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Household Perspectives on Minority Language Maintenance and Loss

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This book examines minority language maintenance and loss in Spanish-speaking families in communities in the US with a low ethnolinguistic vitality for Spanish. It offers an account of the gendered...
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  • 14 January 2025
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This book provides an in-depth examination of minority language maintenance and loss within a group of first-generation Spanish-speaking families in the early-21st century, post-industrial, hyper-globalized US Midwest, an area that has a recent history of Latino settlement and has a low ethnolinguistic vitality for Spanish. It looks specifically at language ‘in the small spaces’, that is, everyday interactions within households and families, and gives a detailed account of the gendered nature of linguistic transmission in immigrant households, as well as offering insights into the sociolinguistic aspects of language contact dynamics. Starting with the question of why speakers choose to use and transmit their family language in communities with few opportunities to use it, this book presents the reader with a theoretical model of language maintenance in low vitality settings. It incorporates mothers’ voices and perspectives on mothering, their families’ well-being, and their role in cultural/linguistic transmission and compares the self-perceptions, motivations, attitudes and language acquisition histories of members of two generations within the same household. It will appeal to researchers and educators interested in bilingualism, language maintenance and family language dynamics as well as to those working in the areas of education, immigration and sociology.

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Price: $39.95
Publisher: Channel View Publications
Imprint: Multilingual Matters
Series: Bilingual Education & Bilingualism
Publication Date: 14 January 2025
Trim Size: 9.20 X 6.15 in
ISBN: 9781788928687
Format: Paperback
BISACs:

LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General, Bilingualism and multilingualism, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / General, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Psycholinguistics / General, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, Relationships and families: advice, topics and issues, Language acquisition, Sociolinguistics

Masterfully written and highly compelling, this book not only foregrounds the voices of Latina mothers in Nebraska’s New Latino Diaspora, it helps us understand the important role they play in language maintenance and transmission, as well as the great cost to society when these processes are interrupted.

Isabel Velázquez is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. Her research interests include bilingualism, sociolinguistics and heritage languages, with a particular focus on Spanish in the United States.

Preface: Language Planning in Intimate Household Settings

Chapter 1. Language Maintenance and Loss in Low Vitality Settings

Chapter 2. Latino Language Experience in the US Midwest

Chapter 3. Language in the Small Spaces: Description of This Project

Chapter 4. Household Language Practices and Parental Strategies for Maintenance

Chapter 5. Mother and Children’s Attitudes and Motivations to Use Spanish

Chapter 6. Mothers and Children: Reported Proficiency

Chapter 7. Children: Observed Skills in Spanish

Chapter 8. Analysis of Children’s Story-Telling Task in Spanish and English

Chapter 9. Towards A Theoretical Model of Language Maintenance in Low Vitality Settings

Chapter 10. Conclusion 

Appendices

References

Index