Choosing an Orthography: Case Studies in the Development of Three Writing Systems in West Kalimantan Marla Perkins, Ph.D. Notes on Method Field work conducted winter (summer there) Qualitative rather than quantitative: interesting questions, not just counting; foundational work required prior to justifying quantitative studies Community-Based Language Research (Czaykowska-Higgins, 2009): ON a language(s)Hobongan, Taman, Daqan, not as yet described (Im working on Hobongan mostly at the moment) FOR the language communitysome benefit to community from the study (documentation is a required step toward minority rights) WITH the language communitylinguist is active participant, not an external observer (Dimendaal 2001) BY the language communitylanguage speakers are involved The Languages and Communities: Hobongan Language Austronesian About 2000 speakers SVO N-Adj Discourse organized around spatial/locational information (Perkins, 2013)must know the location for a unit of discourse to count as a unit Language currently spoken by three generations with more/less expertise Community Three main villages Main villages all along a river system More/less conveniently located to town depending on proximity and river conditions Town: source of majority language, culture, and politicsBahasa Indonesian, Jakarta Hobongan Land The Languages and Communities: Taman Language Austronesian 30,000+ speakers SVO N-Adj Character-centered discourse Language spoken by three generations relatively well-educated population: bilingual children Community Longhouse-centered communities clustered around the town mentioned previously Flat terrain allows for communities to be along or away from the river Quick, convenient, frequent access to majority language, culture, politics Taman Longhouse The Languages and Communities: Daqan Language Austronesian 55,000+ speakers: many dialects SVO N-Adj Duration-focused discourse; a duration must be specified in order for a unit of discourse to be a unit Three generations of native speakers Many monolinguals remaining; some areas have little/no access to education Community Spread over a huge area Many communities, villages More/less access to town, education, politics, majority language depending on location Daqan Land Region: West Kalimantan, Borneo Creating Orthographies Considerations: Phonology of the languageseach of these languages as a unique but typical phonological system for their typological classification Readability/Learnability Majority/ National/ Educational language Preferences of the native speakers/ Community identity Applicability across dialects How/If literacy is gained in the language communities What has already been done, if anything Current and potential uses of the language: technology! The Orthographic Histories: Hobongan, Taman, Daqan HobonganTamanDaqan System developed in the 1970s: keyboard characters, for glottal stop A lot of text currently available in the language, including some completed/ printed books of the Bible Some language support materials for English speakers available: a lexicon Very little language material available Some use of technology (cell phones/texting!) when in town A great deal of use of technology (texting!) More/less use of technology depending on proximity to town Literacy: not generally available except in younger generation; educated in Bahasa Indonesian Difficulties with the Current Orthographies: Representing the Glottal Stop HobonganTamanDaqan Do not perceive as a letter/phoneme Difficult to represent in texting Difficult to represent in texting; dialect variation Different from national languagestatus, education Different from national languagestatus, confusion Different from national languagestatus! for glottal stop was preferred in the 1970s; times have changed My Recommendations and Reasoning Reasoning AA RecommendationReasoning q for glottal stop (different from Bahasa Indonesian) A real letter; already in use by some speakers for texting; easy to learn; phonemically necessary ny for palatal nasaly not necessary elsewhere Doubled letters for long sounds (aa, ii)Iconic representation; easy to learn; available for other reasons in national language ng for velar nasalg necessary elsewhere, but in usability tests, easy to learn i/u for glides (io, ua)Accords with phonotactic patterns within the languages All letters on standard keyboardEasy to do/learn; facilitates ease of use for their preferred technology and overlap with national language Community Discussions Do we need to change anything? Why not just do things like Bahasa Indonesian? No/Over my dead body What will be easiest for our children? It looks weird. What are the other groups in the area doing? What will outsiders think when they see our language written? Why should we listen to you? Step 1: print a sample paragraph with the changes Step 2: teach changes to literate native speakers Step 3: Listen to their discussions AND their use of the new orthography: e.g., when the changes were introduced to the Daqan, they initially objected (it looked weird), but they also started correcting word choices and spelling that they had not been able to correct previously Current Outcomes All recommendations moving forward! (latest update: 16 April, 2015) Communities are still discussing but are seeing advantages Missionaries in these communities are now printing/editing materials to accommodate the recommendations With more materials comes more acceptance References Biava, Christina. 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