Minority Populations in Canadian Second Language Education

This art icle was downloaded by: [ Anast assia Zabrodskaj a] On: 28 February 2013, At : 05: 49 Publisher: Rout ledge I nform a Lt d Regist ered in England and Wales Regist ered Num ber: 1072954 Regist ered office: Mort im er House, 37- 41 Mort im er St reet , London W1T 3JH, UK International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism Publicat ion det ails, including inst ruct ions f or aut hors and subscript ion inf ormat ion: ht t p: / / www. t andf online. com/ loi/ rbeb20 Minority languages and group identity: cases and categories Anast assia Zabrodskaj a a b a Inst it ut e of Est onian and General Linguist ics, Universit y of Tart u, Est onia b Inst it ut e of Est onian Language and Cult ure, Tallinn Universit y, Est onia Version of record f irst published: 19 Dec 2012. To cite this article: Anast assia Zabrodskaj a (2013): Minorit y languages and group ident it y: cases and cat egories, Int ernat ional Journal of Bilingual Educat ion and Bilingualism, 16: 1, 125-128 To link to this article: ht t p: / / dx. doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 13670050. 2012. 751724 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTI CLE Full t erm s and condit ions of use: ht t p: / / www.t andfonline.com / page/ t erm s- andcondit ions This art icle m ay be used for research, t eaching, and privat e st udy purposes. Any subst ant ial or syst em at ic reproduct ion, redist ribut ion, reselling, loan, sub- licensing, syst em at ic supply, or dist ribut ion in any form t o anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warrant y express or im plied or m ake any represent at ion t hat t he cont ent s will be com plet e or accurat e or up t o dat e. The accuracy of any inst ruct ions, form ulae, and drug doses should be independent ly verified wit h prim ary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, act ions, claim s, proceedings, dem and, or cost s or dam ages what soever or howsoever caused arising direct ly or indirect ly in connect ion wit h or arising out of t he use of t his m at erial. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 125 of promoting their bilingual identities. Kabuto’s work aligns well with previous studies that aim to tie both cultural and linguistic aspects of different languages that, in essence, shape and unify children’s bilingual realities. For children growing up bilingually, their means of expressing themselves is best realized when all their linguistic resources are accessible and they are able to use both systems to represent their simultaneous worlds as a result (Kenner 2004; Kenner et al. 2004; Schwarzer 2001). Downloaded by [Anastassia Zabrodskaja] at 05:49 28 February 2013 References Ferreiro, E., and A. Teberosky. 1982. Literacy before schooling. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Kenner, C. 2004. Living in simultaneous worlds: Difference and integration in bilingual scriptlearning. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 7, no. 1: 43
61. Kenner, C., G. Kress, H. Al-Khatib, R. Kam, and K.C. Tsai. 2004. Finding the keys to biliteracy: How young children interpret different writing systems. Language and Education 18, no. 2: 124
44. Piaget, J., and B. Inhelder. 2000. The psychology of the child. New York, NY: Basic Books. Schwarzer, D. 2001. Noah’s Ark: One child’s voyage into multiliteracy. Westport, CT: Heinemann. Alain Bengochea University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA a.bengochea@umiami.edu # 2013, Alain Bengochea http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2012.683304 Minority languages and group identity: cases and categories, by John Edwards, Amsterdam and Philadelphia, John Benjamins, 2010, ix231 pp., US$149.00 or t99.00 (hbk), ISBN-978-90272 1866 7 During the past decades, sociolinguistic research has witnessed an increase in the interest towards identity construction of (immigrant) minority groups (e.g. Bernal and Knight 1993; Blum 2007; Ciscel 2007; Ghuman 1994; Hutnik 1991; Maalouf 2000; Modood, Beishon, and Virdee 1994; Modood et al. 1997; Omoniyi and White 2006). The scholars focus on the ways in which people position or construct themselves and are positioned or constructed by others in sociocultural situations through the instrumentality of language and with reference to all the variables that comprise identity markers for each community in the speech of its members. A person cannot have several identities but just one, made up of many components combined together in a mixture that is unique to every individual. To quote Maalouf (2000, 3), ‘identity cannot be compartmentalized. You cannot divide it up into halves or thirds or any other separate segments’. Traditionally, sociolinguistic research treats identities as fluid and dynamic (see Lantolf and Pavlenko 2001; Le Page and Tabouret-Keller 1985). Identities are seen as constantly changing and displaying great sensitivity to varying contexts. Block (2006) reflects on the post-structuralist take on identity, especially with reference to Bendle (2002), not as something fixed, but as an ongoing, lifelong project in which individuals constantly attempt to maintain a ‘sense of balance’. Speakers can participate in and identify with several speech communities (or communities of Downloaded by [Anastassia Zabrodskaja] at 05:49 28 February 2013 126 Book reviews practice) in a variety of ways. In a ‘pick and mix’ approach, for instance, their primary identification may be with two languages but only with one culture. For decades, language decline, maintenance, loss and revitalisation have also fascinated researchers from all over the world because their nature and, especially, their conditions have never been fathomed (e.g. Ellis and Mac A’Gnobhainn 1971; Fishman 1991; Grenoble and Whaley 2006; Robins and Uhlenbeck 1991). It is clear that the loss of a language is not self-evidently life-threatening, but a minority language death is similar to the death of a human being. Successful maintenance of minority languages is by no means in connection with minority group’s identity and vitality. The book under consideration here focuses on minority languages and group identities trying to categorise them into cases and considers the problems of maintenance and linguistic diversity of minority languages. The book consists of nine chapters, epilogue and a name and subject index. In Chapter 1, ‘An introductory overview’, Edwards specifies issues discussed in his book, explaining the reasons for choosing four distinct case studies
Irish in Scotland, Gaelic in Scotland, Gaelic in Nova Scotia and Esperanto
for a comparison in terms of language and identity. For Edwards, language is a marker of identity. The author believes that his book ‘may help to show that the single most important aspect of human language
beyond its obvious instrumental and communicative function
lies in its relationship to group identity’ (3). In Chapter 2, ‘Languages in contact and conflict I: Small languages and their maintenance’, Edwards first compares indigenous and immigrant languages, their ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ statuses, official and non-official attitudes’ towards them. Then the author provides bilingual solutions for keeping the existing language while another is being added, stressing that bilingualism is possible for every intelligent individual. Edwards also reviews definitions used so far for the concepts of ‘minority’ (language or group) and ‘language maintenance’, showing their incompleteness or their too political colouring. He argues that ‘discussions of maintenance and revival are essentially discussions about the existence, the desirability and the forms of multilingual and multicultural accommodation, either within or across state borders’ (35). Edwards continues the analysis of the language endangerment and decline phenomena in Chapter 3, ‘Languages in contact and conflict II: Language decline, revival and the ‘new’ ecology’. Parents when faced with economically more powerful and technically more sophisticated language B speakers might decide to finish the transmission of their native language A to children. Such situations lead to language decline and death. This is what happened with Irish (Gaeltacht) in Ireland more than 100 years ago. It seems that the author is not very optimistic while talking about language revival in such cases because it is hard to provide instrumental arguments for language A speakers and why their language should be kept in use. Chapter 4, ‘Parochialism and intercourse’, starts with the quotation of Saussure: ‘provincialism keeps a restricted linguistic community faithful to its own traditions . . . but intercourse . . . limits their effect. Whereas provincialism makes men sedentary, intercourse obliges them to move about’ (p. 57). It is obvious that if a more powerful language B starts to take more and more domains from language A, then the speakers of the latter decide to enhance their social identity by abandoning their group and moving into the group of language B speakers. While minorities assimilate or dissimilate into the mainstream society, linguistic tensions arise. Edwards lists such cases into their context. This discussion logically passes into formulating a typology of minority-language settings in Chapter 5, ‘Towards a Downloaded by [Anastassia Zabrodskaja] at 05:49 28 February 2013 International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 127 typology of minority-language settings’, that should help not only to conduct relevant policy but also to enlighten minorities themselves in relation to their own ‘case’. The author proposes a typological model consisting of three basic categories: speaker, language and setting that are measured by numerous dimensions, starting from geographical and historical dimensions and ending up with sociological perspectives. Different minority-language situations are clearly exemplified by Chapters 6
9, where four distinct case studies dealing with Irish, Gaelic in Scotland, Gaelic in Nova Scotia and Esperanto are carefully analysed. In Ireland, although a language shift to English occurred long ago, Irish is still supported by official policy that tries to revive the Irish language use in different domains via school education. If Irish in the diaspora does almost not exist, then Gaelic being a small indigenous language in Scotland also serves as an immigrant minority language in North America. Esperanto, ‘a constructed variety . . . free of the emotional charges’ (173) could serve as a universal second language, but English has been more and more pushing it out from the linguistic scene. In the epilogue, Edwards stresses once again that language and identity are closely related. The linguistic performance of minority communities is affected by the demands of the everyday social life. Language choices are also directly affected by the number and density of speakers of different speech communities in a particular geographical area and some other complex dimensions. Thus, a minority community can maintain its own linguistic and cultural identity by the very fact that they have established a hegemonic position in a particular region. Furthermore, strong minorities are able to spread their language for their own operation far beyond the geographic borders of the communities themselves. All such cases might be classified with a greater detail. Edward’s book demonstrates the particular cases relevant for a general discussion on the minority language and identity issues and the elaboration of their typology. References Bendle, M. 2002. The crisis of ‘identity’ in high modernity. British Journal of Sociology. 53, no. 1: 1
18. Bernal, M.E., and G.P. Knight, eds. 1993. Ethnic identity: Formation and transmission among Hispanics and other minorities. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Block, D. 2006. Identity in applied linguistics. In The sociolinguistics of identity, ed. T. Omoniyi and G. White, 34
49. London: Continuum. Blum, D.W. 2007. National identity and globalization: Youth, state, and society in post-Soviet Eurasia. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. Ciscel, M. 2007. The language of the Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and identity in an ex-Soviet Republic. Lanham: Lexington Books. Ellis, P.B., and S. Mac A’Gnobhainn. 1971. The problem of language revival: Examples of language survival. Inverness: Club Leabhar. Fishman, J. 1991. Reversing language shift. Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Clevedon, PA and Adelaide: Multilingual Matters. Ghuman, P.A.S. 1994. Coping with two cultures: A study of British Asian and Indo-Canadian adolescents. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Grenoble, L.A., and L.J. Whaley. 2006. Saving languages: An introduction to language revitalisation. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. Hutnik, N. 1991. Ethnic minority identity: A social psychological perspective. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford Univ. Press. 128 Book reviews Downloaded by [Anastassia Zabrodskaja] at 05:49 28 February 2013 Lantolf, J.P., and A. Pavlenko. 2001. (S)econd (L)anguage (A)ctivity theory: Understanding second language learners as people. In Learner contributions to language learning: New directions in research, ed. M. Breen, 141
58. London: Longman. Le Page, R., and A. Tabouret-Keller. 1985. Acts of identity: Creole-based approaches to language and ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. Maalouf, A. 2000. On identity. Trans. London: The Harvill Press. Modood, T., S. Beishon, and S. Virdee. 1994. Changing ethnic identities. London: Policy Studies Institute. Modood, T., R. Berthoud, J. Lakey, J. Nazroo, P. Smith, S. Virdee, and S. Beishon. 1997. Ethnic minorities in Britain: Diversity and disadvantage. London: Policy Studies Institute. Omoniyi, T. and G. White, eds. 2006. The sociolinguistics of identity. London: Continuum. Robins, R.H., and E.M. Uhlenbeck, eds. 1991. Endangered languages. Oxford and New York: Berg. Anastassia Zabrodskaja Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics University of Tartu, Estonia Institute of Estonian Language and Culture Tallinn University, Estonia anastassia.zabrodskaja@gmail.com # 2013, Anastassia Zabrodskaja http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2012.751724