Dynamics of Talk in Two Arctic Villages:Minorities' Resistance to Dominance in the Russian Federation and the United States

• Main Author: Morgounova, Daria
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Museum Tusculanum 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; Arktis*
• Online Access: https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/dynamics-of-talk-in-two-arctic-villages(9f0db300-ac3a-11df-928f-000ea68e967b).html

Allerede i 1970'erne havde den amerikanske lingvist og antropolog Dell Hymes understreget, at et af formålene med at studere åbenbare forskellige lingvistiske processer var, at kunne danne en forståelse af "origins and foundations of inequality among speakers" (1980: 19). At undersøge sprogskift som et afkald på en markør til den undertrykte identitet, samt de foregåede (magt)forhandlinger gennem sproget er en mulig måde at forstå ulighed på. Afhandlingen er en interdisciplinær (sociolingvistisk og antropologisk) undersøgelse af sproghandlinger, sprogvalg og kodeskift i to sprogligt lignende men politisk forskellige arktiske bygder. Analysen fokuserer på sammenhænget mellem sprog og identitet, og på de sproglige ideologier som italesætter dette sammenhæng, men som derudover også belyser relationer mellem de sociale og samfundsmæssige strukturer og taleformer. Med udgangspunkt i Bloom og Gumperz' (1972) distinktion mellem det situationelle og det metaforiske kodeskift, viser analysen, hvordan sproget har magten til at skaber og dekonstruere grupper. As early as in the early 1970s the American linguist and anthropologist Dell Hymes (1980: 19) underlined that one of the goals of studying apparently dissimilar linguistic processes was to understand the "origins and foundations of inequality among speakers". Language shift as abandonment of a marker of suppressed identity, and the on-going negotiation through language is a possible way of addressing inequality. This dissertation presents an interdisciplinary (sociolinguistic and anthropological) analysis of linguistic behaviour, language choice and code-switching in two linguistically similar but politically distinct Arctic communities; it describe, analyze and compare the complex and multifaceted dynamics of talk - language choice and code-switching - in these two communities, focusing on the link between language and identity and on the role of language ideologies in the enactment of this link and illuminating the relationship between social structures and forms of talk. The research shows how language has the power to make and unmake groups.