New speakers of indigenous languages

‘New speakers’ is far from being a ‘new’ phenomenon as it has always existed as soon as there has been contact and interaction of speakers of different languages. In academia, the term was often described as ‘second language’ or ‘non-native’ in opposition to ‘first language’ or ‘native’, pointing to a binary classification of the speaker (Murchadha, et al., 2018). In the case of minority and indigenous languages, however, ‘new speakers’

corresponds to a recently ‘new’ concept. Beyond the discussion of the ‘native’ versus ‘non-native’ dichotomy and its implication in the language legitimacy and practices, new speakers’ experience entails learning a language at a later stage in life, outside the family nest, and in most cases through instruction. As minority and indigenous languages were marginalized and excluded from education, ‘new speakers’ is a concept that arose in recent years as a result of engagement in revitalization movements in many parts of the world (Lantto, 2018).

‘New speakers’ encloses a diversity, complexity and heterogeneity of contexts, practices and ideologies. However, a common characteristic is shared by all speakers’ profiles that is most of the times they have acquired the minority or indigenous language through education and

in an institutional setting (Walsh & Lane, 2014). During the COST ACTION IS1306³ meeting hold in Edinburgh, March, 2014 the Working Group 1 in the ‘Report of conceptualizations of new speakerness in the case of indigenous minority languages’

identified some of the following core elements or characteristics of new speakers⁴:

▪ Acquisition of the minority language outside the home, through education semi-formal learning situation

▪ Passive (understanding) or active (speaking) competence in a minority language through informal language socialization (at home for example) and usually in a setting where the minority language is not dominant

▪ Speakers coming from a traditional speaker background, with parents or close family speaking the language at home but who did not pass it on during the new speakers’

childhood

▪ New speakers acquiring a significant degree of competence in the minority language (B2, independent user according to the Common European Framework) and make ac-tive use of the language in their lives

▪ The experience of new speakers learning trajectory evolves and changes through life cycle

▪ Many new speakers learn the language motivated by reasons that are either political or identity based

▪ Other speakers may acquire the language for instrumental reasons or practical necessi-ties (employment or for studies, for example)

3http://www.nspk.org.uk/about/ (last accessed 17/11/2020).

4For complete list please refer to Walsh, John & Lane, Pia 2014: New speakers in a multilingual Europe:

Opportunities and challenges. ISCH Cost Action IS1306. Activity of working group 1: Report on

conceptualisations of new speakerness in the case of indigenous minority languages. National University of Ireland. University of Oslo.

▪ There is no clear dichotomy between ‘new’ and ‘traditional’ speakers as the situation of the people raised with a minority language is strictly different from previous gener-ations.

In a broader arena, the ‘new speaker’ concept is an umbrella term used not only for regional minorities or indigenous language but also for immigrant groups, transnational workers or students, language learners or transnational online communities (O’Rourke et al., 2015).

What differentiate the regional minorities and indigenous language learners from other groups, is the fact that many of the ‘new speakers’ are not totally ‘new’ but may have a previous contact or cultural tie to the language and culture. Annika Pasanen in her article Becoming a New Speaker of a Saami Language Through Intensive Adult Education (2021) presents the background and motivation of adult learners of Inari Sámi, North Sámi and Skolt Saami in an immersive language course in Finland. The adult learners were both Sámi and non-Sámi but the main motivation for language learning was the reclamation of one’s own language or heritage language follow by a general interest in the language and the wish to support Sámi speaking communities (Pasanen, 2020). A different example is the case study of Gaelic medium education (GME)⁵ of Gaelic language learners in Scotland, where only four of the forty six participants in the research were totally ‘new’ speakers of Gaelic, having been raised without Gaelic at home who had acquired the language through the program. The rest had previous knowledge of the language from their family nest (Dunmore, 2017).

If the previous contact with the language and culture is high among the indigenous languages’ new speakers, why then not define them as heritage language speakers? There is

5 Gaelic-medium education (GME) is a form of education in Scotland that allows pupils to be taught primarily in Scottish Gaelic, with English being taught as the secondary language.

https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/my-school/choosing-a-school/gaelic-medium-education/gaelic-medium-education-foghlam-tro-mheadhan-na-gaidhlig/ (last accessed 03/04/2021).

not an agreed precise definition on heritage language learners (HL) and in USA the term is mostly used to describe individual of immigrant families as well as ancestral or indigenous communities that want to learn and reconnect with their language and culture (Weiyun He, 2010). It is based on Fishman (2001) categories of heritage languages in USA: (1) the immigrant languages which moved to the USA after the independence; (2) the indigenous languages of the native people and (3) the colonial heritage languages (i.e. Dutch, Swedish or Finnish language) spoken by various Europeans groups that first colonised what is now United States (Fishman, 2001 in Developing Minority Language Resources, 2006: 12–23).

I deliberately chose not to use the term heritage language for the Sámi language students on account of various reasons. First, as a student in Indigenous Master studies, I am aware that definitions and political decisions go hand in hand and are crucial for indigenous peoples’

rights and claims. Therefore, would it be fair to define and therefore understand the indigenous languages’ situation on par with immigrant languages? Many immigrant languages (as it is the case of Mexican immigrants in USA with Spanish as heritage language, or Turkish in Germany) benefits of a bigger speakers community outside the immigrant country and most of the times, they are the majority language, official in one territory; while many indigenous languages do not have a bigger speaking community outside their own community, and in most cases, they correspond to minority languages, officially non recognised as the language of a specific territory. Reflecting on the idea of the territory, indigenous languages are then not just the language of family ties and generations but also the language of territories that have been assimilated. This territorial assimilation and ‘colonization’ translated into a forced language shift and therefore, a language lost.

On the other hand, the participants of the present project are divided between students who have Sámi background and those who have not. Using the term heritage language learners will then automatically exclude the second group of students, with a non-Sámi background.

Therefore, I use the concept of ‘new speakers’ to describe new users of Sámi that acquired most of their language skills through an educational program, with diverse backgrounds,

motivations and interests in learning the language. For this, ‘new speakers’ is seen as a diversity of language users that contribute to Sámi language vitality and transmission.