Language & Culture in Society
Although there are psycholinguistic characteristics that all humans share, language learning and teaching is always embedded in cultural and social structures. Languages die out, their uses in a speech community shift over time, and new languages emerge. An individual may lose or gain fluency in a language, or several languages, over their lifetime.
These events are rarely because of conscious individual choice. Implicit or explicit language policies shape individual language use. The prestige or stigma attached to a particular language in a society will usually reflect power hierarchies in that society. Globalization creates demand for fluency in some of the dominant world languages, while at the same time it opens up opportunities for speakers of small languages to communicate easily over distances and use technologies to maintain or revitalize their languages
To learn more about CAL's work and resources about this topic, browse the subtopics within this section.
Projects
Native American Language Revitalization Legislation in the 113th Congress
The Center for Applied Linguistics supports the Linguistic Society of America and its Committee on Endangered Languages and their Preservation (CELP) to raise awareness within Congress about the importance of Native American Language Revitalization.
Ghana - Improved Quality and Access to Basic Education
CAL partnered with the Education Development Center (EDC) on a USAID-funded project to improve access to primary education, especially literacy learning, for children in Ghana. The project, Education Quality for All (EQUALL), operated in 20 districts.
Do You Speak American? Teacher Development Materials
Made for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and for DVD release, Do You Speak American? takes viewers on a journey through the United States, exploring how the language we use can define us, unite us, or separate us.
Resources
Dialects in Schools and Communities, Second Edition
This book describes dialect differences in American English, explores the impact in education and daily life for dialect speakers, and outlines issues facing educational practitioners working with these students.
Ebonics: The Urban Education Debate, 2nd Edition
This publication traces the distant and recent history of the Ebonics debate in the United States, with leading scholars placing the debate within its historical and contemporary context.
Literacy and Language Diversity in the United States, 2nd Edition
In this revised and updated edition, the author takes a fresh look at the differences between native and nonnative speakers of English in the United States in terms of their literacy performance and educational achievement. He also discusses the social and educational policy debates that surround literacy in the 21st century.
Sociolinguistic Variation: Theories, Methods, and Applications
This publication features the work of widely recognized scholars in the field of sociolinguistics, brought together to honor the long and productive career of Walt Wolfram, a founder of the field and a strong believer in linking high-quality research to meaningful application.
News & Events
How the Limits of the Mind Shape Human Language
The limits of the human mind contribute to how humans see the structures of languages, writes a linguistics professor at Queen Mary University of London.
In 21st Century, Threats 'From All Sides' for Latin America's Original Languages
Indigenous languages of Latin America are at risk of vanishing even amid efforts to save them.
Hmong Language and Culture Enrichment Program Building Self-Esteem, Bridging Achievement Gaps
A six-week intensive summer program is marking its seventh year of connecting elementary and middle school students to their Hmong language and heritage in the Madison, Wisconsin area.
Saving Vanishing Words: Why Queens is the ‘Noah’s Ark of Languages’
New York City's Queens borough is home to speakers of as many as 800 languages, making it Earth's most linguistically diverse community, a distinction that gives linguists the chance to document and preserve some at-risk languages.
Five Reasons English Speakers Struggle to Learn Other Languages
It turns out there are some linguistic reasons why English speakers struggle to learn another language.
Can Music Help Children Learn?
A study that involved 6- and 7-year-old Los Angeles children shows that early exposure to music boosts their language and reading skills faster than children who are not taught music.