Indigenous multilingualisms past and present

Abstract

Introduction Although multilingualism has been the norm throughout human history, we still know very little about the full range of societal multilingualisms. To flesh out the picture, this special issue considers Indigenous contexts where the hierarchical models of multilingualism often naturalised by nation states play a more marginal role (e.g. Fishman 1967; Lüpke 2015, 2016). Current discussions of multilingualism may treat sociolinguistic complexity or 'superdiversity' (e.g. Blommaert 2013; Vertovek 2006) as a relatively new phenomenon; a product of our increasingly mobile and diverse era. Yet these conditions, that have long existed in more 'peripheral' local language communities, seem to be simply going "mainstream at the metropole" (Silverstein 2015: 7). Attention to multilingualism in Indigenous contexts tends to focus exclusively on the dynamics between local languages on the one hand and new languages that grow or come into being as a result of colonialism on the other, such as English, Portuguese, Nheengatú or Australian Kriol. In some regions there has been early and continuing attention to Indigenous multilingualism, such as in Americanist work on pre-contact cross-language dynamics, established in the Boasian tradition of anthropological linguistics (Kroskrity, Epps). However, in general there has been a lack of attention to relations between Indigenous languages. These dynamics can be overshadowed by a focus on colonial-Indigenous relations or rendered invisible by assumptions about traditional life informed by linguistic nationalism. As the papers in this special issue show, intra-Indigenous multilingualisms are an integral part of intra-Indigenous relations more generally, and distinct from colonial-Indigenous relations. For example, Epps notes that while code-switching between Hup and Portuguese is common, code-switching between Hup and another Indigenous language would evoke strong censure (cf. Vaughan in press). The papers in this issue contextualise Indigenous multilingualisms, revealing the ways that multiple Indigenous languages come to be deeply embedded into the fabric of daily life. Some reflect on the effects of linguistic work on local language ideologies, such as classifications of Indigenous languages and the valorisation of certain Indigenous languages by missionaries or governments (Narayanan, Vaughan). The papers in this issue compare observations about contemporary multilingualism with records of multilingualism from earlier contact eras and reconstructions of pre-contact patterns of language use. Intensely multilingual ecologies have been reported at various times and places within the present-day United States, Australia, South America, Melanesia, and West Africa. Many of the Indigenous communities where multilingualism has endured are at global 'peripheries'; the edges of imperial, colonial and globalizing projects (May 2016; Pietikäinen & Kelly-Holmes 2013; Silverstein 2015). In researching Indigenous multilingualisms, it has typically been a challenge for researchers to 'un...

Enduring and Contemporary Code-Switching Practices in Northern Australia

“…A variety of language mixing practices is observable between local traditional languages, and is now also widespread between local languages and English and/or Kriol. Code-switching is an established feature of the longstanding 'egalitarian' multilingual ecology of the region (Singer and Harris 2016;Vaughan and Singer 2018), yet the practice is also symptomatic of a changing local language ecology, shaped by the large-scale incursion of English and implicated in the emergence of a local urban mixed variety.…”

“…Although actual language use and competence may not align precisely with ideologies around language ownership (e.g., through life circumstances an individual may not have had the opportunity to learn their father's language), these principles nevertheless exert substantial pressure over language choices and lived experience. Speakers' connections with traditional varieties have largely endured, producing an unusually resilient multilingual ecology akin to 'egalitarian' or 'small-scale' multilingualisms described elsewhere in the world (e.g., François 2012;Lüpke 2016;Singer and Harris 2016;Vaughan and Singer 2018)-these are systems where many languages are spoken by relatively small groups of people who are multilingual in each other's languages, and where the interaction of different languages is not 'polyglossic' (i.e., determined by domain or a strict social hierarchy (e.g., Fishman 1967)).…”

Language and ethnobiological skills decline precipitously in Papua New Guinea, the world’s most linguistically diverse nation

“…PNG’s languages are highly diverse, classified into at least 33 families ( 14 ). Until recently, these languages enjoyed widespread vitality due to the absence of a dominant language in the region, stable small-scale multilingualism ( 15 ), and focus on language as a marker of group identity ( 7 , 16 ). New Guinea is also the world’s most floristically diverse island ( 17 ), comprising ∼5% of the world’s biodiversity ( 18 ).…”

The world’s hotspot of linguistic and biocultural diversity under threat

“…PNG's languages are highly diverse, classified into at least 33 families (14). Until recently, these languages enjoyed widespread vitality, due to the absence of a dominant language in the region, stable small-scale multilingualism (15), and focus on language as a marker of group identity (7,16). New Guinea is also the world's most floristically diverse island (17), comprising approximately 5% of the world's biodiversity (18).…”