Machine derived contents note: Introduction: Papua New Guinea and the study of language shift -- 1. Villagers and their village -- 2. Language and talk in the village -- 3. Having 'hed' -- 4. Showing 'save' -- 5. Preparing the change -- 6. Becoming monolingual -- 7. Cotextualizing the self -- Conclusion: the process of language shift -- Appendix: On being a ghost
Summary
Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction is a fascinating anthropological study of language and cultural change among a small group of people living in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea. Don Kulick examines why the villagers of Gapun--a rural and relatively isolated community--are abandoning their vernacular in favor of Tok Pisin, the most widely spoken language in Papua New Guinea, despite their attachment to their own language as a source of identity and as a tie to their lands. He draws on an examination of village language socialization practices and on Marshall Sahlins' ideas about structure and event to demonstrate how the villagers' day-to-day interactions, their attitudes toward language, children, change, and personhood, all contribute to a shift in language and culture that is beyond their understanding and control. The first detailed documentation of such a process, Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction places linguistic change within an interpretive framework and treats language as a symbolic system that affects, and is affected by, the thoughts and actions of everyday life
Analysis
Culture Related to Language
Papua New Guinea
Notes
Bibliography: p303-313. - Includes index
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-313) and index