- Hidden landscapes and the images of the “unseen”: from north-west Amazonia to the Middle Sepik region of New Guinea 75
- The intersection of language, religion, identity, and scholarship: Opportunities for the revitalization of Ge’ez 131
- Speaking of oneself in multi-term evidential systems: From the Himalayas to Amazonia 149
- Ideological and communicative perspectives on divination amongst the people of Northern Ghana 193
- Beyond participants–researchers–research outsiders: food talk and the (co-)construction of knowledge in multi-sited participatory ethnography 223
- Making and selling Greek food in London: Migrant hospitality professionals talk about food authenticity over dinner 257
- Feierabendziegel: Roof tiles with celestial bodies on them, and how they are relevant for understanding experiences of contingency 287
- Index of authors 329
- Index of subjects 335
- Index of languages, language families, areas, and peoples 339
