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CATEGORIES:Cambridge University Linguistic Society (LingSoc)
SUMMARY:Ethnolinguistic identities and language revitalisa
 tion in small society: the case of the Faeroe Isle
 s - Dr Stephen Leonard\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20100429T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20100429T183000
UID:TALK20202AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/20202
DESCRIPTION:Under the threat of Danish\, the Faeroese language
  faced extinction in the nineteenth century. Today
 \, the language is no longer considered 'corrupt' 
 and is instead spoken by nearly the entire populat
 ion as a first language. The reasons for its survi
 val can be explained by a number of factors\, incl
 uding: the important role of oral heritage\, the m
 anner in which these traditions were practiced in 
 Faeroese culture and the fact that a Faeroese iden
 tity was based upon them. The influence of this or
 al literature on the overall language was dispropo
 rtionately significant as the Faeroese did not dev
 elop a written tradition until the nineteenth cent
 ury. Faeroese was never a minority language as suc
 h and survived the onslaught of Danish as an oral 
 form and as the 'low' variety in a diglossic\, bil
 ingual environment. The use of Faeroese was restri
 cted to the homestead (and farm) where the traditi
 on of oral literature continued to flourish. It tu
 rns out that this sociolinguistic context and spec
 ifically the introduction of an unphonetic orthogr
 aphy made a significant contribution to the surviv
 al of the language\, albeit perhaps at the cost of
  the oral traditions.\n\nIn the face of changing i
 nteraction between language and culture\, the Faer
 oese have managed to maintain a sense of linguisti
 c identity and produce a model of linguistic survi
 val in the context of social change. The example o
 f Faeroese shows us that given the right circumsta
 nces a language can survive with a minimal number 
 of speakers for a sustained period of time and tha
 t provided there is a strong ethnolinguistic ident
 ity and the will to preserve the language\, a mino
 rity language can in fact prosper.
LOCATION:GR05\, English Faculty\, 9 West Road (Sidgwick Sit
 e)
CONTACT:Ruth Cumming
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