Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:32:37.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Competing ideologies of linguistic authority amongst new speakers in contemporary Galicia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2013

Bernadette O'Rourke
Affiliation:
Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland EH14 4ASB.M.A.O'[email protected]
Fernando Ramallo
Affiliation:
Facultade de Filoloxía e Tradución, Universidade de Vigo, Praza das Cantigas, s/n, 36310 Vigo, [email protected]

Abstract

While in many indigenous minority-language situations traditional native speaker communities are in decline, new speakers are emerging in the context of revitalization policies. Such policies, however, can have unforeseen consequences and lead to tensions between newcomers and existing speakers over questions of ownership, legitimacy, and authenticity. This article examines these tensions in the case of Galician in northwestern Spain, where “new speakers” have emerged in the context of revitalization policies since the 1980s. The subsequent spread of the language outside traditional Galician strongholds and into what were predominantly Spanish spaces complicates the traditional ideology about sociolinguistic authenticity and ownership and raises questions about who are the legitimate speakers of Galician, who has authority, and the potential tensions that such questions generate. To illustrate the tensions and paradoxes that new and native speakers face in this postrevitalization context, we draw on three discussion groups consisting of sixteen young Galicians. (New speakers, authority, authenticity, minority languages, Galician)*

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Álvarez-Cáccamo, Celso (1993). The pigeon house, the octopus and the people: The ideologization of linguistic practices in Galiza. Plurilinguismes 6:126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beswick, Jaine E. (2007). Regional nationalism in Spain: Language use and ethnic identity in Galicia. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, Jan (2010). The sociolinguistics of globalization. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonfiglio, Thomas Paul (2010). Mother tongues and nations: The invention of native speaker. New York: Walter de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre (1982). Ce que parler veut dire. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Bouzada-Fernández, Xan M. (2003). Change of values and the future of the Galician language. Estudios de Sociolingüística 3(2)/4(1):321–41.Google Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary (2003). Sociolinguistic nostalgia and the authentication of identity. Journal of Sociolinguistics 7(3):398416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary, & Hall, Kira (2004). Language and identity. In Duranti, Alessandro (ed.), A companion to linguistic anthropology, 369–94. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Canagarajah, Suresh A. (1999). Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cook, Vivian (1999). Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching. TESOL Quaterly 33(2):185209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, James (2010). Des derniers locuteurs aux néo-locuteurs: Revitalisation linguistique en Europe. Faits de Langues 35–36:205–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coulmas, Florian (ed.) (1981). A festschrift for native speaker. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, Alan (2003). The native speaker: Myth and reality. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Doerr, Neriko Musha (ed.) (2009). The native speaker concept: Ethnographic investigations of native speaker effects. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duchêne, Alexandre, & Heller, Monica (eds.) (2007). Discourses of endangerment. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Firth, Alan, & Wagner, Johannes (1997). On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts in SLA research. The Modern Language Journal 81:285300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishman, Joshua A. (1972). Language and nationalism: Two integrative essays. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Freixeiro Mato, Xosé Ramón (2010). Lingua de calidade. Vigo: Xerais.Google Scholar
Frekko, Susan E. (2009). Social class, linguistic normativity and the authority of the ‘native Catalan speaker’ in Barcelona. In Doerr, Neriko M. (ed.), The native speaker concept: Ehtnographic investigations of native speaker effects, 161–84. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gal, Susan, & Woolard, Kathryn (1995). Constructing languages and publics: Authority and representation. Pragmatics 5(2):129–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giddens, Anthony (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Grinevald, Colette, & Bert, Michel (2011). Speakers and communities. In Austin, Peter K. & Sallabank, Julia (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of endangered languages, 4565. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Heller, Monica (2011). Paths to post-nationalism: A critical ethnography of language and identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornsby, Michael (2008). The incongruence of the Breton linguistic landscape for young speakers of Breton. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development 29(2):127–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iglesias, Ana, & Ramallo, Fernando (2003). Language as a diacritical in terms of cultural and resistance identities in Galicia. Estudios de Sociolingüística 3(2)/4(1):255–87.Google Scholar
Jaffe, Alexandra (1993). Obligation, error, and authenticity: Competing cultural principles in the teaching of Corsican. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 3(1):99114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaffe, Alexandra (1999). Ideologies in action: Language politics on Corsica. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaffe, Alexandra (ed.) (2009). Stance: Sociolinguistic perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, Jennifer (2006). Current perspectives on teaching World Englishes and English as a lingua franca. TESOL Quarterly 40(1):157–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kloss, Heinz (1967). ‘Abstand’ languages and ‘ausbau’ languages. Anthropological Linguistics 9(7):2941.Google Scholar
Makoni, Sinfree, & Pennycook, Alastair (2007). Disinventing and reconstituting languages. In Makoni, Sinfree & Pennycook, Alastair (eds.), Disinventing and reconstituting languages, 141. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Martin-Jones, Marilyn; Blackledge, Adrian; & Creese, Angela (2012). Introduction: A sociolinguistics of multilingualism for our times. In Martin-Jones, Marilyn, Blackledge, Adrian, & Creese, Angela (eds.), The Routledge handbook of multilingualism, 126. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEwan-Fujita, Emily (2010). Ideology, affect, and socialization in language shift and revitalization: The experiences of adults learning Gaelic in the Western Isles of Scotland. Language in Society 39:2764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milroy, James (2001). Languages ideologies and the consequences of standardization. Journal of Sociolinguistics 5(4):530–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monteagudo, Henrique (1999). Historia social da lingua galega. Vigo: Galaxia.Google Scholar
Monteagudo, Henrique (2004). Do uso á norma, da norma ao uso (variación sociolingüística e estandarización no idioma galego). In Álvarez, Rosario & Monteagudo, Henrique (eds.), Norma lingüística e variación, 377436. Santiago de Compostela: Consello da Cultura Galega/Instituto da Lingua Galega.Google Scholar
Observatorio da Cultura Galega (2011). A(s) lingua(s) a debate: Inquerito sobre opinións, actitudes e expectativas da sociedade galega. Santiago de Compostela: Consello da Cultura Galega.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, Bernadette (2011a). Whose language is it? Struggles for language ownership in an Irish language classroom. Journal of Language, Identity and Education 10(5):327–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Rourke, Bernadette (2011b). Galician and Irish in the European context: Attitudes towards weak and strong minority languages. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Rourke, Bernadette, & Ramallo, Fernando (2011). The native-non-native dichotomy in minority language contexts: Comparisons between Irish and Galician. Language Problems and Language Planning 35(2):139–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, Alastair (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Pennycook, Alastair (2007). Global Englishes and transcultural flows. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pennycook, Alastair (2010). Language as a local practice. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillipson, Robert (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Piller, Ingrid (2002). Passing for a native speaker: Identity and success in second language learning. Journal of Sociolinguistics 6(2):179206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pujolar, Joan (2007). The future of Catalan: Language endangerment and nationalist discourse in Catalonia. In Duchêne, Alexandre & Heller, Monica (eds.), Discourses of endangerment, 121–48. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Pusch, Claus, & Kabatek, Johannes (2011). Language contact in Southwestern Europe. In Kortmann, Bernd & van der Auwera, Johan (eds.), The languages and Linguistics of Europe: A comprenhensive guide, 393408. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramallo, Fernando (2010). Cara a unha tipoloxía sociolingüística dos falantes de galego. In Valdivia, Bieito Silva, Rodríguez, Xosé Rodríguez, & Quintela, Isabel Vaquero (coords.), Educación e linguas en Galicia, 1537. Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.Google Scholar
Rampton, Ben (1990). Displacing the ‘native speaker’: Expertise, affiliation, and inheritance. ELT Journal 44(2):97101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robert, Elen (2009). Accommodating new speakers? An attitudinal investigation of L2 speakers of Welsh in south-east Wales. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 195:93116.Google Scholar
Roseman, Sharon R. (1995). ‘Falamos como falamos’: Linguistic revitalization and the maintenance of local vernaculars in Galicia. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 5(1):332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanmartín Rei, Goretti (2009). Nos camiños do entusiasmo: Calidade da lingua e planificación. Vigo: Xerais.Google Scholar
Timm, Lenora A. (2010). Language, culture and identity in Brittany: The sociolinguistic of Breton. In Ball, Martin J. & Müller, Nicole (eds.), The Celtic languages, 2nd edn., 712–52. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Trosset, Carol S. (1986). The social identity of Welsh learners. Language in Society 15:165–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (1989). Double talk: Bilingualism and the politics of ethnicity in Catalonia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (1998). Introduction: Language ideology as a field of enquiry. In Schieffelin, Bambi B., Woolard, Kathryn A., & Kroskrity, Paul V. (eds.), Language ideologies: Practice and theory, 347. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (2008). Language and identity choice in Catalonia: The interplay of contrasting ideologies of linguistic authority. In Süselbeck, Kirsten, Mühlschlegel, Ulrike, & Masson, Peter (eds.), Lengua, nación e identidad: La regulación del plurilingüismo en España y América Latina, 303–23. Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert/Madrid: Iberoamericana.Google Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (2011). Is there linguistic life after high school? Longitudinal changes in the bilingual repertoire in metropolitan Barcelona. Language in Society 40:617–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar