When minor is minor and major is major: Language expansion, contraction and death

• Autores: Thomas L. Markey
• Localización: Journal of multilingual and multicultural development, ISSN 0143-4632, Vol. 8, Nº. 1-2, 1987, págs. 3-22
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Beginning with the premise that any meaningful interpretation of the notion ‘minority language’ is necessarily comparative in scope, an attempt is made to provide a linguistically valid definition of minority language, as well as language expansion, contraction and death. A continuum is established, the terminal nodes of which are defined by an isolate vs. non‐isolate contrast, and this continuum is then designed to display probative criteria: synthesis/analysis, syntagmaticisation/para‐digmaticisation, retention vs. loss of ‘core’ suppletion, greater/lesser pragmaticity, and so on. This continuum is framed within a biologistic model: linguistic strategies are viewed as prognostic hypotheses for survival, that is, as theories of purposive adaptation. Salient features of a critical mid‐point (fusion creolisation) are amply defined. The lesser contact node of the continuum is illustrated by isolates, while the greater contact node is illustrated by creoles. Finally, it is shown that minority languages, characteristically located in multilingual, multicultural zones, opt for survival hypotheses which, while locally valid, are sometimes globally disastrous for their ultimate survival. The definitional model presented is shown to have predictive power: it yields an effective operational definition of majority/minority status and predicts new data.