This paper considers the changes in clause-combining structures as the Siberian Tungusic language... more This paper considers the changes in clause-combining structures as the Siberian Tungusic languages, represented here by Evenki, are undergoing shift due to contact with Russian. Native clause-combining strategies, specifically parataxis and subordination with converb forms, are being replaced by coordination and subordination with finite verbs based on Russian models. Surprisingly few Russian conjunctions are borrowed, contrary to the predictions of borrowing hierarchies. A comparison of data from monolingual speakers, bilingual speakers, and Russian-dominant speakers raises questions about the processes of typological restructuring versus language shift.
Page 1. ARTICLES NEGATION AND THE INFINITIVE: VERBS OF MOTION IN RUSSIAN AND POLISH1 Lenore A. Gr... more Page 1. ARTICLES NEGATION AND THE INFINITIVE: VERBS OF MOTION IN RUSSIAN AND POLISH1 Lenore A. Grenoble, Dartmouth College 1. Introduction. This paper discusses the interaction of verbal semantics, aspect ...
Language documentation has emerged as a response to the pressing need for collecting, describing,... more Language documentation has emerged as a response to the pressing need for collecting, describing, and archiving material on the increasing number of endangered languages. This paper draws together issues raised throughout the volume as to the nature of documentation from every angle – from early training to work in the field to the creation and archiving of the documentation corpus. A critical assessment of the state of the field today shows a rise in new models for training to meet the needs of documentary linguists but also calls for continuing development of better methods to ensure that both the process of documentation and the end products meet the evolving needs of speakers and linguists now and in the future.
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, Feb 2, 2023
A large percentage of the world’s languages – anywhere from 50 to 90% – are currently spoken in w... more A large percentage of the world’s languages – anywhere from 50 to 90% – are currently spoken in what we call shift ecologies, situations of unstable bi- or multilingualism where speakers, and in particular younger speakers, do not use their ancestral language but rather speak the majority language. The present paper addresses several interrelated questions with regard to the linguistic effects of bilingualism in such shift ecologies. These language ecologies are dynamic: language choices and preferences change, as do speakers’ proficiency levels. One result is multiple kinds of variation in these endangered language communities. Understanding change and shift requires a methodology for establishing a baseline; descriptive grammars rarely provide information about usage and multilingual language practices. An additional confounder is a range of linguistic variation: regional (dialectal); generational (language-internal change without contact or shift); contact-based (contact with or without shift); and proficiency-based (variation which develops as a result of differing levels of input and usage). Widespread, ongoing language shift today provides opportunities to examine the linguistic changes exhibited by shifting speakers, that is, to zero in on language change and loss in process, rather than as an end product.
This paper considers the changes in clause-combining structures as the Siberian Tungusic language... more This paper considers the changes in clause-combining structures as the Siberian Tungusic languages, represented here by Evenki, are undergoing shift due to contact with Russian. Native clause-combining strategies, specifically parataxis and subordination with converb forms, are being replaced by coordination and subordination with finite verbs based on Russian models. Surprisingly few Russian conjunctions are borrowed, contrary to the predictions of borrowing hierarchies. A comparison of data from monolingual speakers, bilingual speakers, and Russian-dominant speakers raises questions about the processes of typological restructuring versus language shift.
Page 1. ARTICLES NEGATION AND THE INFINITIVE: VERBS OF MOTION IN RUSSIAN AND POLISH1 Lenore A. Gr... more Page 1. ARTICLES NEGATION AND THE INFINITIVE: VERBS OF MOTION IN RUSSIAN AND POLISH1 Lenore A. Grenoble, Dartmouth College 1. Introduction. This paper discusses the interaction of verbal semantics, aspect ...
Language documentation has emerged as a response to the pressing need for collecting, describing,... more Language documentation has emerged as a response to the pressing need for collecting, describing, and archiving material on the increasing number of endangered languages. This paper draws together issues raised throughout the volume as to the nature of documentation from every angle – from early training to work in the field to the creation and archiving of the documentation corpus. A critical assessment of the state of the field today shows a rise in new models for training to meet the needs of documentary linguists but also calls for continuing development of better methods to ensure that both the process of documentation and the end products meet the evolving needs of speakers and linguists now and in the future.
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, Feb 2, 2023
A large percentage of the world’s languages – anywhere from 50 to 90% – are currently spoken in w... more A large percentage of the world’s languages – anywhere from 50 to 90% – are currently spoken in what we call shift ecologies, situations of unstable bi- or multilingualism where speakers, and in particular younger speakers, do not use their ancestral language but rather speak the majority language. The present paper addresses several interrelated questions with regard to the linguistic effects of bilingualism in such shift ecologies. These language ecologies are dynamic: language choices and preferences change, as do speakers’ proficiency levels. One result is multiple kinds of variation in these endangered language communities. Understanding change and shift requires a methodology for establishing a baseline; descriptive grammars rarely provide information about usage and multilingual language practices. An additional confounder is a range of linguistic variation: regional (dialectal); generational (language-internal change without contact or shift); contact-based (contact with or without shift); and proficiency-based (variation which develops as a result of differing levels of input and usage). Widespread, ongoing language shift today provides opportunities to examine the linguistic changes exhibited by shifting speakers, that is, to zero in on language change and loss in process, rather than as an end product.
Reconstructing Non-Standard Languages: A socially-anchored approach, 2022
Focusing on language contact involving Russian, and the linguistic varieties that emerged from th... more Focusing on language contact involving Russian, and the linguistic varieties that emerged from that contact in different social settings, this book analyzes issues and methodologies in reconstructing both the linguistic effects of language contact and the social contexts of usage. In-depth analyses of Odessan Russian, a southern Russian contact variety with Yiddish and Ukrainian elements, and Russian lexifier pidgins illustrate the reconstruction process, which involves making the most of all available documentation, particularly literature and stereotypical descriptions. Historical sociolinguistics of this kind straddles the fields of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and contact; this book brings together the methods and theories of these areas to show how they can result in a rich reconstruction of linguistic and socially-conditioned variation. We reconstruct the circumstances and social settings that produced this variation, and demonstrate how to reconstruct which variants were used by different types of speakers under different circumstances, and what kinds of social identities they indexed.
Page 1. LANGUAGE POLICY Language Policy in the Soviet Union Lenore A. Grenoble KLUWER ACADEMIC PU... more Page 1. LANGUAGE POLICY Language Policy in the Soviet Union Lenore A. Grenoble KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. "A Page 5. LANGUAGE POLICY IN THE SOVIET UNION "This One GRNT-KC2-X3RR Page 6. ...
... Contents Preface vii List of abbreviations and symbols xvii Part1 General issues 1 1 Western ... more ... Contents Preface vii List of abbreviations and symbols xvii Part1 General issues 1 1 Western language ideologies and small-language prospects Nancy C. Dorian 3 2 Toward a typology of language endangerment Lenore A. Grenoble and Lindsay J. Whaley 22 Part n Language ...
The volume Urban Voices presents studies, which analyse how speakers of Russian convey social mea... more The volume Urban Voices presents studies, which analyse how speakers of Russian convey social meanings across a variety of speech situations. Rooted in different methodological frameworks including quantitative and qualitative approaches, the contributions show how various linguistic, paralinguistic and pragmatic means relate to sociolinguistic dimensions (e.g. display the social, ethnic, local identity of a speaker, the institutional character of a communicative situation etc.). The analyses are the results of the research network Urban Voices, which focuses the sociolinguistics, grammar and pragmatics of spoken Russian and investigates its linguistic and communicative diversity. The contributors are Olga Blinova, Nina Bodganova-Beglarian, Beatrix Kreß, Lenore Grenoble, Peter Kosta, Elena Markasova, Ludger Paschen, Nicole Richter, Christian Sappok, Tatiana Sherstinova and Nadine Thielemann.
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