EN120b Expository Writing II

Language Loss in Micronesia

In an essay with a four page body and a works cited page, respond to the following research question:

Focusing on one FSM language, which may be your L1, state why this language is in danger of eventually “dying out” or degrading into a “pidgin”. Which parts of this language are particularly vulnerable or have already been lost (i.e. “high language”).You may include any appropriate history as to why the language is in danger. At what stage of “death” is this language? (See below) What should be done, if anything, to save the language?

You are encouraged to use personal interviews with people knowledgeable in the language and/or linguistics as one or more of your sources. These interviews should be cited as follows:

Last name, First name. Personal Interview. Date.

You are encouraged to use notes from Robert Andreas’ talk with us in class or on any lecture in class. Cite like this:

Andreas, Robert. Class Lecture. Expository Writing II. 24 April 2003.

Schedule:

4/24 Guest Speaker: Robert Andreas of the NLCI
4/25 FRIDAY: Final Draft of Research #2 is due by 4PM.
4/29 Group Discussion.
5/1 Discussion. Thesis and outline due.
5/6 Rough Draft of Research #3 is due by 4PM in my box.
5/8 Meet in Computer Lab.

The Final Draft of Resarch #3 is due anytime before 4PM on May 15th.

From:

Fishman, Joshua. Reversing Language Shift. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. 1991.

Fishman’s Eight Stages of Language Decay/Death:

Stage 8 The Language is spoken by a few isolated older people. It is close to extinction.
Stage 7 There are cultural events and ceremonies.
Stage 6 Children are learning language from parents, neighborhood, and community.
Stage 5 There is local literacy in the community, literacy programs in native languages.
Stage 4 The language is in the schools.
Stage 3 The language is in the work sphere.
Stage 2 The language is in the local mass media, local government.
Stage 1 The language exists at the highest levels in government, universities, national media

From:
Government of the Federated States of Micronesia. “Resolutions for SPEI and LP Plan Adoption.” FSM
Government.(1998) http://www.fsmgov.org/press/pr5898.html (24 April 2003).

Resolutions for SPEI and LP Plan Adoption

PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM INFORMATION SERVICE): May 8, 1998 - President Jacob Nena, on May 5th, transmitted to Congress Speaker Jack Fritz for resolutions adopting the FSM Strategic Plan for Educational Improvement (SPEI) and the FSM Language Policy (LP). Along with the resolutions were information on the two proposed resolutions.

Nena told Speaker Jack Fritz that the SPEI plan attempts to respond to questions such as: why has education not significantly improved over the past 15 to 20 years? what has been the barriers to improvement? Where have successes occurred and why?

The FSM SPEI development is as complex task given the logistic and geographical and social diversities of the FSM requiring an extensive research efforts involved.

The FSM Language Policy, Nena said resulted from a genuine concern over the impacts of changes on languages and cultures. There is a strong need to offer the children population in the FSM the communication and thinking skills to prepare them to compete competently the regional and worldwide economic realm.

Thus, the LP targets the goal for a child to competently speaks and writes in one indigenous Micronesian language plus English. The children should be given the opportunity and urged to learn a Micronesian language other than their first language which will in-turn promote development unity.

From:

Fishman, Joshua. “Maintaining Languages What Works? What Doesn't?” NCELA: National Clearinghouse
for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs. 1996. http://
www.ncela.gwu.edu/miscpubs/stabilize/conclusion.htm (24 April 2003).

“And what we have to ask ourselves, "Is reversing language shift a lost cause?" Well, perhaps it is. But all of life is a lost cause. We are all sitting and dying right in this room, except you feel it more than I do because I am talking and you are listening. All of life is a lost cause. We all know the road leads only downward into the grave. There is no other way it will go. Those that have hope at least share the benefits of hope, and one of those benefits is community. Reversing language shift efforts on behalf of the inter-generational mother-tongue transmission is community building, that is what is essentially required, in and through the beloved language. So, what have they accomplished, those Irish revivalists whom I have studied for such a long time? Can you imagine, in seventy-five years of work, which is longer than most of you have worked on this problem by a long shot, they have gone from a time when five percent of the Irish population was Irish mother-tongue to a time when three percent is Irish mother-tongue. After having tried everything that you are ever likely to think of. But, by this time, two-thirds of the population understands Irish, which was not the case at that earlier time. Two-thirds of it have been strongly influenced by all these things that the revivalists did, even though few of them ever actually speak the language. Irish would be in even worse condition had the revivalists not done all they did.”

Research Questions to get us started:

1) Which Micronesian languages, if any, are in danger of dying out?
2) What are the ways in which a language “dies”?
3) Is English a “killer” language?
4) Why do speakers choose to speak languages other than their native language?
5) What should be done to save languages that are in danger?
6) Is it important to save languages? Why or why not?

Lecture, 4/22/03, a summary of the following:

Crawford, James. “Seven Hypotheses in Language Loss: Causes and Cures.” NCELA:
National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language
Instruction Educational Programs. 1996. http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/miscpubs/ stabilize/ii-policy/hypotheses.htm (18 April 2003).

1. Language shift is very difficult to impose from without.

Q: What is “language shift”?
Q: Can languages be “murdered”?
Q: Can “english-only” policies kill a language?

2. Language shift is determined primarily by internal changes within language communities themselves.

- Demographic factors like in- and out-migration.
- Economic forces
- Mass media
- Social identifiers – who is our hero??

3. If language choices reflect social and cultural values, language shift reflects a change in these values.

- Individualism
- Pragmatism
- Materialism

4. If language shift reflects a change in values, so too must efforts to reverse language shift.

5. Language shift cannot be reversed by outsiders, however well-meaning.

6. Successful strategies for reversing language shift demand an understanding of the stage we are currently in.

Q: What “stage” are Micronesian languages currently in?

Spoken Living Languages in the FSM:

Chuukese Nukuoro
English Pááfang
Kapingamarangi Pingelapese
Kosraen Pohnpeian
Mokilese Puluwatese
Mortlockese Satawalese
Namonuito Ulithian
Ngatik Men’s Creole Woleaian
Yapese

Source:

SIL International. “Ethnologue Report for Micronesia.” Ethnologue. 2003. http://www.
ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Micronesia (22 April 2003).

Language Attitudes Assessment:

For each of the statements below, mark the box to indicate whether you Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D), or Strongly Disagree (SD).

Statement:

1. My grandparents know my native language better than I do.
2. My parents know my native language better than I do.

3. I write in English better than in my native language.

4. I speak in English better than in my native language.

5. When I am with friends, we usually use English to communicate.

6. When I am with my family, we usually use English to communicate.

7. It is important for children to learn their native language.

8. It is important for children to learn English.

9. It is easier to get a job if I know English well.

10. Successful members of my community know English well.

11. It is most important for children to learn English, even if it means they will not know their native language.

12. If people do not know their native language, they can not know their native culture.

13. I want to learn more about my native language.

14. I will be able to accomplish my goals in life only if I know English well.

15. I will be able to accomplish my goals in life only if I know my native language well.