CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Manovich, Diane Christa |
|---|---|
| Title | Folk Linguistics and Politicized Language: the Introduction of Minority Language Education for the Vlachs in Serbia |
| Summary | This thesis utilizes the framework of folk linguistics, which seeks to examine the beliefs of nonlinguists about language. Qualitative research methods are used to investigate the beliefs of teachers and parents involved in a pilot program to begin minority language education for the Vlach national minority in Serbia. The Vlachs have never had minority language education previously, and the classification of their language with relation to Romanian is a source of political controversy within the minority. Given a context in which language is highly politicized, this thesis attempts to identify some of the underlying beliefs that inform statements about the functions of language within the speech community, language shift, and the process of defining language boundaries. The interviews conducted with teachers and parents indicate that in some ways their beliefs are incongruent with that of linguists and reflect nationalist undertones about the desired purity and internal homogeneity of languages as sharply bounded units. Their beliefs about language function, decline, and revival show that their primary concern is with augmenting children’s knowledge rather than usage of the Vlach language. These findings have potential implications for the design of minority language education policies in multilingual settings. |
| Supervisor | Pap, Andras |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/manovich_diane.pdf |
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