Doctoral Dissertation Research: The role of children in driving language change in multi-ethnic communities

语言的变化是不断的，可以用来记录随着时间的推移，种群之间是如何相互作用的。在不同的情况下，这种情况是如何发生的，并受到与语言濒危和振兴有关的文化和政治干预的影响。然而，在不同的文化背景下，如何定义濒危和复兴等术语与语言有关的问题仍然知之甚少。此外，科学家们对儿童在制定语言保护或濒危法案中扮演的角色知之甚少。这个项目通过调查在不同的环境中如何衡量和讨论语言濒危与活力，以及这与儿童在不同环境中使用语言的方式的相关性来填补这一空白。除了帮助培养一名科学文化人类学博士生外，该项目还巩固了多个高等教育机构之间的关系，并向学术界和非学术界受众广泛传播研究成果。该项目侧重于不被国际标准视为濒危语言，但在以英语为母语的人中被视为危险的语言方面。数据是通过与家庭和学校中的家庭及其孩子的参与观察以及日常语言使用的录音来收集的。调查和半结构化访谈被用来调查语言实践是如何随着时间的推移而变化的，并引出关于语言使用的信念。这些发现得到了对语言实践的分析和关于在线、当地电视和广播中关于语言状况的讨论的补充。这项研究使人们更清楚地了解了语言变化在不同的变化阶段以及影响它的社会因素。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Language change is constant and may be used to document how populations have interacted with each other over time. How this arises varies across scenarios and are subject to cultural and political interventions concerned with language endangerment and revitalization. Yet, how terms like endangerment and revitalization are defined with respect to language in different cultural contexts remains poorly understood. Moreover, scientists know relatively little about what role children play in enacting language preservation or endangerment. This project fills this gap by investigating how language endangerment versus vitality are measured and discussed in different contexts and how this correlates to the ways children use language across settings. In addition to contributing to training a doctoral student in scientific cultural anthropology, the project cements relationships among multiple institutions of higher education and disseminates findings broadly to academic and non-academic audiences. The project focuses on aspects of language that are not considered to be endangered by international standards but are considered at risk among native speakers. Data is collected through participant observation with families and their children in homes and schools, as well as recordings made of everyday language use. Surveys and semi-structured interviews are used to investigate how linguistic practices have changed over time, and to elicit beliefs about language use. The findings are complemented by analysis of linguistic practices and discussions about the status of languages online, on local television, and on the radio. The research provides a clearer understanding of language change at different stages of shift and the social factors influencing it.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.