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Individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds experience poorer outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI), including poorer quality of life. The reasons for these poorer outcomes are unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to qualitatively investigate the experience of injury, rehabilitation, and recovery amongst individuals from a CALD background following TBI. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted, and qualitatively analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. It was demonstrated that: (a) the cognitive and behavioural consequences of TBI were accompanied by stigma and loss of independence; (b) participants held many beliefs related to their TBI, ranging from bad luck to acceptance. Participants' personal values and beliefs provided strength and resilience, with many viewing the injury as a positive event in their lives; (c) participants were appreciative of the high standard of care they received in hospital and rehabilitation, although communication barriers were experienced; (d) many participants identified with Australian culture, and few believed their cultural background negatively impacted their experience of TBI; (e) external support, particularly from family, was considered central to recovery. These findings offer insight into the challenges CALD individuals face and factors that may facilitate their recovery and improve functional outcomes. Access to family support is very important to individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Education of family and close others is important to minimise stigma following TBI. Healthcare services should provide competent and qualified interpreters for individuals with TBI who cannot speak English. Rehabilitation professionals should receive cultural competency training, to maximise cultural sensitivity of their care provision to individuals from CALD backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested whether Punjabi-English bilinguals feel a stronger rapport with another bilingual stranger when communicating in L1 Punjabi or their dominant L2 English. Some previous studies have shown greater emotional reactions to a dominant language. We predicted that participants would feel more comfortable speaking their dominant language. Participants completed an origami task via Zoom with a confederate while communicating in English and Punjabi trials. The task was done in both languages and the order of languages was randomly assigned. Surprisingly, participants rated the Punjabi interactions more comfortable than the English interactions. Rapport was not correlated with proficiency in either language. One possible interpretation of these results is that communicating in the L1 elicits feelings of belongingness to a community, resulting in greater feelings of comfort. Future studies can test whether these results generalise to real-life interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored whether the directionality of the relation between majority language and various facets of socioemotional development (three to 5 years old) differs between children with different language backgrounds. 12,951 children (49% girls; 85% White, 6% Pakistani and Bangladeshi, 3% Black, 3% Mix, 2% Indian) from the British Millennium Cohort Study (2001–2006) were included in two‐time‐point cross‐lagged analyses. Models controlling for important covariates found a bidirectional association for monolinguals (βs =.05, −.07, −.04), a unidirectional effect of majority language on socioemotional difficulties for dual language learners (DLLs) speaking English and minority language(s) at home (β =.14), and a unidirectional effect of socioemotional strength on majority language for DLLs speaking only minority language(s) at home (β = −.17). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to explore students', parents', and teachers' attitudes and opinions towards native and non-native teachers of Basque, to examine whether the widespread ideology native speakerism is present in this minority language. Methodology: Data were gathered from 473 secondary and high-school students, parents, and teachers using questionnaires and focus groups, where education stakeholders were enquired about their teacher preferences in four categories: assessment and support, attitudes and motivation, culture, and perceived linguistic abilities. Data and analysis: The quantitative data were statistically analysed using independent-samples t -tests and analyses of variance (ANOVAs). The qualitative data were examined using thematic analysis, an instrument that allows a systematic study of patterns of meaning within qualitative data sets. Findings: Results suggest that although students, parents, and teachers support team-teaching approaches, there is an overall preference for native-speaking teachers, specially at advanced levels. Furthermore, participants reflect clear-cut trends in specific items and categories. Originality: The binary classification of speakers established by the assignment of the 'native speaker' and 'non-native speaker' labels has been thoroughly studied in the English language, analysing the positive and negative characteristics linked to each type of speaker, but the nativeness topic has only been researched in language survival terms in minority language contexts. To our knowledge, no previous study has examined attitudes towards native and non-native teachers in minority language teaching contexts. Implications: Education stakeholders' preferences for Basque native-speaking teachers may entail negative effects on the legitimacy of non-native speakers and teachers, a group whose Basque use is paramount for the maintenance and survival of the minority language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fraction of Hispanic people in the U.S. uses Spanish-language news because a language barrier prevents them using English-language news. Functional theory suggests ethnic media serve ethnic community needs ignored by mainstream media. Research on how Spanish-language news serves U.S. Hispanic communities and differs from English-language news typically studies large, politically liberal cities with large Hispanic populations, neglecting Hispanic people living elsewhere. Content analysis of local newscasts to assess differences between network-affiliated, English-language television stations and the Telemundo affiliate serving a mid-sized, midwestern, politically conservative market addresses these limitations. An analytic framework derived from functional theory categorizes community needs as informational and representational. Results show significantly different agendas between Spanish- and English-language news. Spanish-language news airs more human interest and government stories and fewer crime stories. It addresses unique informational needs, helping orient newcomers and airing government stories that sustain ties to Spanish-speaking countries. Regarding representation, results show Hispanic people are invisible to a greater extent than they are negatively portrayed in English-language news. Thus, Spanish-language local television news serves the Hispanic community by making it visible to itself. However, Spanish-language news focuses on the Hispanic community rather than being a general news source, supplementing rather than substituting for English-language news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the beliefs of primary school teachers about multilingual language teaching and learning approaches and examines the relationship between these beliefs and the current ideas on multilingualism. This paper reports key elements of the multilingual educational reality in the Basque Country, where a minority language (Basque), a majority language (Spanish), and an international language (English) share space in the curriculum. The study adopts a mixed methods approach combining a specifically designed online questionnaire regarding beliefs (N = 418), and four focus groups (N = 20). The findings indicate that teachers believe fluency is essential in the language learning process, prioritize the non-native multilingual teacher model, and show awareness of the influence parents' linguistic attitudes have on students' language learning outcomes. Teachers hold welcoming beliefs toward multilingual language teaching approaches and regard translanguaging as suitable for upper levels of Primary education. A major implication of this study is that teachers have a positive point of departure from which to develop and promote multilingual teaching approaches; however, the provision of valuable and applicable training plans based on the current school of thought on multilingualism should be considered in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local minority languages and dialects, through the local knowledge and expertise associated with them, can play major roles in analysing climate change and biodiversity loss, in facilitating community awareness of environmental crises and in setting up locally‐adapted resilience and sustainability strategies. While the situation and contribution of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples are of emblematic importance, the issue of the relationships between cultural and linguistic diversity and environmental awareness and protection does not solely concern peripheral highly‐specialized communities in specific ecosystems of the Global South, but constitutes a worldwide challenge, throughout all of the countries, whatever their geographical location, their economical development, or their political status. Environmental emergency and climate change resilience should therefore raise international awareness on the need to promote the survival and development of minority languages and dialects and to take into account their creativity and expertise in relation to the dynamics of their local environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the unfolding of vocabulary and text-comprehension skills in language minority bilingual children, who are educated exclusively in their L2. For comparison, a monolingual control group was also tested, consisting of children of the same age and schooling. We administered a synonyms task to measure vocabulary and an inference test to measure reading comprehension. Socioeconomic status scores were obtained through the Hollingshead Four Factor Index questionnaire. Our results showed that being bilingual did not influence vocabulary and text-comprehension skills in the age group being tested (9-11 years). Whereas, SES played a significant role in relation to age and schooling. Interestingly, two different mediation analyses demonstrated that vocabulary knowledge accounted for a significant portion of the causal relationship between SES and reading comprehension, and that reading comprehension itself can explain part of the relationship between SES and vocabulary. The social and educational implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilingual adaptations remain a subject of ongoing debate, with varying results reported across cognitive domains. A possible way to disentangle the apparent inconsistency of results is to focus on the domain of language processing, which is what the bilingual experience boils down to. This study delves into the role of the bilingual experience on the processing of agreement mismatches. Given the underrepresentation of minority bilingual speakers of non-standard varieties, we advance a unique comparative perspective that includes monolinguals, standard language bilinguals, and different groups of minority language bilinguals, taking advantage of the rich linguistic diversity of the Italian peninsula. This comparative approach can reveal the impact of various sociolinguistic aspects of the bilingual experience across different bilingual trajectories. We developed an auditory acceptability judgement task in Italian, featuring Subject-Verb agreement mismatches. Participants evaluated the stimuli on a 5-point Likert scale and reaction times were recorded. The results do not reveal significant differences between the speakers of standard languages: Italian monolinguals and Italian-Spanish bilinguals. Instead, significant differences are found between monolinguals and the two groups of minority language bidialectals, as well as between the bidialectal groups themselves: Italian-Pavese bidialectals were faster than both Italian-Agrigentino bidialectals and Italian monolinguals, while Italian-Agrigentino bidialectals were less accurate than both Italian-Pavese bidialectals and Italian monolinguals. This intricate picture is explained through variables associated with second language use and language switching. Our findings suggest that if bilingualism is viewed as a yes/no phenotype, it is unavoidable that the bilingual experience will remain a mystery linked to intensely debated results. If, however, one accepts that bilingual adaptations are shaped by the environmental ecology of each trajectory, variation across bilingual processing outcomes is unsurprising. Overall, we argue that specific sociolinguistic factors behind each bilingual experience can reveal where bilingual adaptations on language and cognition stem from. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-lingual spoken language understanding (cross-lingual SLU), as a key component of task-oriented dialogue systems, is widely used in various industrial and real-world scenarios, such as multilingual customer support systems, cross-border communication platforms, and international language learning tools. However, obtaining large-scale and high-quality datasets for SLU is challenging due to the high cost of dialogue collection and manual annotation, particularly for minority languages. As a result, there is increasing interest in leveraging high-resource language data for cross-lingual transfer learning. Existing approaches for zero-shot cross-lingual SLU primarily focus on the relationship between the source language sentence and the single generated cross-lingual sentence, disregarding the shared information among multiple languages. This limitation weakens the robustness of multilingual word embedding representations and hampers the scalability of the model. In this paper, we propose the multilingual mixture attention interaction framework with adversarial training to alleviate the above problems. Specifically, we leverage the source language sentence to generate multiple multilingual hybrid sentences, in which words can adaptively capture unambiguous representations from the aligned multilingual words during the encoding phase, and adversarial training is introduced to enhance the scalability of the model. Then, we incorporate the symmetric kernel self-attention module with positional embedding to learn contextual information within a sentence, and employ the multi-relation graph convolutional networks to learn different granularity information between two highly correlated intent detection and slot filling tasks. Experimental results on the public dataset MultiATIS++ demonstrate that our proposed model achieves state-of-the-art performance, and comprehensive analysis validates the effectiveness of each component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the vibrancy and potential Welsh-language Theatre-in-Education (TIE) has thus far received very little scholarly attention. This article aims to address that gap in research by focusing on Welsh TIE's role in engaging teenagers with and through the Welsh language. The first part of this article outlines the socio-political, linguistic and educational context out of which TIE grew. The second part demonstrates how Welsh-language TIE responds to the Welsh context and has found ways of carving out spaces for teenagers to engage in the Welsh language beyond the classroom, providing a potential model for other minority language contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book review discusses the edited volume "Language, Global Mobilities, Blue‐Collar Workers and Blue‐Collar Workplaces," which explores the linguistic consequences of global mobility for workers in blue‐collar jobs. The book takes a critical perspective on language and work, examining the role of language learning and multilingualism in job opportunities, social mobility, and legal concerns about migration status. The book includes empirical chapters that cover a range of contexts and time periods, showcasing diverse methods of analysis. The chapters highlight the complex issues surrounding language and work for individuals at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses a book titled "Struggles for multilingualism and linguistic citizenship" which explores the concept of Linguistic Citizenship (LC) and its role in empowering marginalized individuals and communities. The book is divided into four parts, with each chapter examining different aspects of LC in various contexts. The authors highlight the importance of agency, voice, and control of linguistic repertoires in non-institutional spaces, and emphasize the need to challenge dominant Western perspectives on language. While the book offers valuable insights into the politics of language and language use, some readers may find it difficult to fully grasp the theoretical specificity and practical manifestations of LC. [Extracted from the article]

This paper investigates the complications experienced by Switzerland and Spain in administering the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). The Charter is a vital legislative instrument for defending the varied languages across Europe. The paper digs into the problems encountered, including concerns with ratification, sociolinguistic obstacles, resource limits, and linguistic variety. The research highlights the need to maintain language rights while encouraging multilingualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have explored how Language-Minority Bilingual Children (LMBC) read and comprehend, while the way they learn to spell and write has received less attention. This study aimed to assess a comprehensive profile of spelling and writing skills in LMBC, comparing performances of 4th and 5th grade bilingual (n = 74) and monolingual (n = 131) children in word and nonword reading and multilevel spelling and writing tasks (word, nonword and passage dictation, and written narrative production). Furthermore, we explored the role of linguistic and cognitive predictors (nonverbal Intellectual Quotient, verbal knowledge, morphosyntactic comprehension, nonword repetition) in spelling and writing outcomes. Our findings showed that, overall, LMBC did not reach a monolingual-like proficiency in spelling by the end of primary school, while they were similar to monolinguals in reading tasks and were able to produce written narratives with adequate macrostructure, syntactic complexity, and lexical variety. Moreover, morphosyntactic comprehension predicted spelling in both groups. Nonverbal intelligence and verbal knowledge predicted spelling skills only for the bilingual group. With regards to writing skills, morphosyntactic comprehension emerged as a predictor exclusively in the bilingual group. These results are discussed with reference to educational and clinical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located in the province of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain), this study aims to identify and analyze the predictors of linguistic acculturation preferences of autochthonous high-school students toward their peers of Latin American descent. Autochthonous high-school students (N = 349) filled a questionnaire measuring linguistic acculturation and a series of linguistic and social-psychological variables (i.e. multicultural ideology, ethnic tolerance, attitudes toward minority languages, identification with Catalan culture and identification with Spanish culture). A k-means cluster analysis identified that autochthonous students endorse two linguistic acculturation preferences toward their Latin American peers: assimilation and multilingual preferences. Meanwhile, a logistic regression model found that participants with higher scores on attitudes toward minority languages have more likelihood to endorse a multilingual preference. The results highlight the importance and need to further work for a genuine intercultural educational model that allows the integration of Latin American students as well as of other minority groups. Particularly, this study found the importance of boosting the use of minority languages through educational approaches such as translanguaging and language architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In multicultural societies, traditional knowledge among minorities faces several challenges. Minority groups often face difficult situations living in specific peripheral geographies and striving to retain their biocultural heritage, including medicinal plant knowledge and practices. Folk medicinal plant knowledge is a dynamic eco-cultural complex influenced by various environmental, socio-cultural, and political factors. Examining medicinal plant knowledge among minorities has been an increasingly popular topic in cross-cultural ethnobiology. It also helps understand the dynamics of local/traditional ecological knowledge (LEK/TEK) change within a given community. The current study was designed to investigate the status of medicinal plant knowledge among two linguistic groups, i.e. Ormurs and Pathans, living in a remote valley of West Pakistan. Methods: We recruited 70 male study participants from the studied groups for semi-structured interviews to record the medicinal plant use of their communities. Data were compared among the two studied communities using the stacked charts employing the presence or absence of data with Past 4.03 and Venn diagrams. Use reports (URs) were counted for each recorded taxon. Results and Discussion: A total of seventy-four medicinal plants were quoted as used as ethnomedicines by the researched communities. Most of the reported plants were used to treat digestive and liver problems. The cross-cultural comparison revealed a considerable homogeneity of medicinal plant knowledge (the two groups commonly used more than seventy plants); however, comparing uses recorded for the widely utilised medicinal plants showed numerous idiosyncratic uses among Ormurs but very few among Pathans. Ormurs reported a higher number of cultivated, wild, and imported plant uses than did Pathans. These results indicate that, compared to Pathans, the Ormur linguistic minority retain more folk medicinal plant knowledge, which may be explained by the fact that they have incorporated different folk remedies: their "own knowledge" plus that of Pathans, with whom they have lived together for centuries. Moreover, the local plant nomenclature among Ormurs was highly affected by the plant nomenclature of Pathans. Conclusion: The current study revealed that living together for a few centuries has not implied sharing plant knowledge (as the Pathans do not seem to have learnt from the Ormurs) or, in other words, that plant knowledge exchanges have been unidirectional. The findings show that the Pashto dominant culture may have possibly put pressure on the minority groups and affected local plant-centred cultural practices, as we see in the case of local plant nomenclature hybridisation among Omuri speakers. Hence, it is imperative to employ diverse educational strategies to revitalise the decline of medicinal plant knowledge in the studied communities, especially among Ormurs, who need more attention as they face more challenges than the other group. Locally based strategies should be devised to restore the fading connection with nature, which will be advantageous for revitalising plant knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health disparities exist across different linguistic groups. Language barriers in primary care can negatively affect access to healthcare services and the quality and safety of care at the end-of-life. This study will take a novel, in-depth look at the experience of language- and/or cultural-discordant care for adults from linguistic minority groups through the eyes of primary care physicians providing palliative and/or end-of-life care. Language and cultural discordance means that the physician and patient do not speak the same language or are not from the same cultural background. Qualitative data from primary care physicians (n = 12–24) providing language-discordant end-of-life care to Francophone and/or Allophone older adults across different care models and diverse geographies in Ontario will be collected through semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis will be used to report themes within the data and consider the influence of the social locations of the researcher and research participants, geographic considerations impacting service provision, and barriers imposed by differing primary care funding structures on the provision of palliative and end-of-life care for linguistic and cultural minority groups in Ontario. Findings from this study will identify the interconnections among language and cultural discordance, care model, geographic region, and physician perceptions of their combined effects on access to, and quality of, palliative and end-of-life care. This evidence will be key to informing clinical practice guidelines and mobilizing change to improve primary care access and quality for adults at the end-of-life from linguistic and cultural minority populations across Ontario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we delve into the dynamics of the Irish-language public sphere, with a primary emphasis on the media landscape. In our analysis, we contend that the prevailing public sphere in Ireland predominantly functions in the English language, thereby subordinating the Irish-language public sphere. By scrutinising the challenges inherent in conceptualising an Irish-language public sphere vis-à-vis Irish speakers, we underscore the absence of a cohesive public of Irish speakers. Consequently, the Irish-language public sphere finds itself grappling with inherent fragility. The waning usage and proficiency in the Irish language exhibit a symbiotic relationship with the frailty of the Irish-language public sphere, consequently limiting the input of the Irish-language public sphere into the political sphere. In the predicted increase in employment opportunities for Irish speakers, there exists the potential for improvement in Irish-language fluency and usage, fostering a more consolidated Irish-language public sphere that could manifest more prominently. Our examination is grounded in the history of Irish broadcasting and theories of nations and nationalism. Central to our inquiry are the contrary forces of ratings (commercial motive) and revival (nationalist motive). Given the limited and dispersed number of the Irish speakers, we underscore the pivotal role of media in sustaining an Irish-language public sphere. As we navigate these dimensions, our study unravels the interplay between language, media, and societal frameworks that shape the contours of the Irish-language public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept of activist translation and its various forms. It highlights the work of activist translators who resist neoliberal imperialism and racial capitalism, such as Don Mee Choi, who sees translation as a decolonial endeavor. The article also explores the practice of decolonial self-translation and its role in exposing and challenging colonial perspectives. Additionally, it discusses the importance of translation in amplifying marginalized voices, preserving endangered languages, and promoting social justice. The article calls for greater recognition and support for translators within institutions and the publishing industry, as well as addressing issues of racism and gender inequity in translation. [Extracted from the article]

Reading children's literature is of great value in language and cultural acquisition and is a powerful contributor to academic success. However, the range and volume of children's literature available in minority languages, either produced within the minority language or translated into it, are usually very limited. Children growing up with minority languages therefore often have few reading choices, and thus, few of the benefits of reading. This paper examines the sociological situations of minority languages, including the sometimes-conflicting pressures of cultural and language preservation, and the perceived merits and demerits of translating children's literature into a minority language. A reluctance to translate is based on very real concerns, but ultimately, it is argued that translation is a necessary and valuable tool for maintaining minority languages and for allowing children the variety of reading choices they need for enjoyment, for a positive self-image, and for educational success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to portray the political representation of minorities using discourse analysis as a tool to analyse the 2019 legislative election in Bali province. Bali is a province with the largest Hindu population in Indonesia. It is necessary for minority groups to take strategic steps to express their participation and existence in political contestation. The power of language and the strength of minority political candidates have led to successful competition for seats in the legislature. The ethnically and religiously heterogeneous electorate sympathized with the candidate. Using a linguistic semiotic approach, the analysis results are obtained, and the use of language as a representation of Muslim power is aimed at the diction of "Khadimul Ummah", or servant of the public. While this study uses a qualitative approach to semiotic analysis, the diction of servant of the public is interpreted using a binary opposition approach. The results of this study show that language creates its identity and becomes a figure of interest to the Balinese people as a representation of Indonesian legislative members in the electoral district of Bali. For most people in Bali, there is a belief that this diction is something that strengthens inter-religious harmony between societies. The significance of this study lies in the fact that language may have symbolic power for both ethnic minority and majority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing linguistic diversity of the students in schools poses a major challenge for inclusive educational systems in which everyone can learn the language of instruction effectively and, likewise, can have access to contents, being language the necessary tool to the latter end. Research suggests that there is a robust connection between interaction and language acquisition. Therefore, there is a need to identify the forms of interaction that are most effective for that purpose. In this sense, a greater emphasis on dialogic teaching and learning that increases quality interactions among students may facilitate the learning process. The present study analyses the implementation of a dialogue-based educational action called Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLG) to promote teaching and learning Basque, a minority language, in a linguistically diverse context. Our research is an exploratory case study: 9 lessons were video-recorded and 2 interviews were conducted with a group of students and their teacher respectively. Results suggest that the DLG creates affordances for encouraging participation in collaborative interactions in the second language, promoting the inclusion of L2 learners, and fostering literature competence as well as a taste for the universal literature. We discuss the implications of these findings for second language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intersecting identities of those identifying with multiple minorities, such as 2SLGBTQ + and ethnolinguistic minorities, bring individuals to have unique experiences, especially concerning health and wellness. This topic is particularly poorly understood among French-speaking official language minority 2SLGBTQ + populations in Canada. Hence, this study was conducted to generate insights into their needs and experiences, through the lens of intersectionality. This quantitative community-based study, a first of its kind in Western Canada, describes the sociodemographic profile, experiences of discrimination and stigmatisation, and needs and challenges pertaining to mental health and social supports of this double minority group. Data were obtained by an online survey conducted in the Canadian province of Manitoba in June 2020. The participant sample was largely homogenous: most were under the age of 55 years, white, educated, and from urban areas. Many reported experiencing dual marginalisation, feeling unaccepted by both of their minority communities (Francophone and 2SLGBTQ+). A sense of isolation, as well as a lack of social connectedness and psychological support, were often reported. Social initiatives and mental health support within environments proactively affirming of the official language of the minority and inclusive of diverse 2SLGBTQ + identities are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic identity is an important reason for national unity. The formation of ethnic groups is mostly due to external and internal reasons, with a complex mechanism structure. When people's environment is destroyed, this value identity will be stronger, national cohesion and solidarity will grow sharply, an unprecedented high. Minority languages are characterized by a wide variety, cultural generation, and dynamic evolution. The languages are complex and diverse, and are deeply influenced by their cultural heritage. This has led to the fact that for a long time, minority languages have been learned almost exclusively by people of their own ethnic group. This has led to a steady decline in the number of minority language speakers. However, the birth of the Internet of Things (IoT) has created an opportunity for the development of minority languages. Foreign minority languages have the following status (1) rapid decline (2) many endangered languages (3) low willingness to learn. In order to further investigate the current situation of minority language protection, the team conducted a survey in the minority cluster A. The results of the survey are as follows: most of the villagers are in love with the ethnic language and must inherit and promote the ethnic language, which is the wealth of a nation, but there are also a few residents who think that Mandarin should be used to replace the ethnic language. This reflects that most of the residents love the national language, but their young people as the inherited generation lose their love for the national language and are not willing to inherit and promote it. To solve this problem, an Internet of Things (IoT)-based ethnic language data system has been constructed so that the data system for ethnic minority language protection built through IoT technology can become the last line of defense for protecting ethnic languages, while allowing ethnic languages to be known and understood by more people through IoT technology, fostering the love and reverence of ethnic minority people for ethnic languages, and enhancing other ethnic groups' sense of identity and support for ethnic languages. We propose to protect minority languages. Ultimately, we propose recommendations for the preservation of minority languages. (1) Increase publicity for minority language preservation. (2) Construct laws and regulations related to minority language protection. (3) Conduct in-depth research on minority language work and build an information base. (4) Promote minority language education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Melaka Portuguese are descendants of unions between the Portuguese, who conquered Melaka in the early 16th Century, and locals. The language and culture of this minority hybrid community have survived to this day in Malaysia. Over the last decade, there has been a push to distinguish their food, and hence, cultural identity, from other communities in Malaysia. However, there has not been much focus on the cultural representation of this "homegrown" group of people in discourses related to food. To begin addressing this gap, this paper addresses the question of cultural identity represented in four Melaka Portuguese cookbooks. The focus of this paper is on the use of linguistic and visual elements related to food heritage in four Melaka Portuguese cookbooks to examine how they are used in the construction of cultural identity among the community. These elements were analyzed using a social semiotic approach. The linguistic elements in the texts were found to be related to the cultural identity of the Melaka Portuguese people through inclusion of their family narratives and stories in the cookbooks. Visual elements were also used to portray the Melaka Portuguese culture through depictions of traditional kitchenware and food preparation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language policies for the purpose of (re)vitalizing a minority language are analyzed as a dynamic cost-effectiveness problem. We focus on policy measures with two types of cost structures: costs largely proportional to the number of beneficiaries (a rival measure) and costs independent of the number of beneficiaries (a non-rival measure). An example of the former is home nursing in the minority language and an example of the latter is street signs in the minority language. Both types of measures are assumed to contribute positively to the vitality of the minority language. We stylize the analysis, letting the rival measure have an immediate direct effect on the vitality and the non-rival one a protracted indirect effect on the language's status. Two problems are addressed. Firstly, we study how the optimal combination of the two types of measure changes as the policy is implemented and the vitality of the minority language increases and show that a policy with fixed budget shares as a rule is sub-optimal. Secondly, we compare the opportune policy of a policy maker planning with a fixed time horizon with the optimal policy as the time horizon approaches infinity. The policy maker has incentives to plan for a sub-optimal policy with a reduction in the protracted measure for the whole planning period and making it equal to zero at the time horizon. All effects are illustrated in numeric examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the approval of the Gernika Statute in 1979, the minimum conditions for the production of professional films in the Basque Country were established for the first time. However, the Basque language remained in the background, both for most of the filmmakers and for the public institutions themselves. This article studies the presence of Basque in films produced in the Basque Country between 1981 and 1989; the role of language in the cinematographic policy of the Basque Government and the prejudices, difficulties and challenges encountered by films that incorporated Basque in one way or another into the cinema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through reflexive practices, individuals can achieve many goals: in addition to allowing people to describe and make sense of aspects of language and social life, reflexive practices enable them to claim legitimacy, express emotions, exercise authority, and even change social reality. The use of reflexivity as a managerial tool is not an invention of late capitalism, but, as Gong argues, reflexive practices are recast in the mold of the neoliberal management of labor and become part of the workers' soft skills ([39]). Gong shows how reflexive practices evolve from being Mandarin-mediated and carried out as part of an audience of a podium event (collective reflexivity) to being English-mediated in small size groups where each participant is expected to take the floor and to speak (individual reflexivity). [Extracted from the article]

Since a proper understanding of the respective claims and sensitivities of Russians and Ukrainians, also towards the terms of a possible peace agreement, requires a certain awareness of the Soviet Union's ambiguous approach towards the different ethnic groups in that multi-ethnic state, the article starts with a succinct account of the history of the Soviet Union and its demise. The 'legal' status quo, more particularly legal standards and practice concerning minority rights and language rights in both Ukraine and Russia, is also covered. The second sub-chapter will then provide an overview of the international legal framework regarding minority (language) rights, starting from the overarching principles, over the main legally binding standards to soft law standards. Thirdly, a brief overall evaluation of the status quo in Ukraine and Russia regarding minority(language) rights in terms of the international legal framework, allows to identify parameters that can be used during the peace negotiations, more particularly benchmarks about what can be reasonably expected from the respective governments. The latter may be particularly useful in relation to some of the claims of the Russian government. The fourth sub-chapter delves into the most sensitive matter of minority language rights in Ukraine, and particularly the position and rights of the Russian minority, while also briefly sketching the situation of minority language rights in Russia. By way of conclusion, recommendations for the peace negotiations are offered, which build on the guiding principle of a proportionate balance between the wish to promote the national language on the one hand and a suitable (proportionate) protection of languages of minorities (with neighboring kin-states) on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with the negotiation of insider and outsider researcher identities in the context of Welsh-English bilingualism in Wales. It aims to develop a reflexive approach to researching bilingualism, foregrounding the actions and experiences of doing bilingual research in a minority language context. Taking data from education and business as our starting point, we present two self-reflexive accounts of how our research identities, specifically our language profiles, (as an L1 British English speaker and an LX English user, both of whom have only limited understanding of Welsh), and positionalities are questioned, (de)legitimised and assessed in our research projects. In light of this, we reflect also on the methodological consequences and decisions that were taken during the research process. Taken together, these two reflective perspectives allow us to generate new theoretical, methodical and analytic understandings of language within the bilingual Welsh-English context specifically and researcher reflexivity more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to information is a right that should not be limited because of being a member of a linguistic minority. The Deaf Community, which has its own language and culture, faces limitations in access to the media, such as open-signal television, unlike hearing people. This phenomenon was investigated from the point of view of people from the Deaf Community in order to be able to raise coherent proposals to meet their needs. The objective was to know the perception of members of the Peruvian Deaf Community about the interpretation in Peruvian Sign Language (PSL) in open signal television channels in Peru. It was a qualitative study of phenomenological design in which a group of people representing the Deaf Community of Lima, Peru participated. Group interviews were conducted with the presence of an interpreter known by all the interviewees. The results show that the Deaf Community interviewed perceives that there are deficiencies in terms of the number of interpreters and the space assigned to them on screen. The people interviewed stated that the Deaf Community experiences a feeling of isolation and mockery due to the small number of programs that are interpreted and the appointment of interpreters who do not adequately convey the information. In addition, they consider that there is a need for better training of interpreters in aspects such as linguistic diversity and the use of classifiers and spacing. Based on the findings and their interpretation, the researchers make some final considerations to promote good practices aimed at reducing the gap in access to information for the Deaf Community in Lima, based on inclusion and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines identity construction and conflict in the case of a woman whose parents replaced the local language with the official language at the home in the city of Tabriz in northwestern Iran, where the local language, Azerbaijani, is overshadowed by Persian as the official language of the state. In such contexts, Shifting away from the local language at the home could endanger the minority languages and affect children's identity construction and socialisation into the community. To trace the participant's identity construction over different periods of her life, her narrative accounts including autobiographical narratives and small stories were collected through multiple interviews, complemented by ethnographic observation of her interactions. Data was analyzed through extended three-level positioning and sociocultural linguistic approaches. The findings of the study revealed that the participant had an affinity to Persian over her childhood and early teens, though until then, she had felt no sense of conflict within her community. However, facing strengthening pro-Azerbaijani ideologies in the city, her struggle to maintain both identities was in vain, and she ended up feeling excluded from both communities. Findings are discussed in the light of larger sociopolitical and ideological discourse in place in northwest Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Switzerland is widely known for its successful integration of linguistic and religious minorities. At the same time, a prolonged absence from the collegial, seven-member central government can give rise to feelings of political exclusion. This begs the question whether inclusion really has the desired, let any alone any effect on political behavior. This paper makes use of the frequent use of referendums in Switzerland to assess the extent to which citizens vote differently when somebody from their canton of residence sits in the central government. Studied are all the 670 nationwide referendums held between 1848 and February 2022. Analyzed are cantonal turnout, approval rates, likelihood to vote as the federal government recommends, and chances of being overruled by the state-wide majority. The three main findings are that 1) government inclusion is indeed significantly associated with some of the positive effects theorized, 2) on average, these effects are very small, but also that 3) there are some stark cross-cantonal differences, which are due mostly to national minority languages. In short, including minorities matters more than including majorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how mobile participants, at interactionally delicate moments, deploy noticings to invite joint attention on objects in the speaker's vicinity. Complementing recent accounts of environmentally occasioned noticings, the focus of this study is on noticings as a practice to delay and, by contrast, to accelerate joint onward movement through museum spaces. It is argued that the interactional function of these noticings is, first, to draw the co-participant's attention to objects that they treat as noteworthy, and second, to request movement towards the speaker in order to jointly orient to the noticeable. The analysis shows that participants may launch noticings at opportune moments to serve their own spatiotemporal trajectory, either by detaining or by prompting co-participants on. The analysis draws on the methodology of Multimodal Conversation Analysis and a corpus of naturally occurring mobile interactions recorded with external cameras and eye-tracking glasses. Our observations on the double function of noticings in the local context may shed light on different ways in which we enact and draw on the cooperative infrastructure of human communication in social interaction. • Noticings invite joint attention on objects marked as noteworthy. • They enact and draw on the cooperative infrastructure of human communication. • They are sensitive to and cut into the co-participant's embodied action. • They organize shared time, space, and participation. • Their use may exploit our joint attentional capacities and practices in the pursuit of instrumental goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are age-related differences in signers of British Sign Language (BSL) and evidence that BSL is changing. Here we explore attitudes of BSL signers towards age-related differences and language change. We studied interview data from the BSL Corpus (Schembri et al., 2014) from 80 signers from four regions in the U.K. We carried out a thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke (2006) on responses to questions related to age variation and language change. Findings reveal signers were aware of variation and change in BSL, which also align with linguistic behaviour. Some variation and change was deemed more acceptable than others, e.g. signs for new concepts. Other changes were seen as a threat to BSL's vitality. We explore these attitudes, looking particularly at language endangerment and vitality within minority languages. • Findings reveal that BSL signers are aware of age variation and language change. • Beliefs about variation and change mostly align with linguistic behaviour. • Some variation and change were deemed more acceptable than others. • Some changes were seen as a threat to the vitality of BSL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of local dialect forms and other semiotic signs in languagecultural practices on social media in the southern Dutch province North Brabant. Although dialect use is severely decreasing in this area, we find abundant dialect features in present-day media productions, but these are not simply some last remains. By conducting a qualitative discourse analysis of a carnivalesque music video (2020), we argue that non-linguistic resources and co-occurring dialect features are enregistered as recognizably 'Brabantish' for the purpose of indexing place-based identities. Moreover, we show that reproduction on TikTok (2021) takes place through recontextualization and indexical stance-taking. • Languishing dialect in popular media productions. • The paper presents a case study from the Dutch province of North Brabant. • Discourse analysis of a carnivalesque YouTube music video and spinoffs on TikTok. • Analysis through concepts of enregisterment, stylization and recontextualization. • Study provides insight into indexing place-based identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of human language acquisition frequently posit human-unique attentional specializations to jumpstart language acquisition. There is a broad consensus that the developmental processes supporting language acquisition in our species rely on human-unique cognitive adaptions pertaining to the deployment and understanding of attention. However, close attention to the empirical evidence held to support these hypothetical psychological processes, reveals significant gaps between the nature of the evidence provided and these conclusions. In ape-human comparisons, species is confounded with a myriad of lurking variables. We explore these confounds and their implications for models of human language acquisition that appeal to human-unique attentional adaptions, revealing a large theoretical space wherein the phenomena of attention deployment and understanding can coalesce under particular environmental regimes. • Children deploy attention-sensitive skills to learn a lexicon. • Many of these skills are also displayed by nonhuman animals, especially great apes. • Claims that apes lack sensitivity to others' attention are undermined by poor research design and implementation. • One of the pitfalls of comparing nonhuman primates with humans is that the animals are generally tested at wholly incommensurate life history stages. • When appropriately age-matched, animals and humans display similar joint-attentional competencies. • Many of the skills that children display in the acquisition of language are within the capacities of animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Contemporary immigration scholarship has typically treated immigrants with diverse racial backgrounds as a monolithic population. Knowledge gaps remain in understanding how racial and nativity inequities in mental health care intersect and unfold in midlife and old age. This study aims to examine the joint impact of race, migration, and old age in shaping mental health treatment. Methods Pooled data were obtained from the Canadian Community Health Survey (2015–2018) and restricted to respondents (aged ≥45 years) with mood or anxiety disorders (n = 9,099). Multivariable logistic regression was performed to estimate associations between race–migration nexus and past-year mental health consultations (MHC). Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was applied to identify intersecting determinants of MHC. Results Compared to Canadian-born Whites, racialized immigrants had greater mental health needs: poor/fair self-rated mental health (odds ratio [OR] = 2.23, 99% confidence interval [CI]: 1.67–2.99), perceived life stressful (OR = 1.49, 99% CI: 1.14–1.95), psychiatric comorbidity (OR = 1.42, 99% CI: 1.06–1.89), and unmet needs for care (OR = 2.02, 99% CI: 1.36–3.02); in sharp contrast, they were less likely to access mental health services across most indicators: overall past-year MHC (OR = 0.54, 99% CI: 0.41–0.71) and consultations with family doctors (OR = 0.67, 99% CI: 0.50–0.89), psychologists (OR = 0.54, 99% CI: 0.33–0.87), and social workers (OR = 0.37, 99% CI: 0.21–0.65), with the exception of psychiatrist visits (p =.324). The CART algorithm identifies three groups at risk of MHC service underuse: racialized immigrants aged ≥55 years, immigrants without high school diplomas, and linguistic minorities who were home renters. Discussion To safeguard health care equity for medically underserved communities in Canada, multisectoral efforts need to guarantee culturally responsive mental health care, multilingual services, and affordable housing for racialized immigrant older adults with mental disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the extent to which two community radio stations have transcended the social development agenda and contributed to facilitating retention of indigenous cultures in the locality where they operate. In Malawi, community radio stations established and funded by international development aid agencies have become a powerful and effective tool for empowering marginalised societies in rural areas. Radio in this context acts as a medium for social mobilisation, facilitating the interface between communities and duty bearers on community social development issues. Specifically, local indigenous languages are used to ease communication challenges and increase effective public participation in local programmes that are often aired on community radio stations. Using ethnolinguistic vitality and development media as frameworks, the study analysed data on the use of broadcasting as a tool for community empowerment, education, information sharing and awareness. The findings establish that apart from amplifying indigenous voices on issues that matter to their communities, the community radio stations through social development programmes have also influenced the preservation of different cultural attributes, including languages. Thus, the article concludes that the programmes in local languages have improved the people's capacity to claim their rights and has enabled access to essential information for widespread understanding and cultural continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production research has yielded mixed findings regarding whether grammatical encoding specifies grammatical functions and linear word order simultaneously or separately, supporting either one-stage or two-stage models. Here, we focused on the double object (DO) and shifted double object (SDO) constructions in Zhuang, an ethnic minority language in China because they differ only in linear ordering of the two nouns whose grammatical functions are direct object and indirect object, assuming the roles of Theme and Recipient, respectively. Using two structural priming experiments, we found that both DO and SDO constructions induced within-structure priming effects, but they did not prime each other. Such structural priming effects persisted, regardless of whether semantic features (i.e., animacy of the Theme) were repeated across primes and targets. Taken together, these priming patterns support the one-stage model of grammatical encoding, where a conceptual representation is converted into a structure specifying both grammatical functions and linear word order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The survival of endangered languages in complex language competition depends on the socio-cultural status and honour endowed (by itself and by the other) among them. The restriction in the endorsement of this honour leads to the extinction of one language and rise of the other. Endorsing proper mutual honour to each other triggers the co-existence of people speaking the two languages and this can save both languages from extinction. The loss of respect to each other leads to the death of both languages. We found a minimal or critical mutual honour u c which protects the two languages from extinction. The increase in mutual honour from this minimal value allows an increase in the populations of the people who speak the two languages. The state of co-existence of competing languages abolishes the concept of minority and majority in language competition, which can be obtained by mutual honour. Further, excess of biased honour to a particular language (minority or majority) forces the language to extinct. In mean-field approximation of language competition, magnetisation parameter can be taken as an indicator of the survival of a language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "Multimodal communication in young multilingual children: Learning beyond words" by Jieun Kiaer explores how multilingual children in Korean-English households acquire language development through communication. The book is divided into two parts and an epilogue, with the first part contextualizing the study and describing translanguaging as a multilingual competence. The second part outlines six thematic studies that investigate how translanguaging operates in dynamic intercultural contexts. The book offers insights into how multilingual children interact with families and friends using different languages and modes, and it highlights the relationship between translanguaging and embodied mechanisms. The book's ethnographic approach and longitudinal data collection contribute to the authenticity and reliability of the research. Overall, the book is a valuable resource for scholars and students working in the fields of multilingualism, sociolinguistics, discourse studies, and literacy studies. [Extracted from the article]

The article offers information on the importance of understanding language and communication needs in providing effective support for people fleeing the war in Ukraine. Topics include the war has heightened language sensitivities, with some Russian speakers switching to Ukrainian for patriotic reasons or due to traumatic experiences, while others resist change; language and literacy barriers, and communication barriers vary by host country, and understanding specific challenges Ukrainians face.

In Scandinavia, plurilingualism has been embraced as an important goal in language curricula. However, research shows that teachers struggle to understand what plurilingualism is and how it can be implemented. To address this lack of clarity, we analysed the curricula for the three main language subjects of schooling in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden with the purpose of identifying which pluralistic approaches can be found in them. We based our analysis on the three main approaches described in The Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures: integrated didactic approach (IDA), intercomprehension between related languages (ICRL) and eveil aux langues (EAL). We found several similarities across the Scandinavian countries, but also some major differences, suggesting that plurilingual education in these countries will likely have different learning outcomes for the students. For example, IDA is lacking in the Swedish curriculum, and the goals for ICRL are more ambitious in Denmark than in the other countries. Furthermore, Norway and Sweden include national minority languages in their pluralistic approaches, whereas no attention is given to language diversity in regions with close political bonds to Denmark, such as the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acadia is a region situated in the Eastern part of Canada, where English is the dominant language and French a minority language. In numerous past publications, Annette Boudreau and other scholars have already shown that French-speaking Acadian feel very different from other French speakers in Canada. Indeed, Annette Boudreau was born in Acadia, grew up as an Acadian speaking like an Acadian, then lived in France and has become a renowned sociolinguist among French-speaking scholars around the globe. [Extracted from the article]

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US and one of the attacked and minoritized languages in the territory. To investigate the presence of the myths regarding Spanish and its speakers in the US, 210 participants were recruited to express their (dis)agreement with 8 myths in a 6-point Likert scale. The results indicate a high tendency for myth rejection regardless of their (i) self-reported race/ ethnicity, (ii) level of education, and (iii) (absence of) knowledge of Spanish except for a few of them. Thus, the present study would entail that the hegemonic linguistic ideology in the US is starting to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The General Education Law was approved half a century ago. It was designed by Francoism to reform the educational system, adjusting itself to the liberal-developmental approach that Franco's regime followed in its last few decades. The oppression that the so-called "vernacular languages" were subject to during the former years of Francoism made their learning recognition stand out amidst the rest of the changes and developments that this law provided. The aim of this paper is to review the concepts and measures that structured Francoist educational politics in regard to languages. Special attention will be paid to the causes, foreseen in the Libro Blanco (Spanish for "White Book"), that fostered the change established in the 1970 Law. The idea will be presented that the incorporation of regional languages in the new policies happened to fulfil the idiomatic regulations requested by UNESCO and the Catholic Church, and to meet the need to cope with the popular currents of linguistic demand emerging in the scenario of socio-labour conflict that characterised the final years of the dictatorship. This moment was determined by the tensions generated within a system reluctant to change its traditional values, although it was forced to resolve the external and internal pressures that urged it to recognise the multilingual reality of the Spanish State in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is one of two main dialect families of Welsh (cym, ISO 693-3) spoken in Wales, the other being Southern Welsh. Previous work on Welsh has described the plosive contrast as primarily one of voicing, but our consultant seldom produced full voicing of lenis plosives, which has been previously described for Welsh (Ball [4]: 18; Hannahs [18]: Chapter 2). Unlike those of Angami, Welsh voiceless nasals are not truly voiceless; voicing is present during the nasal and may continue during the aspiration period due to coarticulation from the adjacent voiced nasal and vowel, resulting in [m ], [n ], [ ]. We refer readers interested in the geographic distribution of the Welsh high front and high central vowel contrast to the Welsh dialect survey (A. R. Thomas [47]) and to recent work by Rees ([41]) that investigated these vowels in dialects of central Wales. [Extracted from the article]