LINGUIST List 12.1706

Mon Jul 2 2001

Review: King, Language Revitalization

Editor for this issue: Terence Langendoen <terrylinguistlist.org>

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  • Joan Smith/Kocamahhul, Review of King, Language Revitalization ... Quicha

    Message 1: Review of King, Language Revitalization ... Quicha

     Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2001 13:25:42 +1200
    From: Joan Smith/Kocamahhul <j.smithling.canterbury.ac.nz>
    Subject: Review of King, Language Revitalization ... Quicha


    King, Kendall A. (2000) Language revitalization processes and prospects: Quicha in the Ecuadorian Andes, Multilingual Matters

    Reviewed by Joan Smith/Kocamahhul, Strategies for Language Revitalization Project, Department of Linguistics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

    Brief Summary:

    King's work is, in brief, an ethnographic study of attitudes towards and use of Quichua in the Ecuadorian Andes with particular focus on the language revitalization efforts in two community schools.

    In the first chapter, Language Revitalization, King places her work in its theoretical context discussing definitions of language revitalization, and orienting the work in relation to the field of language shift (on various levels) and language planning. Her methodological approach is the ethnography of communication.

    Chapter two, Setting the Scene, describes the sociohistorical context mostly at the national and regional (Saraguro) level with particular focus on the politics of national policy and indigenous organisations. There is a brief description of the two communities studied, one more urban than the other, and with language shift from Quichua to Spanish concomitantly further advanced. In the second half of chapter two, King outlines her method and discusses some of the practical issues arising.

    In the third chapter, Language Use and Ethnic Identity in Lagunas, King outlines the development of the language shift, assesses the linguistic competencies of the community members, the attitudes to language and the use(s) of the language and its relation to ethnic identity. The tension between the two varieties - 'Authentic Quichua' (the local Spanish-influenced variety) and 'Unified Quichua' (the standardized national variety) - is also considered.

    The fourth chapter, Language Use and Ethnic Identity in Tambopamba, examines the less urban of the two communities. Although there are some differences from Lagunas (rural occupation is much more important in defining ethnic identity) there are still many similarities.

    The fifth chapter, Quichua Instruction and the Community Schools, examines in some detail the nature of instruction in the two state-sponsored schools, one in each community. King compares the teaching philosophies of the two schools and describes the different teaching practices, but finds that when it came to teaching Quichua as a second language the two schools were very similar. Despite a declared goal of increasing the communicative skills of the children with the aim of revitalising the language in the wider community, the teaching of Quichua made up a small proportion of the school day and what teaching there was focused on vocabulary, reading, writing and translation.

    In the sixth chapter, Prospects and processes revisited, King assesses the Quichua-as-a-second-language efforts and makes suggestions to further future efforts.

    As is often the case in works on language shift or revitalisation, the reader gets a sense of d�j� vu here: the discrimination, beatings etc. for speaking the wrong language, the economic carrot for speaking the other language, the emotional attachment to the language, the limited nature of the language-teaching in the classroom. Readers will see parallels between their community of interest and the communities of Saraguro.

    King's book is well-organised, spelling out the method and theories used and their relation to each other. The reader is given plenty of indication of how the book will develop. The references are comprehensive and would make a good reading list for someone newly interested in language revitalisation. Chapters three and four include useful tables which relate peoples' ages and language competencies to important historical events.

    On the less positive side, the grouping of discussion of method together with the description of the sociohistorical context in chapter two seems inappropriate. Similarly, Appendix two which lists the recorded interviews is of little use to the reader. On the other hand, some discussion of the basic characteristics of the language, especially in comparison to Spanish would have been useful. Finally, with respect to the notation used for indicating the different languages (/S/ and /Q/ alongside the English gloss in brackets), it would have been easier to see how the languages are used if King had adopted the approach common in work on codeswitching of marking the uses of the different languages bold, italic etc. In some cases this would have made the transition from one language to another easier to see (e.g. p.172 and 173) whether between speakers or in one speaker's utterance.

    Another point concerns King's classification of the use of Quichua as marked and unmarked. Specifically, she classifies use of Quichua for humour as unmarked (in chapter three). This would suggest that for humour a switch to Quichua is necessary and that not to switch to Quichua would be marked. Certainly, this is true of the other unmarked uses of Quichua - switching to Quichua when speaking to an elder, when speaking secretly, or when actively teaching the language. Not to use Quichua in these instances (assuming one is proficient) would be marked. It is unlikely that the use of Quichua for humour is unmarked; I suspect rather that it is marked and that it is the markedness which highlights that a joke is intended. Attention to Myers-Scotton's work on codeswitching (1993) would have helped this section.

    I found two points in the book of particular interest: the nuts and bolts of field research and the discrepancy between what people (say they) want and what they do.

    In chapter two King is candid about the practicalities of her field research and some of the difficulties she encountered - the intended plan (agreed with local officials) was that King would observe the implementation of a regional Quichua-as-second-language programme in the Saraguro schools, yet on her return a year later it was apparent that the programme had stalled. She then turned her attention to the two community programmes discussed in the book. This is a salutary tale of the need for the field worker to be adaptive. King also reflects on her own personal characteristics (age, appearance, foreignness, gender) and how they affected her role in the community. Illustrations are found elsewhere in the book, in examples where facetious jokes are made about King as a single woman being (im)possibly pregnant or in pursuit of a man (p. 84 and 120). How the fieldworker fits into a community is an important consideration, especially where language use is one of the objects of study; language use does not occur in a vacuum. This section has value for someone embarking on field research; I found that it echoed many of my experiences.

    The final chapter with its suggestions for future developments in language revitalization is also useful. It has become increasingly recognised that the fieldworker conducting research in a community undergoing language shift is under a moral obligation about how their research can be used by the community (Labov, 1982; Wolfram, 1998; Wolfram and Schilling-Estes, 1995). This chapter has many useful suggestions that can be easily adapted to other communities. It would have been again useful for the beginner fieldworker to have some indication of how one's material can be presented to a community.

    Another key point raised by King's results is the discrepancy between what people want (or say they want) and what they do. In the case of the Tambopamba community there is a discrepancy between mothers' regret that the children do not speak much Quichua and the fact that they only address the children in Spanish. In both communities there is a discrepancy between the goals stated by the teachers (to further communicative skills) and the teaching styles (focusing on reading writing and translation) - this begs the question whether the teaching is inappropriate for the goals due to a lack of skills and pedagogical knowledge or whether there is an underlying ambivalence which is undermining the programme. King's suggestions for language revitalisation in Saraguro (chapter six) address the former, but she does not delve far into the latter though she mentions the issue of ambivalence in another community (Dauenhauer and Dauenhauer, 1998). As she points out, this in turn relates to the need for ideological clarification prior to embarking on revitalization efforts (Fishman, 1991).

    Much of what King reports in Saraguro is familiar from language shift and language revitalization in other parts of the world. Yet it is always useful to confirm that, while each situation is unique, there is also much to be learned from other communities. I have focused on only a few points of particular interest to me. King's work is particularly strong in analysing the practicalities of fieldwork - I wish I had been able to read this book before starting my own dissertation.

    References:

    Dauenhauer, N. M., and R Dauenhauer. Technical, emotional, and ideological issues in reversing language shift: examples from Southeast Alaska. Endangered Languages. Ed. Lenore A. Grenoble and Lindsay J. Whaley. Cambridge: Cambridge university press, 1998.

    Fishman, Joshua A. Reversing Language Shift. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1991.

    Labov, William. Objectivity and commitment in linguistic science: The case of the Black English trial in Ann Arbor. Language in Society 11 (1982): 165 - 201.

    Myers-Scotton, Carol. Social motivations for codeswitching. Oxford studies in language contact. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. xii, 177.

    Wolfram, Walt. Scrutinizing linguistic gratuity: issues from the field. Journal of Sociolinguistics 2.2 (1998): 271-79.

    Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes. Moribund dialects and the endangerment canon: the case of the Ocracoke brogue. Language 71 (1995): 696-721.

    Joan Smith/Kocamahhul is a research assistant for the Strategies for Language Revitalization project at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She is also working on her doctoral thesis on the role of codeswitching in language shift.