Doctoral Dissertation Research: Language Ownership and Linguistic Innovations

纽约大学博士生Hyejin Nah将在Bambi B.Schieffelin博士的指导下，研究在媒体和政府要求放弃濒危语言的压力越来越大的背景下，维持濒危语言的土著语言策略。重点将是在一个没有土地基础、没有制度形式、没有法律保护的土著民族的文化生产中，如何将保留语言的意识形态与保存语言的新资源结合起来。这项民族志和语言研究将在智利圣地亚哥的马普切市区进行。城市马普切人尽管流离失所，也没有中央组织，但他们以强烈的地方主权意识而闻名。马普切人行使地方主权的一种方式是通过语言的差异性：他们的语言马普祖贡语(“陆地语言”)是他们马普语(“土地”)的标志性语言。然而，马普切语的语言独特性是不寻常的，因为它不是以语言振兴或努力扩大语言的便利和使用为中心的。相反，马普切人声称拥有代表和谈论他们传统语言的至高无上的权利。马普切人表达语言主权似乎得到了新兴社交媒体的便利，包括受到马普切人广泛欢迎的Facebook。研究人员将调查这些新媒体对当地语言的影响。主要的研究问题包括：新媒体实践如何影响马普切人的语言、意识形态和公共社交形式。研究将在圣地亚哥马普切自愿协会的样本中进行，在那里可以观察和质疑语言实践和复杂的语言社会接触。该项目在研究新旧跨背景(面对面/在线)和跨模式(识字/口语)语言实践的相互渗透方面具有方法创新。这些研究成果将促进对以新兴媒体为中心的地方和创新做法的了解，因为这些做法与努力维护受威胁的土著语言有关。资助这项研究还支持对一名社会科学家的培训。

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.