Linguistic Practices and Cultural Politics Among the Children of Dominica, West Indies

FAIN: FB-53897-08

Amy Lynn Paugh
James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA 22807-0001)

An NEH fellowship will allow me to complete my book project examining linguistic practices, language ideologies, and children's play and agency in Dominica, a little-studied yet complex multilingual creole society with conflicting local and national agendas concerning language use. My book bridges multiple bodies of scholarship to offer unique insights into children's lives and their roles in cultural and linguistic reproduction, innovation, and change. It illuminates the relations of language to cultural politics, post-colonial nation building, and globalization, all concerns across academic disciplines today. My analysis contributes to debates regarding language planning, language endangerment, and bilingual education in Dominica and multilingual settings generally. The book will be of interest to audiences in linguistic and cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, creole linguistics, Caribbean studies, childhood studies, language revitalization and policy, and education.

Associated Products

Playing with Languages: Children and Change in a Caribbean Village (Book)
Title: Playing with Languages: Children and Change in a Caribbean Village
Author: Amy L. Paugh
Abstract: Over several generations, villagers of Dominica have been shifting from Patwa, an Afro-French creole, to English, the official language. Despite government efforts at Patwa revitalization and cultural heritage tourism, rural caregivers and teachers prohibit children from speaking Patwa in their presence. Drawing on detailed ethnographic fieldwork and analysis of video-recorded social interaction in naturalistic home, school, village, and urban settings, the study explores this paradox and examines the role of children and their social worlds. It offers much-needed insights into the study of language socialization, language shift, and Caribbean children’s agency and social lives, contributing to the burgeoning interdisciplinary study of children’s cultures. Further, it demonstrates the critical role played by children in the transmission and transformation of linguistic practices, which ultimately may determine the fate of a language.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=PaughPlaying
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-0-85745-76

---