Doctoral Dissertation Research: Language Ownership and Linguistic Innovations

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New York University doctoral student Hyejin Nah, guided by Dr. Bambi B. Schieffelin, will conduct research on indigenous linguistic strategies to sustain endangered languages in the context of increasing media and governmental pressures for abandonment. The focus will be on how language ideologies for retention are combined with new resources for linguistic preservation in the cultural production of an indigenous nation that has no land base, no institutional forms and no legal protections. This ethnographic and linguistic research will be conducted with urban Mapuche in Santiago, Chile. Urban Mapuche, despite being displaced and without a central organization, are known for their strong sense of local sovereignty. One Mapuche way of practicing local sovereignty is through linguistic distinctness: their language, Mapuzugun ("Land Tongue"), is iconic of their mapu ("land"). Yet, Mapuche linguistic distinctness is unusual in that it does not center on language revitalization or on efforts to expand language facility and use. Rather, Mapuche claim the preeminent right to speak for and about their traditional language. Mapuche expressions of linguistic sovereignty appear to be facilitated by emergent social media, including Facebook, which has been widely embraced by Mapuche. The researcher will investigate the local language effects of these new media. Overarching research questions include: how do the new media practices affect Mapuche linguistic ideology and public forms of sociality. Research will be conducted within a sample of Santiago Mapuche voluntary associations where language practices and complex social encounters with language can be observed and queried. This project is methodologically innovative in investigating the interpenetration of old and new cross-context (face-to-face/online), and cross-modal (literacy/orality) linguistic practices. The research findings will advance knowledge on local and innovative practices centered on emerging media as they relate to efforts to maintain threatened indigenous languages. Funding this research also supports the training of a social scientist.