LINGUIST List 13.1735

Wed Jun 19 2002

Books: Sociolinguistics,M.Paul Lewis,Stuart Showalter

Editor for this issue: Dina Kapetangianni <dinalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. academic_books, K'iche': A Study in the Sociology of Language by M. Paul Lewis
2. academic_books, The Same But Different: Language Use and Attitudes in Four Communities of Burkina Faso by Stuart Showalter

Title: K'iche': A Study in the Sociology of Language
Series Title: Publications in Sociolinguistics #6

Publication Year: 2001

Publisher: Summer Institute of Linguistics
 http://www.sil.org/

Author: M. Paul Lewis

Paperback: ISBN: 1556711204, Pages: 276, Price: $29.00

			
Abstract:

The author presents a comprehensive look at language use and attitudes
among the K'iche' people of Guatemala. The book combines qualitative
and quantitive analyses to test two hypotheses: (1) that K'iche' and
Spanish are in a stable diglossic relationship and (2) that there is a
significant relationship between language use and degree of acceptance
of modern (i.e., nontraditional) identity factors in K'iche'
communities.

The study examines seven K'iche' communities, using the field notes
and observational data collected over a two-year period. The analysis
of the qualitative data follows the framework of Ethnolinguistic
Vitality Theory. The quantitive analysis is based on Fishman's notion
of domains of use (who speaks what to whom and when).

This book will appeal to sociolinguists interested in factors
affecting language maintenance and shift, Mayanists who are involved
in current efforts to revitalize and maintain the languages of
Guatemala, and language planners and policy makers who desire to trace
the outworkings of language policy decisions in an actual language-use
context.

M. Paul Lewis has been the International Sociolinguistics Coordinator
for SIL International since 1996. He holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from
Georgetown University, Washington D.C. He began fieldwork in Guatemala
in 1975 and has worked among the K'iche', Uspanteko, and Ixil peoples
in Guatemala.

Lingfield(s):Sociolinguistics
			 
Subject Language(s): Quiche, Central (Language Code: QUC)
 
Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)

			

Title: The Same But Different: Language Use and Attitudes in Four Communities o\f Burkina Faso by Stuart Showalter
Series Title: Publications in Sociolinguistics 5

Publication Year: 2001

Publisher: Summer Institute of Linguistics
 http://www.sil.org/

Author: Stuart Showalter

Paperback: ISBN: 1556710925, Pages: 261, Price: $29.00
			
Abstract:

Dr. Showalter examines language attitudes and bilingualism in four
rural speech communities in Burkina Faso, West Africa. His study
provides a detailed look into ways in which these communities respond
to the everyday linguistic diversity of their milieu. Maps and
diagrams add clarity in explaining the linguistic situation.

For his research, he adapted the matched-guise testing method in order
to explore attitudes toward the language variation that permeates
rural West African life. His results demonstrate the viability of
indirect testing methods in this environment. They reveal, on the one
hand, numerical measures of linguistic variability and bilingual
achievement, and on the other hand, community attitudes toward shared
ethnic identity, social contact, linguistic awareness, personal
character, and social status. He fleshed out the survey data with
ethnographic insights gained during the two years he spent in rural
Burkina Faso carrying out his research.

Linguists and anthropologists interested in the interplay of language
and society, as well as Africanists seeking a better understanding of
the sometimes astounding linguistic diversity of the region, will find
this book especially valuable.

Lingfield(s): Sociolinguistics
			 
Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)