Playing with languages : children and change in a Caribbean village / Amy L. Paugh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paugh, Amy L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language awareness in children--Dominica.

Language awareness in children.

Communicative competence in children--Dominica.

Communicative competence in children.

Language acquisition.

Language shift--Dominica.

Language shift.

Linguistic change--Dominica.

Linguistic change.

Language and culture--Dominica.

Language and culture.

Manners and customs.

Dominica--Social life and customs.

Dominica.

Physical Description:

xii, 250 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Berghahn Books, 2012.

Summary:

The use of Patwa (an Afro-French creole) in Dominica is in the midst of conflicting pressures. On the one hand, parents and schools prohibit the use of this natural language as it impairs children's ability to succeed in both school and work. The government, on the other hand is pushing its use in order to promote cultural heritage tourism. Within this context, Paugh (anthropology, James Madison U.), makes use here of ethnographic fieldwork and video-recorded social interactions to explore an entirely different facet: how the use of separate languages by children in play can be used to negotiate authority, autonomy and social identity. In addition to footnotes, a 19 page bibliography is included. Some of the material in this book makes use of a 2005 paper in Language in Society and a paper published in the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780857457608

0857457608

OCLC:

785786656