Doctoral Dissertation Research: Style, Ideology, and Youth Cultural Practice in the Context of Language Shift

本论文项目将调查语言风格和蒙大拿州的黑脚民族的美国印第安青少年之间的变化。具体而言，该研究着眼于通过使用当地的语言资源，从区域英语和遗产语言（南皮耶根黑脚）的风格建设，此外，超本地语言资源，通过流行文化和媒体提供。该研究探讨了青少年在多大程度上积极和创造性地利用流行文化和大众媒体的资源，为自己的社会目的，并复制和转换其意义;在多大程度上他们的语言实践再现占主导地位的意识形态的语言和社会类别;以及如何区分意识形态方面的种族，民族和其他轴的身份影响这些青少年的文体实践。本研究采用民族志的方法，对40名12至18岁的青少年的语言实践进行了定量和定性的分析。这项工作借鉴了语言学，文化研究和人类学，以更好地了解当代美国印第安青年的语言实践。其研究结果可能对多语言和美洲印第安人教育，以及发展强化身份并对学业成绩产生积极影响的课程和课外活动产生影响。最后，通过考虑流行文化与语言复兴之间的关系，本研究补充了旨在更好地理解语言多样性重要性的研究，特别是在全球化的情况下。

This dissertation project will investigate linguistic style and variation among American Indian adolescents on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. Specifically, the study looks at the construction of style through the use of local linguistic resources from regional English and the heritage language (South Piegan Blackfoot), and in addition, supralocal linguistic resources made available through popular culture and media. The study explores to what extent adolescents actively and creatively make use of resources from popular culture and mass media for their own social purposes, and reproduce and transform their meanings; to what extent their linguistic practices reproduce dominant ideologies about language and social categories; and how ideologies of distinction with regard to race, ethnicity, and other axes of identity influence the stylistic practices of these adolescents. The linguistic practices of 40 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 will be analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods, with data collected ethnographically. This work draws on linguistics, cultural studies, and anthropology to better understand contemporary linguistic practices of American Indian youth. Its findings may have implications for multilingual and American Indian education, as well as for developing both curricular and extracurricular activities that strengthen identity and have a positive effect on academic achievement. Finally, by considering relationships between popular culture and language revitalization, this study complements research that aims to better understand the importance of linguistic diversity, especially in the face of globalization.