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'Language shift', sometimes referred to as 'language transfer' or 'rate of assimilation', is the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. The rate of assimilation is the percentage of individuals with a given mother tongue who speak another language more often in the home. The data is used to measure the use of a given language in the lifetime of a person, or most often across generations within a linguistic community.
The process whereby a community of speakers of one language becomes bilingual in another language, and gradually shift allegiance to the second language is called assimilation. When a linguistic community ceases to use their original language, we speak of language death.
An example of language shift would be that of formerly Spanish-speaking families in the Philippines gradually switching over to English since the end of World War II until the former eventually ceased to be a practical everyday language in the country. Another example is that of Alsace, France, a longtime Alsatian-speaking region; over the course of the 20th century its native Germanic dialect all but disappeared as a useful language, superseded by French.[1]
Calvin Veltman ("Language Shift in the United States," 1983) has written extensively on the language shift process of a dozen minority language groups in the United States. Based on a 1976 study prepared by the Bureau of the Census, data show that rates of language shift and assimilation have been rising for the past fifty years in the United States. Immigrants of Spanish mother tongue are switching to English within two generations, and in the absence of continuing immigration, the language would not survive more than two generations. Quebecois French, widely spoken by French-Canadian immigrants in New England in the early 20th century, has more or less disappeared from the U.S., replaced by English; a similar process has occurred in Louisiana, a former French colony. Data published in McKay and Wong's "New Immigrants in the United States" confirm this picture with data from the 1990 Census.
This process has also been observed in Canada outside of Quebec, where the rates of shift for French language minorities presage their disappearance. Meanwhile, in Quebec itself, the decline of French has been reversed, and given high rates of outmigration and substantial intermarriage with French Canadians, the English language is now faced with decline.
Language shift can be detrimental to at least parts of the community associated with the language which is being lost. Sociolinguists such as Joshua Fishman, Lilly Wong Fillmore and Jon Reyhner report that language shift (when it involves loss of the first language) can lead to cultural disintegration and a variety of social problems including increased alcoholism, dysfunctional families and increased incidence of premature death.
For example, Ohiri-Aniche (1997) observes a tendency among many Nigerians to bring up their children as monolingual speakers of English and reports that this can lead to their children holding their heritage language in disdain and feeling ashamed of being associated with the language of their parents and grandparents. As a result of this some Nigerians are said to feel neither wholly European nor wholly Nigerian.
★ Ref: Ohiri-Aniche, C (1997) Nigerian languages die. Quarterly Review of Politics, Economics and Society 1(2), 73-9
Joshua Fishman has proposed a method of reversing language shift which involves assessing the degree to which a particular language is disrupted in order to determine the most effective way of assisting and revitalising the language. (See also language revival).
1. Veltman & Denis (1989) ''Le declin du dialecte alsacien''.
★ Second language
★ Extinct language
★ Endangered language
★ Linguicide
★ Language revival
★ Germanic substrate hypothesis
★ Language Shift in Australia and Canada
★ SIL Bibliography: Language shift - Ethnologue.com
★ The Rate of Assimilation : Francophone Minorities: Assimilation and Community Vitality - Department of Canadian Heritage
The process whereby a community of speakers of one language becomes bilingual in another language, and gradually shift allegiance to the second language is called assimilation. When a linguistic community ceases to use their original language, we speak of language death.
An example of language shift would be that of formerly Spanish-speaking families in the Philippines gradually switching over to English since the end of World War II until the former eventually ceased to be a practical everyday language in the country. Another example is that of Alsace, France, a longtime Alsatian-speaking region; over the course of the 20th century its native Germanic dialect all but disappeared as a useful language, superseded by French.[1]
| Contents |
| Language shift in North America |
| Social consequences of language shift |
| Reversing language shift |
| Notes |
| See also |
| External links |
Language shift in North America
Calvin Veltman ("Language Shift in the United States," 1983) has written extensively on the language shift process of a dozen minority language groups in the United States. Based on a 1976 study prepared by the Bureau of the Census, data show that rates of language shift and assimilation have been rising for the past fifty years in the United States. Immigrants of Spanish mother tongue are switching to English within two generations, and in the absence of continuing immigration, the language would not survive more than two generations. Quebecois French, widely spoken by French-Canadian immigrants in New England in the early 20th century, has more or less disappeared from the U.S., replaced by English; a similar process has occurred in Louisiana, a former French colony. Data published in McKay and Wong's "New Immigrants in the United States" confirm this picture with data from the 1990 Census.
This process has also been observed in Canada outside of Quebec, where the rates of shift for French language minorities presage their disappearance. Meanwhile, in Quebec itself, the decline of French has been reversed, and given high rates of outmigration and substantial intermarriage with French Canadians, the English language is now faced with decline.
Social consequences of language shift
Language shift can be detrimental to at least parts of the community associated with the language which is being lost. Sociolinguists such as Joshua Fishman, Lilly Wong Fillmore and Jon Reyhner report that language shift (when it involves loss of the first language) can lead to cultural disintegration and a variety of social problems including increased alcoholism, dysfunctional families and increased incidence of premature death.
For example, Ohiri-Aniche (1997) observes a tendency among many Nigerians to bring up their children as monolingual speakers of English and reports that this can lead to their children holding their heritage language in disdain and feeling ashamed of being associated with the language of their parents and grandparents. As a result of this some Nigerians are said to feel neither wholly European nor wholly Nigerian.
★ Ref: Ohiri-Aniche, C (1997) Nigerian languages die. Quarterly Review of Politics, Economics and Society 1(2), 73-9
Reversing language shift
Joshua Fishman has proposed a method of reversing language shift which involves assessing the degree to which a particular language is disrupted in order to determine the most effective way of assisting and revitalising the language. (See also language revival).
Notes
1. Veltman & Denis (1989) ''Le declin du dialecte alsacien''.
See also
★ Second language
★ Extinct language
★ Endangered language
★ Linguicide
★ Language revival
★ Germanic substrate hypothesis
External links
★ Language Shift in Australia and Canada
★ SIL Bibliography: Language shift - Ethnologue.com
★ The Rate of Assimilation : Francophone Minorities: Assimilation and Community Vitality - Department of Canadian Heritage
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