Centre for Research on Language Contact

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https://hdl.handle.net/10315/1266

The Centre for Research on Language Contact (CRLC) brings together the research activities of the faculty members and students of York University who investigate various aspects of language contact at both societal and individual levels. Among the topics examined by CRLC members one can mention: second or multiple language acquisition, societal or individual bilingualism, inter-group relationships in bilingual or multilingual settings, minority language maintenance or loss, bilingual education, the role of language and cultural contact in language change, pidgin and Creole genesis, dialect mixture and the linguistic and cultural dimensions of translation. CRLC members investigate language contact from the perspective of several disciplines (e.g., linguistics, sociology, demography, psychology, political science, history and musicology) and in a variety of settings, Toronto and Ontario, other Canadian provinces and other countries throughout the world. The CRLC includes external members who are leading researchers in the field of Language Contact.

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Browsing Centre for Research on Language Contact by Subject "Community Control"

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    Personal Thoughts on Indigenous Language Stabilization
    (Northern Arizona University Press;, 1997) Burnaby, Barbara
    This paper presents personal reflections on factors in the preservation and stabilization of North America indigenous languages. All indigenous languages in North America are in danger of being lost. Linguistic and cultural minority communities must control the institutions that affect their lives if there is to be significant and sustainable improvement in their circumstances. While community control is vital to the stabilization of indigenous languages, development of community control and recruitment of human resources are often complicated by conflicting goals and agenda. Some of these complications are illustrated through examples of indigenous control over schools in Canada and control over indigenous language development in general in Yukon Territoty. Another factor in strategy development's size: the size of a language group as a whole, the size of each community involved in language preservation, the amount the language is used in the group or community, and the number of kinds of situations that exist for using the language. Preservation strategies much combine questions of size with questions of control, and outsiders must be prepared to accept that some communities, especially the smallest ones, will have other priorities than language preservation or revival. Local priorities must be respected. In addition, local leadership must be fostered, the forces that create negativity must be met with healing, and recent accomplishments must be appreciated. Contains 15 references.

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