Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:38:44.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - The Role of the Past in Language Revitalization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2023

By
Pia Lane
Edited by
Aneta Pavlenko
Aneta Pavlenko
Affiliation:
University of York
Get access

Summary

The term revitalization presupposes that something is in danger or threatened – as a consequence, language revitalization is often seen as a response to language endangerment and as a way of undoing past injustices. While revitalization processes take place in the present, such processes follow long timescales and are deeply embedded in local historical contexts. Language revitalization may be experienced as positive and emancipatory, but the process can also be difficult because those attempting to reclaim their language may have to face hurts of the past, which have been passed down through generations and have consequences today. An analysis of current efforts to revitalize Kven and Sámi languages in Northern Norway sheds light on such inherent tensions in revitalization processes, concluding that it is essential to recognize tensions and contradictory forces exerted on the individuals who attempt to reclaim their language and to support them on their language journey.

Keywords

language revitalizationlanguage reclamationlanguage shifttimescaleslanguage hierarchieslanguage and emotionsNorwegianKvenSámi
Type
Chapter
Information
Multilingualism and History , pp. 239 - 254
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abtahian, M. & Quinn, C. (2017) Language shift and linguistic insecurity. Language Documentation & Conservation, 13, 137–151.Google Scholar
Austin, P. & Sallabank, J. (eds.) (2011) The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Block, D. (2013) Moving beyond “lingualism”: Multilingual embodiment and multimodality in SLA. In May, S. (ed.) The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. New York/London: Routledge, pp. 54–77.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1977) The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social Science Information, 16, 6, 645–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bull, K. (2012) Jordsalgslovgivningen i Finnmark 1775–1902 – en Oversikt. In Tuseth, B., Bugge, H., Voigt, C., Backer, I. & Fauchald, O. (eds.) Pro Natura: Festskrift til Hans Christian Bugge på 70-årsdagen 2012 [Pro Natura: Festschrift for Hans Christian Bugge on his 70th Birthday]. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, pp. 108–119.Google Scholar
Busch, B. (2012) The linguistic repertoire revisited. Applied Linguistics, 33, 5, 503–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comajoan-Colome, L. & Coronel-Molina, S. (2021) What does language revitalisation in the twenty-first century look like? New trends and frameworks. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 42, 10, 897–904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connerton, P. (1989) How societies remember. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, J. (2017) Revitalising language in Provence: A critical approach. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dorian, N. (1987) The value of language-maintenance efforts which are unlikely to succeed. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 68, 57–67.Google Scholar
Duchêne, A. & Heller, M. (2007) Discourses of endangerment: Ideology and interest in the defence of languages. London/New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. (1965) Who speaks what language to whom and when? La Linguistique, 1, 2, 67–88.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. (1991) Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threathened languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, A. (2011) Some thoughts on haunting and futurity. borderlands, 10, 2, 1–21. Retrieved from http://averygordon.net/files/GordonHauntingFuturity.pdf June 26, 2018.Google Scholar
Haugen, E. (1953) The Norwegian language in America: A study in bilingual behavior. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Hinton, L., Huss, L., & Roche, G. (2018) Introduction: Language revitalization as a growing field of study and practice. In Hinton, L., Huss, L., & Roche, G. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization. New York: Routledge, pp. xxi–xxx.Google Scholar
Hornberger, N. & King, K. (1996) Language revitalisation in the Andes: Can the schools reverse language shift? Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 17, 6, 427–441.Google Scholar
Huss, L., & Stångberg, S. (2018) The yoke and the candy bowl: Beliefs and emotions in South Sami revitalisation. In Roche, G., Maruyama, H., & Å. Kroik, (eds.) Indigenous efflorescence. Acton: ANU Press, pp. 129–150.Google Scholar
Juuso, J. (2009) Válddán giellan ruovttoluotta/tar språket mitt tilbake [Take my language back]. Vuonnabahta: Isak Saba guovddáš.Google Scholar
King, K. (2009) Language loss and revitalization: Ten things we know. In Lindgren, A., Niemi, E., Hauan, M., Niiranen, L. & Thuen, T. (eds.) Kvener og skogfinner i fortid og nåtid [Kvener and Forest Finnis in the past and present]. Tromsø: Speculum Boreale, pp. 9–23.Google Scholar
King, K. & Hermes, M. (2014) Why is this so hard?: Ideologies of endangerment, passive language learning approaches, and Ojibwe in the United States. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 13, 4, 268–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirke- og undervisningsdepartementet [Ministry of Church Affairs and Education](1898). Instruks angaaende brugen af lappisk og kvænsk som hjælpesprog ved undervisningen i folkeskolen, hvor dette af kirkedepartementet er tilladt i henhold til landsskolelovens § 73, 2 led. 18. april 1898. [Regulation concerning the use of Lappish and Kven as supportive languages in primary education, where this by the Ministry of Religion is allowed according to the National Education Act § 73, 2 section. 18. april 1898] Retrieved from https://www.norgeshistorie.no/kilder/industrialisering-og-demokrati/K1540-Spr%C3%A5kinstruks-for-samiske-og-kvenske-skolebarn.html October 12, 2021Google Scholar
Kjeldstadli, K. (2006) En norsk kultur. Ja. Én norsk kultur. Nei [A Norwegian culture. Yes. One Norwegian culture. No]. In Engen, T., Kulbrandstad, L. & Syversen, E-A (eds.) Monokultur og multikultur. Nasjonsbyggende diskurser 1905–2005 [Mono-culture and multi-culture. Nation-building discourses 1905–2005]. Oplandske: Bokforlag, pp. 31–44.Google Scholar
Kramsch, C. (2009) The multilingual subject: What foreign language learners say about their experience and why it matters. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lambert, W., Havelka, J., & Gardner, R. (1959) Linguistic manifestations of bilingualism. The American Journal of Psychology, 72, 1, 77–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Land Sales Act (1902) Lov om Afhændelse af Statens Jord og Grund i Finnmarkens Amts Landdistrict av 22. mai 1902 nr. 7 – Jordsalgsloven av 1902 [Act on Sales of National Land and Ground in Finnmark County District of May 22 1902 n. 7. Land Sales Act of 1902].Google Scholar
Lane, P. (2010) ‘We did what we thought was best for our children’: A nexus analysis of language shift in a Kven community. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 202, 63–78.Google Scholar
Lane, P. (2017) Language standardisation as frozen mediated actions. The materiality of language standardisation. In Lane, P., Costa, J., & De Korne, H. (eds.) Standardizing minority languages. Competing ideologies of authority and authenticity in the global periphery. New York: Routledge, pp. 101–117.Google Scholar
Lane, P. (forthcoming). The South in the North: colonialisation and decolonisation of the mind. In Deumert, A. & Makoni, S. (eds.) From Southern theory to decolonizing sociolinguistics – voices, questions and alternatives. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Leonard, W. Y. (2017) Producing language reclamation by decolonising ‘language’. Language Documentation and Description, 14, 15–36.Google Scholar
Lindgren, A.-R. (2014) Litt før den etniske renessansen – feltarbeid blant kvener på slutten av 1960-tallet [A little before the ethnic renaissance – fieldwork among Kven at the end of the 1960s]. Ottar, 5, 34–40.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, P. (1999) Language anxiety: A review of the research for language teachers. In Young, D. (ed.) Affect in foreign language and second language teaching: A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere. Boston: Mc Graw-Hill, pp. 24–45.Google Scholar
May, S. (2013) Disciplinary divides, knowledge construction, and the multilingual turn. In May, S. (ed.) The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. New York/London: Routledge, pp. 17–41.Google Scholar
McCarty, T. (2008) Language education planning and policies by and for Indigenous peoples. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 1, 137–150.Google Scholar
Moore, R., Pietikäinen, S., & Blommaert, J. (2010) Counting the losses: Numbers as the language of language endangerment. Sociolinguistic Studies, 4, 1, 1–26.Google Scholar
Niemi, E. (2003) Regimeskifte, innvandrere og fremmede [Regime change, immigrants and strangers]. In Niemi, E., Myhre, J., & Kjeldstadli, K. (eds.) Norsk innvandringshistorie. I nasjonalstatens tid 1814–1940 [Norwegian immigration history. In the time of the nation state]. Valdres: Pax forlag, pp. 11–47.Google Scholar
Norton, B. (2000) Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational change. Harlow, England: Longman/Pearson.Google Scholar
Ortega, L. (2013) Ways forward for a bi/multilingual turn in SLA. In May, S. (ed.) The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. New York/London: Routledge, pp. 42–63.Google Scholar
Pavlenko, A. (2013) The affective turn in SLA: From ‘affective factors’ to ‘language desire’and ‘commodification of affect’. In Gabrys-Barker, D. & Belska, J. (eds.) The affective dimension in Second Language Acquisition. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 3–28.Google Scholar
Pietikäinen, S. (2008) Sami in the media: Questions of language vitality and cultural hybridisation. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 3, 1, 22–35.Google Scholar
Pietikäinen, S., Huss, L., Laihiala-Kankainen, S., Aikio-Puoskari, U., & Lane, P. (2010) Regulating multilingualism in the North Calotte: The case of Kven, Meänkieli and Sámi languages. Acta Borealia, 27, 1, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prior, M. (2019) Elephants in the room: An “affective turn,” or just feeling our way? The Modern Language Journal, 103, 2, 516–527.Google Scholar
Rasmus, S. & Lane, P. (2021) New Speakers of Sámi: From insecurity to pride. Linguistic Minorities in Europe Online at https://doi.org/10.1515/lme.12818309CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romaine, S. (2006) Planning for the survival of linguistic diversity. Language Policy, 5, 4, 443–475.Google Scholar
Ruija Corpus https://tekstlab.uio.no/glossa2/ruijaGoogle Scholar
Ruijan Kaiku https://www.ruijan-kaiku.no/vil-inspirere-flere-kvenske-kids/Google Scholar
Scollon, R. & Scollon, S. (2004) Nexus analysis: Discourse and the emerging internet. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sevinç, Y. (2020) Anxiety as a negative emotion in home language maintenance and development. In Schalley, A. & Eisenchlas, S. (eds.) Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 84–108.Google Scholar
Sicoli, M. (2011). Agency and ideology in language shift and language maintenance. In Granadillo, T. & Orcutt-Gachiri, H. (eds.) Ethnographic contributions to the study of endangered languages. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 161–176.Google Scholar
Todal, J. (2007) Språkleg vitalisering - faktorar som vi ikkje skriv om [Language vitalisation – factors we do not write about]. In Bull, T., Kusmenko, J., & Rießler, M. (eds.) Språk og pråkforhold i Sápmi [Language and language issues in Sápmi]. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität, pp. 201–210.Google Scholar
Wetherell, M. (2013) Affect and discourse: What’s the problem? From affect as excess to affective/discursive practice. Subjectivity, 6, 4, 349–368.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×