A comparative study of the impact of displacement on multilingualism and language endangerment

流离失所对多语言和语言濒危影响的比较研究

• 批准号: 2109620
• 负责人: Jeffrey Good
• 金额: $ 42.45万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Buffalo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109620&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: comparative; study; impact; displacement; multilingualism

Communities all over the world are frequently impacted by displacement due to events such as natural disasters or political conflict, and displaced people often experience significant changes to their linguistic environment when the areas that they move to are dominated by different languages than those spoken in the regions that they come from. For instance, members of a rural community speaking an endangered language who move to an urban area after a natural disaster may shift from an environment where most people they meet during the course of a day speak their first language to one where only their close friends and family members do. Similarly, refugees fleeing their homes may find themselves in camps occupied by people from many different areas who do not, at least initially, share a common language. Moreover, displacement may change more than just the primary language that an individual uses in their day-to-day lives. In many parts of the world, users of languages associated with small communities are multilingual and actively use three or more languages. When they move, they may learn a new language but also stop using other languages that they know, including endangered languages. The impact of displacement on multilingualism and endangerment has yet to be systematically investigated, even though increased knowledge in this domain would help refine policies intended to support minority language maintenance and to improve the conditions of displaced people. This project studies three communities with demonstrated linguistic diversity that have experienced recent displacement in different ways. One community is currently experiencing displacement due to active political conflict, and another experienced displacement due to conflict that was resolved decades ago. The third community is a refugee camp housing displaced individuals from a linguistically diverse neighboring region. By studying language use across these three communities, the investigators are able to conduct a comparative analysis of how displacement impacts language vitality in multilingual contexts. The investigators use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data, including ethnographic observation, sociolinguistic interviews, and language proficiency assessment tasks. Documentary records of language use among displaced people will also be created. The project is innovative in that it emphasizes understanding the social dynamics that promote language vitality rather than focusing on endangerment primarily as an outcome of global trends. This project also strengthens connections between linguistics, political science, and other disciplines studying peace and conflict. The project's outcomes can inform the study of societal resilience in the face of adversity. Its results also have the potential to inform government policies seeking to promote the use of minority languages by giving policy makers a clearer perspective of the factors that contribute to speakers continuing to use those languages. Results also have the potential to lead to actionable recommendations for organizations that work with displaced people.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由于自然灾害或政治冲突等事件，世界各地的社区经常受到流离失所的影响，而流离失所的人通常会在其移动的领域与与他们所来自的地区所说的不同语言主导时，经常会对他们的语言环境产生重大变化。例如，一个濒临灭绝的语言的农村社区的成员在自然灾害之后移居城市地区可能会转移到一个环境中，在这种环境中，他们一天中大多数人会遇到的大多数人会说出他们的一种语言，只有他们的亲密朋友和家人才能这样做。同样，逃离家园的难民可能会发现自己在来自许多不同地区的人们所占据的营地中，至少在最初没有共同的语言。此外，流离失所可能不仅改变了个人在日常生活中使用的主要语言。在世界许多地方，与小社区相关的语言用户是多语言的，并且积极使用三种或更多语言。当他们移动时，他们可能会学习一种新语言，但也停止使用他们所知道的其他语言，包括濒危语言。流离失所对多语言和危害的影响尚未系统地研究，尽管该领域的知识增加将有助于完善旨在支持少数族裔语言维持并改善流离失所者的条件的政策。该项目研究了三个具有语言多样性的社区，这些社区最近以不同的方式流离失所。一个社区目前由于积极的政治冲突而陷入流离失所，而几十年前解决的冲突导致了另一个经历的流离失所。第三个社区是一个来自语言多元化的邻近地区流离失所的难民营地。通过研究这三个社区的语言使用，研究人员能够对流离失所如何影响多语言环境中的语言活力进行比较分析。研究人员使用一系列定性和定量方法来收集数据，包括人种学观察，社会语言访谈和语言能力评估任务。 还将创建流离失所者中语言使用的文献记录。该项目具有创新性，因为它强调了解促进语言活力的社会动态，而不是主要作为全球趋势结果的危害。该项目还加强了语言学，政治学和其他研究和平与冲突的学科之间的联系。面对逆境，该项目的结果可以为社会韧性的研究提供信息。它的结果还有可能向政府政策提供信息，以寻求促进少数族裔语言的使用，从而使决策者更清楚地看出有助于继续使用这些语言的说话者的因素。 结果还有可能为与流离失所者合作的组织提出可行的建议。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。