Doctoral Dissertation Research: Jicarilla Apache Language Socialization and Revitalization

博士生Mariann Skahan（新墨西哥大学）将在Les Field博士的指导下，对Jicarilla Apache语言意识形态对当前振兴Jicarilla语言的影响进行研究。该研究将考察过去和现在的实践和交际能力的概念是如何塑造语言使用的。本研究以Jicarilla Apache语言倡导者的语言传记为重点，辅以结构化和半结构化访谈、参与式观察、互动的社会语言学分析和档案研究获得的信息。研究者的目标是对一种美洲土著语言的社会和文化变迁进行描述，这种语言已经从日常语言变成了一种经历着显著语言转变的语言。这一方法论和理论框架将为回答以下问题提供背景：1)Jicarilla Apache男女的语言社会化经验与他们对语言复兴的态度之间的关系；2)早期的Jicarilla Apache复兴计划对现在成年的前语言学生有什么影响？3)不同教派的Jicarilla Apache男性和女性如何定义语言能力和熟练程度？该项目将通过研究部落社区成员个人历史中的语言转变，帮助社会科学家将社会框架对语言振兴计划的影响理论化。本研究还将对少数族裔语言群体成员的话语表现质量、代理形式和作者身份进行阐述，否则这些都是难以识别的。这项研究支持了对社会科学家的教育。

Doctoral student Mariann Skahan (University of New Mexico), under the supervision of Dr. Les Field, will undertake research on the bearing of Jicarilla Apache language ideologies on current efforts to revitalize the Jicarilla language. The study will examine how past and present practices and notions of communicative competence have shaped language use.This research focuses on language biographies of Jicarilla Apache language advocates, supplemented by information obtained in structured and semi-structured interviews, participant observation, sociolinguistic analysis of interactions, and archival research. The researcher's goal is to produce an account of the social and cultural vicissitudes of a Native American language that has gone from being a language in daily basis to one experiencing marked linguistic shift. This methodological and theoretical framework will provide the context to answer questions related to: 1) What is the relationship between language socialization experiences of Jicarilla Apache men and women and their attitude towards language revitalization; 2) What is the impact of the earlier Jicarilla Apache revitalization programs on former language students who are now adults; and 3) How do differing sects of Jicarilla Apache men and women define language competency and proficiency?This project will help social scientists to theorize the effects of social framing on language revitalization programs by examining language shift in the personal histories of tribal community members. This research also will give voice to qualities of discursive performance and forms of agency and authorship by members of minority speech communities that are otherwise difficult to recognize. This research supports the education of a social scientist.