Language in Society – Mini Field Project #3

The following assignment should be based on the reading from Rise Module 3 reading which states that…

“By the time you’ve completed all four lessons in this module, you’ll be able to answer the following questions:

1. How are communities essential to language maintenance?
2. Why would language shift inside of a community?
3. What causes language death inside of a community?
4. Why might a community commit to language revival?

You MUST demonstrate that you have understood the reading by making reference to it and applying to your observations in order to connect your reading to your research “Mini-Field Project” (MFP).

Directions:

Take the following steps to complete your third mini-field experience. 

Immerse yourself in a chosen language community. 

Identify a language community that you wish to study. You might study any of the language communities that you are a part of, including family and friend groups, professional circles, or other social circles. You might also choose to study a community that is not your own.

Enter that community, and get to know those inside of it. You may already feel very much at home there, and this is fine. If you dont, take time to visit this community, and get a sense of who these people are, what they value, and how they engage with one another. 

Take note of how many people you will be observing as well as their distinguishing features. For instance: How many men, women, and children comprise the entire population? What are their roles within this population?

Make careful observations. 

Notice everything, but try not to judge. Document what you see and hear. Gather thorough evidence that help you answer the following questions: What is happening? How is it happening? How do you know? Why might it be happening? Capture quantitative data in the form of numbers (X number of people did Y). Capture qualitative data as well (photos, recordings, and written notes about what you see and hear). These are your data.

Document what you see and hear relevant to diglossia or code switching.

Document these observations as well. You will likely notice several different scenarios unfolding, and eventually, you may choose just one to report on.

Document what you notice about how these four factors influence linguistic choices:

• Participants (who is speaking and who is being spoken to?)
• The setting or social context (where are they speaking?)
• The topic (what is being spoken about?)
• The function (why are they speaking?)

Use the evidence you gathered (your documentation notes) to compose a 6-8 paragraph essay that describes just one scenario from your field experience:

• Describe the language community you studied
• Define the total number of participants in your study, and their distinguishing features
• Describe the participants within one single, specific scenario that you are speaking to (who is speaking and who is being spoken to?)
• Describe the setting or social context of that scenario (where are they speaking?)
• Describe the topic of that scenario (what is being spoken about?)
• Describe the function of that scenario (why are they speaking?)
• Describe what you noticed about diglossia or code-switching .
• Describe your conclusions