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

语言的变化是恒定的，可以用来记录人口如何随着时间的推移相互作用。这种情况的发生方式因情况而异，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，濒危和复兴等术语如何定义语言仍然知之甚少。此外，科学家们对儿童在语言保护或濒危中扮演的角色知之甚少。这个项目填补了这一空白，通过调查如何在不同的背景下测量和讨论语言濒危与活力，以及这如何与儿童在不同环境中使用语言的方式相关。除了帮助培训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，并向学术和非学术受众广泛传播研究结果。该项目侧重于国际标准认为不受危害但在母语使用者中被认为存在风险的语言方面。通过在家庭和学校对家庭及其子女进行参与性观察以及对日常语言使用情况进行录音来收集数据。调查和半结构化访谈被用来调查语言实践如何随着时间的推移而变化，并得出有关语言使用的信念。调查结果得到了对语言实践的分析以及对在线、当地电视和广播中语言状况的讨论的补充。这项研究提供了一个更清晰的理解语言变化的不同阶段的转变和社会因素的影响。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

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.