Language as Talisman

“语言是护身符”的概念根植于这样一种信念，即语言在某种程度上具有保护作用，是避免风险和创造弹性的一种方式。社区成员相信，他们彼此交谈的方式，以及他们所使用的语言和识字实践，本身就能保证和加强身份、安全和能动性。一个社区使用口头和书面语言的方式包括方言、口音、词汇、偏好的体裁和习惯等方面。在这项研究中，我们专注于一个社区，南约克郡罗瑟勒姆的罗马什。罗马什是一个有着悠久的煤炭开采和钢铁工业历史的社区。它概括了Hoggart（1957）、Williams（1961）和Charlesworth（2000）所描述的“后工业”工人阶级社区的概念。罗马什是一个丰富的文化和语言实践场所。这个项目旨在共同理解语言和读写能力在构建和理解像Rawmarsh这样的社区中的作用。合作伙伴包括儿童和青少年服务，罗瑟勒姆学校和激励罗瑟勒姆。我们建议编写一份涵盖多个相关领域的研究综述，这些领域既独立又相邻，都涉及日常语言和读写能力的使用。与此同时，我们将与Rawmarsh的一个当地社区一起开展一个关于语言使用的跨学科项目。我们的中心焦点将是语言作为“护身符”的概念，这是一个代表项目中所有学科的形象。所代表的观点包括新识字研究，社会语言学，方言文学和更流行的文化形式的调查，以及语言研究本身的思想史。新识字研究使用民族志方法来深入了解家庭和社区的日常语言和识字实践（Barton & Hamilton 1998）。社会语言学为语言使用的细粒度分析提供了工具，同时也为语言在社会世界中的地位概念化提供了方法。研究文学和流行文化中的方言，包括考察元语言、“民间语言”信仰和感知现象所扮演的角色，如注册和索引性，人们通过语言定位自己和世界的方式。把思想史的工具运用到语言研究中，可以对思考和研究语言的不同方式之间的关系进行严格而广泛的考虑。此外，我们建议创建一个关于公园中听到的声音的社区研究，反映语言和读写能力在日常生活中作为弹性来源的作用，并开发语言作为护身符的学习资源，供当地学校使用。我们的成果包括一份文献综述，一份两页的总结，将每个相邻的学科结合在一起，一套可供当地学校六年级学生使用的资源，以及在罗马什维多利亚公园共同策划的一系列艺术活动。我们的社区团队包括一名青年工作者、一项社区扫盲倡议的负责人和一名艺术从业者。我们的学术团队包括新识字研究和社区识字实践的民族志研究领域的研究人员（Kate Pahl博士），社会语言学家（David Hyatt博士），英国文学方言和元语言领域的专家（Jane Hodson博士）和对语言思想感兴趣的学者（Richard Steadman-Jones博士）。此外，一个咨询小组将指导这一进程。我们得到了罗瑟勒姆青年服务处、英国开普和当地学校的大力支持。

The concept of 'Language as Talisman' is rooted in the belief that language is, in some sense extent, protective and operates as a way of averting risk and creating resilience. Members of communities believe that the way they speak to each other and the language and literacy practices they draw on, will in themselves, guarantee and shore up identity, safety and agency. The ways in which a community uses oral and written language include aspects such as dialect, accent, vocabulary, preferred genres and practices.In this study, we focus on one community, Rawmarsh in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Rawmarsh is a community that has a strong history of coal mining and steel industries. It encapsulates the concept of the 'post industrial' working class community described by Hoggart (1957) Williams (1961) and Charlesworth (2000). Rawmarsh is a rich site for literacy and language practices. This project aims to jointly understand the role of language and literacy in constructing and making sense of communities such as Rawmarsh. Partners include the Children and Young People's Service, Rotherham schools and Inspire Rotherham. We propose to produce a research review spanning a number of related fields, separate but adjacent, all of which deal with everyday language and literacy use. In parallel, and, interacting with the review, we shall develop a cross-disciplinary project on language in use with a local community in Rawmarsh. Our central focus will be the concept of language as 'talisman', an image that speaks to all the disciplines represented in the project. The perspectives represented include New Literacy Studies, Sociolinguistics, the investigation of dialect in literature and also in more popular cultural forms, as well as the intellectual history of language study itself. The New Literacy Studies uses ethnographic approaches to gain insights into everyday language and literacy practices in homes and communities (Barton & Hamilton 1998). Sociolinguistics offers tools for the fine-grained analysis of language use along with ways of conceptualizing the place of language within the social world. Looking at dialect in literature and popular culture involves examining the roles played by meta-language, 'folk-linguistic' beliefs, and perceptual phenomena such as enregisterment and indexicality in the way people orient themselves both to language and to the world through language. And bringing the tools of intellectual history to bear on language study allows for a rigorous and wide-ranging consideration of the relationships among different ways of thinking about and investigating language. Alongside, we propose to create a community study on the voices heard in the park, that reflects on the role of language and literacy as a source of resilience in everyday life, as well as develop a learning resource on language as talisman, for use in local schools. Our outputs include a Literature Review, a two page summary that draws each adjacent discipline together, a set of resources to be used with year 6 students in local schools, as well as a co-curated set of arts events in Victoria Park, Rawmarsh. Our community team includes a youth worker, the director of a community literacy initiative and an arts practitioner. Our academic team includes a researcher in the field of New Literacy Studies and ethnographic studies of community literacy practices (Dr Kate Pahl), a socio-linguist (Dr David Hyatt) an expert in the field of dialect and meta-language from English Literature (Dr Jane Hodson) and an academic interested in ideas about language (Dr Richard Steadman-Jones). In addition, an advisory group will guide the process. We have strong support from the Youth Service in Rotherham, as well as Cape UK and local schools for this project.