Jingles training can revitalize revived -- and even moribund -- languages
Dear Fellow Earthlings, It is hard enough just to manage one's daily schedule. This is compounded when one has children, elderly parents, health considerations, finances and other things to worry about... But somehow most people DO manage.
It is much more difficult to manage international relations, climate change, or how to keep the sun from eventually swallowing Earth.
As I see it, managing a language so that it can be preserved as a viable communication system as
well as a means for tying its speakers together culturally, spiritually, -- and amicably! -- lies somewhere between the management task extremes of easy-to-manage and difficult-to-manage cited immediately above.
My suggested formula for preserving language, presented in a general form, is as follows:
First of all, whatever has been written down needs to be preserved. For many languages there is a great wealth of written data -- although in some cases it may consist primarily of liturgical texts or other less-than-modern-day writing. However, some languages -- those not having histories as being written
-- are represented in writing only by sometimes questionable, sometimes conflicting phonetic representations. Whatever the case may be, all data should be analyzed carefully, as it will prove valuable as source material as new efforts to pump life into such languages are made.
Hand-in-hand with the first consideration is the actual phonological productions of the languages that are slated for preservation. This is where my "Jingles" theory comes into play. Through Jingles training,
a language can be not only revived, but revitalized.
The distinction here is crucial. Revived is a good first step. A good case-in-point is modern Hebrew. During the latter part of the 20th century, Hebrew came to be spoken as a first language once more
after a hiatus of roughly 2000 years. The first speakers of Hebrew spoke it with French, German, Russian, Ukrainian, Persian, Arabic, and other accents... But at least Hebrew was back! It had been revived.
Nowadays, as new generations of native speakers of Hebrew are born, the revival has given way to revitalization. The older folks' have let the torch of linguistic competency be passed on to ensuing generations. To wit, those native speakers of Hebrew being born today are third, fourth, or fifth generation speakers. And their language shows it.
In the nation of Israel, a highly developed system of education, good financial support for native language learners, and a sense of cultural and ethnic pride point to a good future for Hebrew -- even
to the point where "purists" of various sorts are now appearing among various Hebrew native speakers. This type of rivalry over what constitutes the "best form" or "most beautiful manifestation" of a language are signs of that language's vitality!
Getting back to the contribution Jingles training can make here: It allows learners to team up with instructors of the target dialect or preferred pronunciation and, using the TRAINING MODE/regular mode distinctions that form the base of Jingles training, to help the learners to acquire those speech motor skills employment techniques needed to reach the goal of complete target language phonological development.
The first step for preserving languages having been presented here, the four remaining "major steps" (and with mention of "sub-steps" to be nurtured along under the rubric of each) will be covered in the next two blog installments. In the final installment, everything will be tied together into a nice package for my readers to contemplate -- with the hope that some of those readers will take actions that ensure the survival of their particular languages!
Steve Walker
Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.