Language in the United States Exam 2
13 Native American tribes on Long Island
Montauk, Cutchogue, Nissequogue, Mastic, Merrick, Unkechaug, Patchogue, Rockaway, Jamaica, Setauket, Manhanset, Metinecock, Shinnecock
The Deaf community
Most Deaf people don't view their deafness as a disability or as a problem to be fixed. For many of them, it is a natural part of a cultural experience that they share with friends, both deaf and hearing. Deaf people embrace their Deafness and are proud of their history. There is a very strong sense of community and culture among Deaf people.
Sleeping Language
Tribal languages are not extinct, but rather they were sleeping, because they exist in documentation, they are claimed by the people who want to learn them, and they are slowly awakening and coming back to everyday use.
1848
Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty
17th Century Spanish
Spanish extended over Santa Fe, TX (1608) and El Paso, TX and Ciudad de Juarez, Mexico (1628)
16th Century Spanish
Spanish was brought to the current U.S. territory by the Spanish Conquistadors.
T.H. Gallaudet and L. Clerc founded _____ in _____.
the American School for the Deaf - 1817
Which of the following is a linguistic feature found in Chicano English?
Consonant cluster reduction, "tell" meaning "ask", multiple negation
What is the difference between "Deaf" and "deaf"?
"Deaf" designates a person's identity regardless of their ability to hear, whereas "deaf" designates a person with profound hearing loss.
When speaking Chicano English, "barely" means...
'recently'
19th Century Spanish
1821: The U.S. bought FL and AL 1836: TX became independent from Mexico, and part of the U.S. in 1845
Fingerspelling
26 different hand shapes corresponding to English alphabet. Used for proper names or for words with no existing signs. Fingerspelling is only a small part of ASL.
Spanish in the World
400+ million speakers, Second language with more native speakers
Chicano English is best described as...
A fully-developed, non-standard variety of English
Cochlear implants
A mechanical prosthesis of sorts for the inner ear. It bypasses the bones of the inner ear, placing electrodes directly into the cochlea, where sound waves are absorbed and interpreted by the auditory nerve.
Which of the following is a linguistic feature found in sign languages?
A sign language can show regional and social variation. A sign language can represent a community's identity. A sign language can be learned as a foreign language. A sign language can be the native language of a person.
What is ASL?
ASL is a natural language, an autonomous linguistic system, not related to English. ASL can express complex, abstract thoughts and create a linguistic community. ASL (like any other sign or spoken languages) is acquired naturally by children.
Who speaks ASL?
ASL is spoken by the member of the American Deaf Community. It is the L1 for a Deaf member of a Deaf family. It is the L2 for hearing members of a Deaf family. There is a difference between "being deaf" and "being Deaf ".
How extended is ASL?
ASL is the primary sign language in the U.S. It is considered a national language. ASL is spoken in the U.S., the anglophone Canada, and parts of West and Central Africa. It is estimated that there are between 500,000 and 2 million users in U.S. only.
Identity is complex
Affinity with other linguistic groups in terms of social class, residence area, length of stay in the U.S. No knowledge of Spanish (e.g. English as their sole language, multilingual Latin America). Assimilation to the mainstream culture, "whitening", a near-standard variety of English.
1718
Alamo San Antonio de Valero, TX
Dominicans
Boston, NY, NJ Also: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia, Atlanta
Which of the following is an articulator in signs languages?
Facial expressions, Body, Hands, Head
Mexicans
CA, TX Also: NY, NJ, Chicago, Miami
18th Century Spanish
California 1769: San Diego, 1776: San Francisco, 1781: Los Angeles Californians didn't identified either as Spaniards or Mexicans.
Mascots
Can be very offensive if portraying nationality
Chicano English is English
Chicano English or Mexican American English is spoken in the southwest of the U.S.. Chicano English is NOT American English spoken with a Spanish accent. A fully formed dialect of English, it has origins in the historic contact between Spanish and English.
Which of the following statements is false about Chicano English?
Chicano English speakers are speakers of English, and you can tell if they can or cannot speak Spanish as well.
How did Chicano English appear?
Children acquired a form of English that maintained some features from Spanish.
Which of the following statements is true about ASL?
Children who acquire ASL can learn English and become bilingual.
Cochlear implants controversy
Cochlear implants are highly controversial because, for most Deaf members, it is the symbol of oralism. Oralists believe that: (1) There is something wrong with deaf people, who should be taught a spoken language. (2) Sign languages are not real languages.
Which of the following notions is not related to language reclamation?
Correcting the grammar of a language
What characterized the oral education of deaf individuals that started in the 1880s?
Deaf students were forced to mimic mouth shapes to pronounce sounds.
Language documentation
Documentary Linguists study the features of languages (phonological, morphosyntactic etc.) and identify linguistic universals and the parameters by which they vary, in order to understand the nature of the human language system.
1664
Dutch territories (NY and surroundings) get incorporated to the English colonies
Which of the following is not a linguistic myth?
Even with heavier articulators, sign languages can convey the same information in the same amount of time.
Cubans
FL Also: Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, NY, NJ
1764
France gave Louisiana to Spain
ASL is more similar to _____ than to _____.
French Sign Language - British Sign Language
1853
Gadsden Purchase
Why do languages die?
Genocide, Reservation schools and other types of government intervention, Pressure to conform for economic success, Marginalization, alcoholism. Out of 211 Native American Languages in US & Canada, only 32 are being acquired by children - leaving the rest in serious jeopardy of extinction.
9 in every ten deaf children are born to hearing parents.
However, only 1 in 10 of those parents will learn sign language to be able to communicate fully with their son or daughter.
Languages are expressions of the language faculty
Humans have an innate ability to generate all the fundamental characteristics of a language regardless of how the language is externalized.
Lexicon for Chicano English
I barely broke my leg. We could speak French.
Languages are expressions of the language faculty regardless of their exteriorization
If deaf children do not receive appropriate linguistic input during the critical period, they will never be able to acquire a natural language.
Ethnicity and race in the 2010 US Census
Includes Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin
According to Dr. Fought, how can we define "sociolinguistics"?
It analyzes how language interacts with society and social aspects.
1607
Jamestown, VA, first English settlement
Why preserve languages?
Language is an important part of culture. Languages encode different ways of seeing the world. The structures found in Indian languages can tell us more about how human languages differ. NA languages have incredible structural diversity. (Different phonological systems, Different morphosyntax, Different ways of conceptualizing the world, Grammatical structures that reveal the importance of nature and kinship within Native American societies.)
Which of the following statements is true for Chicano English?
Languages can inform to others who we are in terms of cultural and ethnic background.
What are extinct languages?
Languages no longer in danger because they are forever lost
Representation of Hispanics/Latinos
Latinos represent 18% of the U.S. population, but only 4-6% in American TV series. Negative portrayals of Latinos are pervasive in the news and the media. Consequently, non-Latinos commonly believe many negative stereotypes are true.
1803
Louisiana part of the U.S.
These are NOT natural languages
Manually Coded English (MCE), Signing Exact English (SEE1, SEE2), Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE)
1810
Mexican Independence. Government invited Mexicans to populate Texas
20th Century Spanish
Mexican immigration (since 1910) Puerto Rican Immigration (since 1917) Cuban immigration (since 1950s)
Language revival
Mohawk (NE, Canada) - linguists have teamed up with Mohawk educators to try to reintroduce the language in school among young children. Now there are two generations who speak Mohawk: the very old and the very young. A middle generation (i.e. people in their twenties and thirties) do not know the language.
Puerto Ricans
NY, NJ Also: Orlando, Tampa, Chicago, Atlanta
WWII Navajo code
Navajo was used as a secret code by the Marines during WWII. Navajo speakers would translate military orders into their native language and transmit them over the radio to other Navajo speakers on the other end. This code was unbreakable because there were no speakers of the language available to the opposing military forces. This was done with several Native American languages (including Choctaw, Cherokee, Lakota, and others) in both WWI and WWII.
Other territories explored in 16th century
New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, California, Oregon
When reclaiming a language, is it necessary to correct the mistakes made by people learning the language?
No, because languages have standard and non-standard forms and people use them to assert their linguistic rights.
Boarding schools
Remove Indian children from their traditional environment, dismantle their cultural and spiritual traditions, and "civilize" them by indoctrination with white, middle- class American values. Students were forbidden to: -speak their tribal language -use their Indian names instead of their newly- assigned Euro-American name; -practice any traditional cultural or spiritual beliefs; and -resist becoming devout Christians.
ASL
SOV
Sign languages are natural languages
Sign languages are not pantomimes and gestures, or inventions of educators. Sign languages are found wherever there is a community of deaf people. Each sign language uses the same grammatical machinery found worldwide in spoken languages.
Morphology of Sign Language
Sign languages have morphological rules. Signs may be made out of smallest units.
Phonology of Sign Language
Sign languages have phonological rules. Signs contrast in specific features. Position of the hands, configuration of the hands, movement of the hands.
Syntax of Sign Language
Sign languages have syntactic rules. Signs follow combinatory rules to create phrases and sentences.
Native American Languages
Somewhere between 250 and 600 languages spoken in North America at the time of European contact. In 1997 there were about 211 (175 in present U.S.). Only about 30 languages are still spoken by all Generations. Over 70% (~150 languages) are in "extreme danger" of language death or extinction.
1565
St. Augustine, FL is the first Spanish city in the current US territory.
Shinnecock (Eastern LI)
State Recognized for over 200 years. Federal recognition granted in June 2010. 1292 registered members today, 600 of whom reside in Eastern Long Island. They are a matrilineal tribe - membership is inherited from the mother & maternal ancestors. Tribal council of 13 - mostly female elder dominated. No one has spoken Shinnecock for nearly 200 years, though some words, prayers, and other ceremonial terms have been preserved.
What was the outcome of the tests given by the Los Angeles School district to Chicano English speakers?
Students fluent in English but not in Spanish were classified as having limited English proficiency.
Which list contains only methods used for language reclamation?
Teacher training, language lessons, cultural immersion
What ideology does linguistic purism defend?
That a language has a unique correct form and that its use follows established patterns.
Being Deaf is an identity
The Deaf community has their own language (ASL) and it includes both deaf and hearing people. The Deaf community is a cultural and linguistic community, with their own traditions, values, art expressions, experiences, etc. The Deaf community has fought long and hard for recognition and respect.
Is one term enough?
The idea that there is only one ethnicity for a person may not correct. One single term lumps together many people from different backgrounds and experiences. Immigration year, country and reason are not visible in one demographic category.
What are English-Only practices?
The movement that questions the value of teaching languages besides English
In what sense can we say that the development of Black ASL is parallel to the development of AAE?
Their speakers were segregated from their white counterparts.
What context is appropriate for defining a sleeping language?
There exists both documentation of the language and people with heritage to the language although with no substantial knowledge of the language.
What characterizes people who code-switch?
They know both languages well enough to transition from one to the other.
Why are cochlear implants controversial?
They represent a step away from recognizing and embracing one's deafness.
What was the main goal of enrolling Native language speakers into boarding schools?
To inhibit students from speaking a Native language
Is the modern Miami culture as legitimate as the historical Miami culture?
Yes, because the modern Miami culture maintains the core values and traditions.
In terms of features, which combination defines a sleeping language?
[+competence, -performance]
What is the pronunciation of the word mind in Chicano English?
[maɪn]
Sound for Chicano English
two [thu] > [tu] coming ['kʌmɪŋ] > ['kamin] mind ['maɪnd] > [maɪn]