New speaker parents‘ language revitalisation strategies in diasporic and autochthonous contexts: Cases from Galician and Basque medium immersion schools (original) (raw)

The aim of this paper is to explore the language revitalisation strategies of new speaker parents in diasporic and autochthonous contexts. The primary focus will be on the role assigned by parents to the immersion schools. Given that minority language-based education is often considered as a significant factor for minority language revitalisation at the grassroots (see Hornberger, 2008; Manterola et al., 2013; Reyna Muniain 2013; Nandi 2015), we will study how the new speaker parents integrate ―the immersion school factor‖ in their FLP strategies in both autochthonous and diasporic contexts. We will contrast the roles assigned by parents from different sociolinguistic contexts to three cases of immersion educational models: the Santiago Apóstol Galician school, a Heritage School in Diaspora context of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Semente school in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), and a Basque-medium immersion school in Pamplona (Navarre-the Basque Country) (Kasares, 2014). The first case of Galician in Argentina refers to language maintenance in a diaspora context, whereas the following two cases refer to autochthonous contexts where a minority language is being revitalised through immersion schools. By adopting the Ethnography of Language policy as a research method (Cassels-Johnson 2009, 2013; McCarty 2015; Hornberger 2015), our three-fold comparison will show that in both autochthonous and diaspora cases, new speaker parents show a clear awareness of their sociolinguistic contexts. These parents consider that minority language-medium schools are significant tools in order to foster the socialisation of their children in these languages, and consequently, immersion schools are integrated in new speaker parents‘ extended family language policy. Overall this strategic perspective on immersion schools could be a specific feature of new speaker parents perceived as ‗active minorities‘ (O‘Rourke & Ramallo, 2015) engaged in the bottom-up revitalization process of the languages in urban domains. References Cassels-Johnson, D. C. (2009). Ethnography of language policy. Language Policy, 8, 139-159. Cassels-Johnson, D. C. (2013). Positioning the language policy arbiter: Governmentality and footing in the School District of Philadelphia. In Tollefson, J. (Ed.) Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues (2nd Edition) (pp. 116-136). New York and London: Routledge Cassels-Johnson, D. C. & Francis M. Hult, F.Guides to Research Methods in Language and Linguistics, Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, John, West Sussex. Cassels-Johnson, D. C. & Freeman, R. (2010). Appropriating language policy on the local level: Working the spaces for bilingual education . In Menken, K., & Garcia, (Eds.),Negotiating Language Policies in Schools: Educators as Policymakers (pp. 13-31). London: Routledge 252 Hornberger,N. H., & Vaish, V. (2008). Multilingual language policy and school linguistic practice: Globalization and English-language teaching in India, Singapore, and South Africa. Journal of Comparative Education, 39(3), 305–320. Kasares, P. (2014). Euskaldun hazi Nafarroan. Euskararen belaunez belauneko jarraipena eta hizkuntza sozializazioa familia euskaldunetan. Bilbao: Euskaltzaindia. Manterola, I., Almgren, M. & Idiazabal, I. (2013). ―Basque L2 development in immersion school settings‖, International Journal of Bilingualism, 17(3) 375-391. McCarty, T. (2011).Ethnography and language policy. New York: Routledge. McCarty, T. (2015). ‗Ethnography in Language Planning and Policy Research‘. In F. M. Hult and D. Cassels-Johnson (eds) Research Methods in Language Policy and Planning: A Practical Guide. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell. Nandi, A. 2015. ‗Speakers as stakeholders: Role of newspeaker parents in creation of bottom-up language policies in Galicia (Spain)‘. Unpublished paper presentation at: Bridging Language Acquisition and Language Policy Symposium, June 17 – 18, 2015, Lund University, Sweden. O‘Rourke, B. & Ramallo, F. (2015). ―Neofalantes as an active minority: understanding language practices and motivations for change amongst new speakers of Galician‖, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2015, 231: 147-165. Reyna Muniain, F. (2015). ¨Lingua, cultura e identidade: estratexias de aculturalización e reculturalización na colectividade galega de Buenos Aires¨, Grial revista galega de cultura, 2015, 53/206: 38-45