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Language Variation and the Foreign Language Curriculum
The University of Texas at Austin
South Central Modern Language Association, 2010
Introduction Our research/teaching/outreach agenda Language variation
Language contact
Romance languages in rural settings
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Outline Competing views of grammar
What we mean by language variation
Relevance of variation in the language classroom
Advocate a sociolinguistic turn in language teaching Why this is desirable
How we can achieve it
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Prescriptive grammar Prescriptive grammar Language as it ought to be
Doesn’t admit variation and change
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An accessible example Ain’t Used as a contraction of ‘am not’
Very old in origin; used even in cultivated speech
Symmetry You/we/they are not → aren’t
He/she/it is not → isn’t
I am not → I’m not
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Linguistic variants Forms are in competition, often for long periods
Who/what determines the ‘correct’ form? Ain’t commonly attested in popular speech
Proscribed in academic English
Ain’t continues a strong competitor in usage but is now perceived as non-standard
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Standard language ideology • “a bias towards an abstracted, idealized, non-varying spoken
language that is imposed and maintained by social institutions and which has as its model the written language, but which is drawn primarily from the spoken language of the upper middle class” R. Lippi-Green (1997:64)
• The ‘natural’ standard is that of the dominant group or most prestigious class
• Assumption: assimilation to the ‘standard’ is necessary and positive
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Language ideology Language ideologies “Ingrained, unquestioned beliefs about the way the world is, the
way it should be, and the way it has to be with respect to language” (Wolfram & Schilling-Estes 2006:9)
Ubiquitous
Harmful
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Foreign language educators We are prescriptivist by necessity Correct gross deviations from a norm
Which norm? Typically hyper-literate norms
Academic register
Advanced lexicon
‘Standard’ pronunciation and grammar
Learned discourse practices
Often sanctioned and promoted by academies
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Which norm? Assume a normal population of native speakers of any language
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English who/whom Nominative
Who called?
Accusative/dative
Whom do you know?
To whom are you speaking?
Usage among educated native speakers
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Only who
Dative whom
DO whom
Spanish /s/ worldwide Syllable-final variants Retention: [s] las casas
Aspiration: [h] lah casah
Deletion: [--] la casa
‘Spanish’ is taught with /s/ retention
Usage among educated native speakers
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[--]
[h]
[s]
Domincan Spanish /s/ Syllable-final variants Deletion: [--] la casa
Retention: [s] las casas
Aspiration: [h] lah casah
‘Spanish’ is taught with /s/ retention
Usage among educated native speakers
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[--]
[h]
[s]
French relative pronouns Several variants
Relativized subject la femme qui parle
Relativized direct object le chat que j’ai vu
Relative locative la ville où j’habite
Relativized indirect object dont, duquel, à qui, à
laquelle…
All are taught
Usage among educated native speakers
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où dont
qui/que [duquel]
Consequences Native speakers demonstrate a tremendous amount of
variation
Variation is omitted from most foreign language curricula
Students are taught ‘standard’ forms, but these may be low frequency in spoken language so students are likely to hear something else from native speakers
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Descriptive grammar Descriptive grammar Language as it is
Attends to language variation and change
Focus on competing linguistic variants
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Ideology vs. evidence Prescriptive grammars are based on judgments about
‘good’ and ‘bad’ usage Reflect and perpetuate language ideologies
Descriptive grammars are based on empirical evidence Native speakers’ usages
Frequency analyses from corpora of spoken and written language
Likely to reflect what students will actually hear
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Our research Fieldwork with native speakers Rural and urban communities in the U.S. and abroad
Across ages, educational levels, and social classes
Forms that are most regularly attested among native speakers differ from what is prescribed Reflect normal language usage
Often parallel the same structures produced by our students
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Example 1 Subject personal pronouns in Spanish Variants: expression vs. omission of personal subject pronouns
María dice que Ø no se siente bien. ‘Maria said that she doesn’t feel well.
Students taught to suppress subject pronouns but are likely to encounter overt pronouns at high rates
María dice que ella no se siente bien.
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Dominican Spanish Incidence of subject pronouns Hay unas muchachitas que están juntas conmigo que ellas
viven pa’fuera, entonces ellas vinieron a estudiar en la escuela del Pino, entonces ellas saben mucho inglés. Yo no me acuerdo en el país que ellas viven.
‘There are some girls that are in school with me that come from abroad, and they came to study in the school in El Pino, and they know lots of English. I don’t remember what country they live in.’
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Example 2 1 p. pl. subject pronoun in French Variants include ‘nous’ and ‘on’
On l’a vendu. ‘We sold it.’
Nous l’avons vendu. ‘We sold it.’
Classroom French learners are taught both but are likely to encounter only the first in most, if not all, spoken varieties
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Frenchville (PA) French An immigrant isolate variety, spoken in US for generations Nearly exclusive use of ‘on’ as 1 p. pl. subject
On l’a vendu. ‘We soled it.’
‘Nous’ occurs only as object
Il nous disait /Venez chez nous. ‘They tell us./ Come to our house’
The use of ‘on’ in spoken French has been widespread since at least the mid 19thc.
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Example 3 Spanish direct object marker Students are taught that direct objects that are human and
specific are preceded by the marker ‘a’
Vi la película. ‘I saw the movie.’
Vi a la actriz. ‘I saw the actress.’
Learners are taught this strict distribution, but are likely to encounter significant variability; this variability is witnessed throughout the history of the language
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Dominican Spanish In natural speech and careful speech Luba quería mucho Ø esa hija.
‘Luba loved that daughter.’
Yo quiero ser doctora para ayudar Ø la gente. ‘I want to be a doctor to help people.’
El creole se aprende oyendo Ø los haitianos. ‘Creole can be learned listening to Haitians.’
Después de trabajar los lunes encontro mi Ø esposo en el centro.
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Example 4 French vowel contrasts Students are not taught certain vowel contrasts that are said to
be neutralized for native speakers
patte vs. pâte
But, only true for parts of France. In Canada, the U.S., Switzerland, Belgium, and eastern France, the vowel is maintained.
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Result of a reliance on a standard Over-teaching of hyper-literate variants Not likely to be encountered in natural speech
French relative pronouns
Spanish /s/ retention
Under-teaching of colloquial variants Likely to be encountered in natural speech
French vowel contrasts
Spanish aspiration and deletion
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Relevance of variation Ubiquity of variation holds not just for traditionally taught
languages of European origin Ex. ‘Standard’ German vs. Swiss German;
Ex.,, Brazilian vs. European Portuguese;
But also looms large in Less Commonly Taught Languages Ex., Modern Standard Arabic vs. Colloquial Tunisian
Ex., Afrikaans vs. Tsotsitaal
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Consequences When we teach according to hyper-literate norms We fail to prepare students for what they should expect to
encounter in the real world
We miss opportunities
To examine demographic, cultural and historical change
To understand the consequences of social stratification
To challenge language ideologies
To develop meta-linguistic awareness
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Diversity in the curriculum Renewed emphasis on diversity and other cultures in
university curricula “The seeming prioritization of international/global education
should naturally and automatically extend to foreign languages, should it not?” C. Gascoigne (2004:68)
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Links with other disciplines Intense focus on global/international issues across
disciplines effects of globalization
(im)migration
asylum
human rights
minorities
ethnicity
….
These issues that are relevant for every language department
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Clarion call How can we contribute to this focus on global/international
diversity?
What we already do
Present authentic samples from Literature, Film, and Cultural Studies
What we don’t do often enough
Prepare students to understand how social and cultural diversity is reflected in the foreign language
Prepare students for the language they will encounter in authentic texts foreign language texts
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Symbolic role of language
“It’s never really about language; it’s always about cultural behaviors that are symbolically represented by language.” Walt Wolfram (Associated Press May 21, 2006)
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We study this in English Nettie here with us. . .She be sitting there with me shelling
peas or helping the children with they spelling. Helping me with spelling and everything else she think I need to know. No matter what happen, Nettie steady try to teach me what go on in the world. And she a good teacher too. Alice Walker, The Color Purple
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A sociolinguistic turn Advocate new ways of conceiving of language and
culture in the foreign language curriculum Focus on language diversity
Why might this be desirable?
How might it be achieved?
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A sociolinguistic turn: desirable Why might this be desirable? Links language curriculum to curricula in other disciplines
Prepare students to encounter language diversity in literature and film, and in real life
Improve linguistic skills
Develop meta-linguistic awareness
Diversify language input to improve comprehension
Bootstrap from student interest in dialects and registers
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Linguistic skills Develop meta-linguistic awareness Ability to reflect on language structure:
Variation allows such reflection on the history of the language
And reflection on contemporary innovation and language change
Diversify language input to improve comprehension Allows listeners to ‘normalize’ across varieties
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Variation and language history Even the most marked structures of some varieties or registers
were historically correct. E.g. the use of conditional after hypothetical ‘si’ (if) in French
…si je couperait herbe pour sa mère [Frenchville]
E.g., the direct object marker with human definite objects in Spanish
En braços tenedes mis fijas tan blancas commo el sol. [Cid 2333]
These structures often mirror ‘errors’ made by our students. Errors that we attribute (perhaps unnecessarily) to English influence.
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Variation and language history “… [historical] explanations serve a greater purpose than
merely imparting interesting facts about language, they also provide students with a first-hand understanding that languages are organic and constantly evolving.” Arteaga & Herschensohn (1995:219)
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Contemporary language variation and change Modern languages constantly innovate Contact forms:
Me voy a registrar para la clase (U.S. Spanish)
On va avoir du fun (Quebec French)
Technological innovation
Je lole (LOL) (monolingual French speakers)
El celular está full (monolingual Dominican Spanish speaker)
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Contemporary language variation and change Such innovation invites a focus on form un suéter (m.), a polo shirt/a sweater
una suera (f.), a cardigan sweater
And speculation on culture un suéter (pan-Hispanic borrowing)
una suera (introduced by NY Dominicans)
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Diverse input Learners need to be exposed to a wide range of rich
language input Even in a first language, we need to learn to ‘normalize’ or filter
variation due to individual speakers
Students need to be able to understand real speakers outside the classroom.
This is best achieved when the input is sufficiently rich (e.g., study abroad)
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A sociolinguistic turn: achievable How might this be achieved? Diversify the input
Let all kinds of speakers speak for themselves
Envision a language on a continuum, and not as an abstraction
Teach students to analyze linguistic variation as a text.
Frequently encountered forms in the input will translate to frequently produced forms in their own language use.
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Which speakers? Assume a normal population of speakers of any language
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immigrants
ethnic speakers
illiterate
refugees
rural speakers
urban speakers
heritage speakers
guest workers
hyper literate
FL learners
A sociolinguistic turn: achievable (Re)train language teachers (Arteaga & Llorente 2009) Teach the linguistics of a language with a view toward
sociolinguistic variation
Reinstate ‘History of the Language’ courses for all majors and graduate students
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Diversifying the input Exploit existing resources E.g. YouTube videos
For dictation
For comprehension exercises
For grammatical focus
Differences in register
Differences in pronunciation
For focus on cultural diversity of speakers
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Variation in action
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2QtyHultEA
Pedagogical materials A model sourcebook for educators Arteaga & Llorente (2009) Spanish as an International Language:
Implications for Teachers an Learners. Multilingual Matters.
Textbooks with diversity focus and samples Spanish: Impresiones (Salaberry, Barrette, Elliott, Fernández-
García)
French: Français interactif (Kelton, Guilloteau, Blyth: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/home)
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OERs Open Educational Resources “Educational material offered freely for anyone to use, typically
involving some permission to re-mix, improve, and redistribute”
Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (University of Texas at Austin, 2010) “…COERLL aims to reframe foreign language education in terms
of bilingualism and/or multilingualism. As such, all COERLL resources strive to represent more accurately language development and performance along dialectal and proficiency continua.”
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Conclusion: Opening education We teach our students according to hyper-literate norms These are unrealistic goals even for many native speakers
These are insufficient for the real world
Exposure to a continuum of language behavior is not just desirable, it is necessary Culturally authentic
Responsive to university mandates
Enriches our students’ knowledge of a language
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Conclusion: Opening education Students should recognize forms that they will be exposed
to (but not necessarily reproduce) Marked forms
Vernacular forms – appropriate for indexing social information (region, class, social status)
Hyper-literate forms – appropriate for academic registers
The ‘middle ground’ will emerge from students’ exposure to frequency from all the input (and from our guidance).
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Thank you Contact information Barbara E. Bullock, Professor of French Linguistics
Almeida Jacqueline Toribio, Professor of Spanish Linguistics [email protected]
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References Arteaga, D. and Llorente, L. 2009. Spanish as an international
language: implications for teachers and learners. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Arteaga, D. and Herschensohn, J. 1995. Using diachronic linguistics in the language classroom.” The Modern Language Journal 79.212-222.
Gascoigne, C. 2004. The changing culture of language departments. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 4, 1–8.
Lippi-Green, R. 1997. English with an accent: Language, ideology and discrimination in the United States. Routledge.
Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes. 2006. American English: Dialects and variation. Second edition. Cambridge/Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
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