Language Varieties Between Norms and Attitudes
South Slavic Perspectives- Proceedings from the 2013 CALS Conference
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- References
- Dialect electrified or horse-drawn: Popular music as a form of (un)conscious language policy
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. “Stylistic markedness” vs. the dynamics of the language continuum
- 3. Young speakers and dialect change
- 4. Rock musicians’ self-reflexive discourses on language
- 5. Language, music, and intelligibility
- 6. Anglicisms as a means of dialect modernization
- 7. Conclusion
- References
- Sociolects and media language: Modernity, attractiveness, democratisation and marketisation
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction: a story about sociolects
- 2. Between the standard and sociolects
- 3. The media and sociolects: real language use in the media
- 3.1 Sociolects in light entertainment broadcasts on Slovene public television
- 3.2 Sociolects in informative programmes on Slovene television
- 3.3 Advertising and the standard language
- 4. Conclusion: the illusion of direct communicative contact
- References
- Dialects in and around small urban centres in the northern Čakavian area: The current situation
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. On the dialect of the town of Mošćenice
- 3. On the dialect of the town of Cres
- 4. On the dialect of the town of Osor
- 5. On the dialect of the town of Mali Lošinj
- 6. On the dialect of the town of Veli Lošinj
- 7. Conclusion
- References
- Teaching one or more standards? Teaching Slovene—what, where, and for whom?
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Standard language, standard Slovene, Slovene standard?
- 3. Saying “yes” to teaching standard varieties
- 3.1 Some examples from teaching materials
- 4. Problems and concerns
- 4.1 The standard language in relation to the dialect
- 4.2 Local authenticity versus global comprehensibility
- 4.3 An engaged attitude toward language and language contact
- 4.4 Slovene as a polycentric language
- 5. A possible interpretation and conclusions
- References
- Positioning the Croatian language by regulating Croatian as L2
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction: language policy as a language positioning device – the Croatian example
- 2. Language policy in Croatia within the past 20 years
- 3. The character and features of a potential contemporary Croatian language policy
- 4. Croatian policy on CL2 and the work of Croatian legal and administrative institutions: the current situation and a needs analysis
- 5. Further steps that should be taken
- 6. Conclusion
- References
- Multilingualism – English as a lingua franca and other second and foreign languages in Europe
- Abstract
- 1. Multilingualism in Europe
- 1.1 The role of the Council of Europe
- 1.2 Multilingualism in the European Union
- 1.3 Europeans’ attitudes towards bilingualism and multilingualism
- 1.4 M+2 in practice – Europeans’ knowledge of foreign languages
- 2. English and other languages in schools and in the informal environment
- 2.1 Barcelona goal: M+2 and schools
- 2.2 The role of formal and informal teaching and learning in advancing the acquisition of languages
- 2.3 Minority languages in Europe
- 3. Conclusions
- References
- Attitudes of Croatian learners towards learning English, German and Spanish in a formal environment
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Literature review
- 3. Methodology
- 3.1 Aim
- 3.2 Sample
- 3.3 Instrument and procedure
- 4. Results and discussion
- 5. Conclusion
- References
- A contribution to reconsidering the role of slang and colloquialisms in contemporary foreign language teaching
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The study
- 2.1 Aim and hypotheses
- 2.2 Sample, instruments and procedure
- 2.3 Data Analysis
- 3. Results and discussion
- 3.1 Questionnaire
- 3.2 Cloze tests
- 3.3 Summarizing Tasks
- 3.4 Meaning and usage evaluation tasks
- 4. Conclusion
- References
- “Half Thrust to Port”: The potential of using The Mighty Ships series as a tool for the teaching of Maritime English vocabulary
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Maritime English
- 3. Method
- 4. Results
- 5. Discussion and conclusion
- References
- Verbal fluency in late Croatian-English bilinguals
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The present study
- 2.1 Subjects
- 2.2 Methods
- 2.3 Results and discussion
- 2.3.1 Language dominance
- 2.3.2 Verbal fluency
- 3. Conclusion
- References
- Matched guise technique revisited: The Zagreb case study
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The description of the matched guise technique
- 3. Previous research
- 4. Current sociolinguistic situation in Zagreb
- 5. Research methodology
- 6. Results
- 7. Discussion
- 8. Conclusion
- References
- From foot to meter: Rendering of culture-specific items in popular fiction translations from English to Croatian
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Background concepts
- 2.1 The concept of norms in Translation Studies
- 2.1.1 Toury’s textual-linguistic norms
- 2.2 Culture-specific items
- 2.3 Solution types for rendering culture-specific items
- 2.3.1 A taxonomy of solution types for rendering culture-specific items
- 2.3.2 Solution types used to render units of measurement, titles and urban toponyms
- 2.3.3 Solution types and text-level orientations
- 3. Methodology
- 3.1 The corpus
- 4. Findings
- 4.1 Findings from textual sources
- 4.1.1 Patterns of handling units of measurement
- 4.1.2 Patterns of handling titles and forms of address
- 4.1.3 Patterns of handling references to urban toponyms
- 4.2 Findings from extra-textual sources
- 4.2.1 Findings from interviews with translators
- 4.2.2 Findings from interviews with editors
- 5. Conclusion
- References
- Identifying translation-relevant information in legal texts
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Eliciting information by scanning the ST for terminological “landmarks” and defining its text type
- 3. Analysing the legal systems involved in the translation as to their level of relatedness
- 4. Establishing the legal text type category
- 5. Mapping the source-text cultureme – its macro- and microstructure
- 5.1 The lexical aspect
- 5.2 The syntactic aspect
- 5.3 The stylistic aspect
- 5.4 The pragmatic aspect
- 6. Mapping the hypothetical target cultureme
- 7. Establishing the skopos and the corresponding type of translation
- 8. Drafting the TT
- 9. Legal texts drafted in a lingua franca
- 10. Conclusion
- References
This book of proceedings brings together thirteen articles presented at the international conference entitled Standard Languages and Sociolects, organized by the Croatian Applied Linguistics Society (CALS) and held at the Center for Advanced Academic Studies (CAAS), University of Zagreb and the University of Dubrovnik from 18 to 20 April 2013. The conference was envisaged as a forum for discussion about the status and corpus of contemporary standard languages and sociolects, focusing specifically on their relationship with urban and traditional dialects.
This volume (one of two volumes from the conference) contains articles that deal with standards, norms and varieties in the light of overt and covert attitudes, policy, teaching, and translation practice. Specifically, four groups of issues are explored: stability and change at the intersection of the standard and other varieties; language policy and attitudes toward languages in relation to the status of L1 and L2; bilingualism and multilingualism and its verbal component; translation solutions reaffirming and/or establishing the norm. These research questions are examined from the point of view of the contemporary Croatian and Slovenian sociolinguistic situations, relating them to the current situation in Europe. All of the papers, as we argue below, illustrate tensions between attitudes, policy and practice, including issues such as official and personal views of the standard, dialect leveling, policies towards the standard as a teaching norm, multilingualism as a policy vs. actual foreign language learning and norms in translation. In the following paragraphs we give a short overview of the contributions, based on which we argue that the difference between ascribing values, policy and actual practice is analogous to the diversity-relativity conflict evident in the field of cultural policy.
The first strand, stability and change at the intersection of the standard and other varieties from a sociolinguistic and dialectological point of view, brings together three articles. In his paper Dialect electrified or horse-drawn: Popular music as a form of (un)conscious language policy Ivo Žanić discusses the role of local dialects and the standard in popular music lyrics in Croatia. Based on an analysis of media interviews with two prominent Croatian front men whose bands play songs with lyrics largely written in their local dialect, Žanić presents ← 7 | 8 → their self-reflexive view of their own discourse practices. In this way, he strongly argues for a socially situated linguistics, where the etic dichotomies (standard – dialect; native – foreign; stylistically marked – unmarked) are reevaluated from an emic perspective.
Monika Kalin Golob’s article Sociolects and media Language: Modernity, attractiveness, democratisation and marketisation focuses on the way in which varieties have been treated in Slovenia in light entertainment shows, informative programs and advertisements. Her analysis shows that, despite the influence of external and internal standardizing pressures, different varieties are increasingly present in the media, as a result of democratization and marketization. Therefore, Kalin Golob calls for a reevaluation of the traditional model of language variation, whereby the language variety used changes only with regard to the more or less public circumstances of the speaking situation.
In their article entitled Dialects in and around small urban centres in the northern Čakavian area: The current situation Silvana Vranić and Sanja Zubčić present a longitudinal analysis of dialect change in small urban centers in the northern Croatian Adriatic area. Their analysis of the varieties spoken in Mošćenice, Cres, Veli Lošinj, Mali Lošinj and Osor shows that even these small urban centres exhibit the common characteristics of urban varieties, including dialect leveling. This calls for a reexamination of the traditional dialectal treatment of these varieties, which does not recognize their variability or hybrid structure.
The second strand deals with language policy (with regard to standards and multilingualism) and its relation to foreign language teaching. Nataša Pirih Svetina’s article entitled Teaching one or more standards? Teaching Slovene—what, where, and for whom? focuses on teaching Slovene as part of bilingual education in Slovene communities in Italy and Austria. Based on a lexical and grammatical analysis of Slovene teaching materials used in these communities, Pirih Svetina shows that the Slovene language taught there differs from the Central Slovene standard. However, the high value ascribed to Central Slovene and the negative attitudes ascribed to the regional standards raise a host of social, sociolinguistic and policy-related issues, and the author suggests that only a multilingualism and diversity-focused public campaign could be a way of resolving them.
In her paper Positioning the Croatian language by regulating Croatian as L2 Sanda Lucija Udier takes a look at the language policy in Croatia as evident from Croatian legislation. Udier finds that almost all legislation deals with Croatian as the first language, and finds no evidence of a coherent strategy for the regulation of Croatian as L2. Therefore, she argues for a systematic purpose-oriented ← 8 | 9 → strategy, and finds it is necessary not only from the internal point of view, but also as a way of positioning of Croatian among other European languages.
Milica Gačić and Kristina Cergol Kovačević deal with multilingualism as policy and actual (teaching, speaking) practice in Europe. In their paper, Multilingualism – English as a lingua franca and other second and foreign languages in Europe, they compare the current situation in Croatia and the rest of Europe with regard to foreign language learning. Analyzing a variety of European documents and using Eurobarometer studies, Gačić and Cergol Kovačević show that multilingualism has been embraced as a policy on the level of attitudes across Europe, that there is a rise of English as a Lingua Franca and that Croatia is “living up to the ideal of multilingualism” in this respect.
A closer view into multilingualism in Croatia is offered by the following two papers dealing with foreign language teaching. In their paper entitled Attitudes of Croatian learners towards learning English, German and Spanish in a formal environment Nives Vidak, Sandra Didović Baranac and Daniela Falkoni-Mjehović look into the attitudes and beliefs of secondary school students in Croatia towards learning English, German and Spanish. Overall, the results on this level confirm that Croatian students are indeed ready for multilingualism, as evident from their wish to learn foreign languages in general. However, the preponderance of English is evident too, as the students find English more enjoyable, easier to learn, speak and understand than the other two languages.
Renata Šamo, Ida Ćurić and Alenka Mikulec’s paper A contribution to reconsidering the role of slang and colloquialism in contemporary foreign language teaching deals with the issue of colloquial language and its relation to teaching English in Croatia. In particular, their study looks into Croatian students’ familiarity with British and American English slang and colloquial expressions. Their results show that, generally speaking, Croatian university students were not very familiar with these expressions, and that they were more familiar with American English than British English expressions. Based on this, the authors call for a reconsideration of the role of slang and colloquialisms in teaching English as a Foreign Language in Croatia.
The final paper in this strand, “Half Thrust to Port”: The potential of using the Mighty Ships series as a tool for the teaching of Maritime English vocabulary by Violeta Jurkovič deals with the importance of using authentic materials in teaching Maritime English, a division of English for Specific Purposes. Focusing on this particular variety, Jurkovič analyzes a number of documentary videos with regard to the vocabulary used in them, finds them suitable for teaching, and proposes several ways in which they can be used. ← 9 | 10 →
Our multilingual competence, both with regard to speaking ourselves or hearing others has a clear verbal component. This is precisely what the next strand deals with. In her paper entitled Verbal fluency in late Croatian-English bilingual Ivana Petrović presents a case study of two Croatian-English late bilingual speakers. Using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, Petrović looked into their verbal fluency, showing that their semantic verbal fluency performance was significantly better than their phonemic verbal fluency, and that they were more productive in the dominant language.
Nada Županović Filipin looks into the ways in which Zagreb secondary school students rate speakers who use the standard variety and the Zagreb Kajkavian vernacular. In her paper Matched guise technique revisited: The Zagreb case study, Županović Filipin shows that among her participants in Zagreb it is the standard, rather than the local variety, that is connected with both prestige and social solidarity. This result is in opposition to the de-standardization tendencies in some other regions of Croatia, and is explained by invoking the sociolinguistic situation in Zagreb, particularly the influx of non-Kajkavian population.
The final strand in the book deals with norms in translation. The paper From foot to meter: Rendering of culture-specific items in popular fiction translations from English to Croatian by Snježana Veselica Majhut and Ivana Bašić searches for trends in the way that culture-specific items (including units of measurement, forms of address and urban toponyms) were translated from English to Croatian in two periods (the 1960s-1970s and the 2000s). The results show that there are differences between the norms established for the two periods, and that the establishment of the new norm was preceded by a period of instability. Such a conclusion is clearly analogous to the leveling tendencies observed in standardization.
In her paper Identifying translation-relevant information in legal texts Alenka Kocbek seeks to answer the question of what norms and conventions to use when drafting legal texts in a lingua franca, nowadays mostly English. Kocbek argues for a critical application of the principle of cultural embeddedness, because the use of English as a Lingua Franca does not mean that the text should be automatically anchored in the Anglo-American legal system. For this purpose, the author suggests comparing the established cultural patterns (referred to as “culturemes”) of both the source and the target culture, and using the skopos theory approach.
Overall, the common theme of the volume are the more or less overt attitudes towards the construction of the relationship between norms, standards and varieties as evident from the Croatian and Slovenian daily life. All of the papers point ← 10 | 11 → to the hybrid and stratified nature of language in its various guises, and the fact that our attitudes, practices and policies need to come to terms with this hybridity. A variety of discussions are offered, but they all seem to point to a somewhat inconsistent attitude towards language stratification. On the one hand, as language users, we are aware of the variety of languages and language varieties that we use and need, and on the other, coming to terms with this variety presents a problem. The problem is a result of our presumed (inner) need for a non-hybrid, rule-governed and (at least ostensibly) coherent system (cf. e.g. Kalogjera 2014 for a review of such attitudes towards the standard) as well as a result of a practical need for a common system (a lingua franca in the broadest of terms, a teaching standard, or a translation standard). This is further complicated by the policy of multilingualism, which is based on celebrating diversity.
It seems that the inconsistencies evident in linguistic policy, attitudes and practices are analogous to the cultural vs. human rights conflict referred to by Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (2006) in relation to cultural policy. Whereas the multilingualism policy is based on diversity (affirming the value of difference), we perceive the actual variety of practices and the hybridity within a single imagined community (Anderson 1991) as relativity (i.e. “a defensive response … to a hierarchical ordering of terms based on an absolute or universal standard”; Kirshenblatt Gimblett 2006: 22).1 However, as shown by a variety of papers in the volume based on sociolinguistic factors, ascribing values and a hierarchical ordering of varieties is what speakers do; at the same time leveling them. Hence the clear tensions in the attitude-policy-practice triad. We hope that the readers will find the discussions of these tensions stimulating and enlightening.
Finally, we would like to thank all the reviewers and contributors to this volume for all their work, as well as the staff at Peter Lang for their help in preparing the volume. Without all their help and support this volume would not have been possible.
Details
- Pages
- 235
- Year
- 2015
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783653053616
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783653967920
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9783653967913
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9783631662564
- DOI
- 10.3726/978-3-653-05361-6
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2015 (January)
- Keywords
- Übersetzung Fremdsprachenunterricht angewandte Sprachwissenschaft Sprachenpolitik
- Published
- Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2015. 235 pp., 27 tables, 10 graphs
