Author
Harvey, Megan AnnaIssue Date
2023Advisor
Henderson, Robert
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
As more communities work to create new speakers of their languages we are seeing a new linguistic environment develop and, from that, particular styles of language use emerge. This dissertation adds to the growing literature on studying and supporting the process of language revitalization (e.g. Stebbins et al. 2017, Zuckerman 2021), by describing the process of documenting and analyzing Tunica (tun ISO 639-3), a reawakening language spoken in central Louisiana, USA. ‘Reawakening languages’ are languages whose usual transmission has been interrupted and the community is looking to learn them through existing documentation, meaning looking at their revitalization process has the potential to be both incredibly illuminating and in- credibly disruptive to language learners and language workers. With these concerns in mind, this dissertation presents a method for documenting languages as they are being revitalized that minimizes disruption and maximizes support by centering the documentation around language revitalization activities and output. The first chapter introduces key terms and situates current research in language revitalization. Chapter 2 provides background on Tunica, the revitalization efforts in the community, and the language structure. Chapter 3 provides general recommendations for documenting the process of languages being reclaimed and reawakened. Chapters 4 and 5 focus specifically on documenting Tunica, with Chapter 4 describing the process of documenting Tunica in the classroom, through the creation of podcasts, and with more traditional elicitation. Chapter 5 turns to the types of questions we can look at using documentation of reawakening languages by considering trends in three morphological and syntactic phenomena in the language: the use of gender-number-agreement clitics, the use of overt subjects, and the structure of questions. Chapter 6 ties this all together and looks towards future projects.Type
Electronic Dissertationtext
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
Graduate CollegeLinguistics
Degree Grantor
University of ArizonaCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF NOVEL BILINGUAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION BY FOUR MINORITY-LANGUAGE PRESCHOOL CHILDREN (NONSENSE WORDS).Gibb, Nancy Jo, 1957- (The University of Arizona., 1985)
-
Acquisition versus long-term retention of Japanese words and syntax by children and adults: Implications for the critical period hypothesis in second language learning.Boswell, Paul Duane; Reyna, Valerie; Brainerd, Charles; Aleamoni, Lawrence M. (The University of Arizona., 1993)The critical period hypothesis for second language learning, which states that young children learn additional languages better than adults, lacks unambiguous empirical support as well as a coherent theoretical model. An experimental study was conducted which analyzed child-adult differences in difficulty of acquisition and long-term retention for rules of syntax and words in Japanese, a language unfamiliar to the subjects. The results of this study found no advantage for children over adults either in acquisition or long-term memory. However, relative to the difficulty of acquisition, the children had lower forgetting rates for words than for rules when both materials were learned completely. In the lexical study, the children's performance at retention was closer to the adults' than at acquisition, whereas in the syntax study, the opposite was the case. These results confirm the existence of developmental differences in the forgetting rates of different materials. Such results imply that, if there is an advantage for learning language at an early age, it might be localized in lexical retention.
-
Contextualizing Technology: Designing Indigenous Language CALL ProgramsKickham, Elizabeth; Zepeda, Ofelia; Alexander, Bri; Gilmore, Perry (The University of Arizona., 2018)An astounding number of global Indigenous communities work ceaselessly to reclaim and revitalize their languages after many years of suppression by colonization and dominant societies. Each community and individual learner brings myriad unique needs and desires to heritage language learning, including the need for community and cultural engagement in addition to fluency. With an increase in using technology for language learning, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) programs could be useful resources for Indigenous language learners if first adapted to support Indigenous languages. While CALL allows immense customization of programs to satisfying learner needs and linguistic diversity, BLOOM is the first and only organization to develop an Indigenous language CALL program (i.e., a program built solely for Indigenous languages and to meet the needs of Indigenous communities). Investigating BLOOM, this research analyzes a case study of the developmental process of BLOOM’s first course, including curriculum development, design decisions, engineering challenges, and the experience of partnering with the Cherokee Nation to develop a Cherokee language course. This research asserts that developers must collaborate directly with the Indigenous community during every step of the building process when developing Indigenous language CALL programs, and provides a 10-step Community-Collaborative Building Model to guide the process. The model reveals the importance of building curriculum tailored to the distinct needs of the Indigenous community, working actively and intentionally to build trust with the community, and constantly using the program to empower Indigenous communities via language learning. Overall, when producing Indigenous language CALL programs, CALL developers must adapt to meet the needs of the community, the learners, and those needs in context.