The struggle within superimposing worlds : a comparative case study of the Shoshone-Bannock and the Sámi on language shift and language maintenance

Abstract

In this comparative case study, language shift and language maintenance are examined among Shoshoni speakers of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes in south eastern Idaho, and North Sámi speakers of Norway. In examining language shift, the following research questions are addressed: what are the mechanisms of language shift according to the members of these speech communities? What are the commonalities of language ideologies and language barriers promoting language shift?

To approach the research questions, a theoretical framework is applied where significant concepts of language shift and maintenance are examined: (1) Fishman’s Reversing Language Shift, (2) macro mechanisms such as globalization, Americanization, Norwegianization and economic mobility, (3) micro mechanisms that include concepts such as diglossia and social capital, (4) language ideologies, and lastly (5) language policy and planning theory.

A research design using a comparative approach in the form of a multiple-case study was adopted. Primarily qualitative data collection techniques were used: semi-structured interviews, participant observations and one small scale survey. Conclusions were then drawn after the data was analyzed within thematic parameters.

This study shows that language shift is a multifactorial phenomenon often dependant on each group’s own context. Yet it also shows that even two very different indigenous cultures have language shift commonalities. Language shift themes found in the study ranged from common assimilation hardships, code-switching norms, English as the lingua franca, and the close relationship between language, culture and identity. This study also shows how both communities can be affected by common barriers that hinder language maintenance: language sophistication or difficulty, language identity purism ideology, and language identity stigma. Moreover a causation model can be applied, depicting language shift in a different manner. This model reveals certain implications of language shift mechanisms and possible inherent language maintenance barriers of unity, numbers, funding, inspiration and time.