Attitudes towards Euskera : using the matched-guise technique among school children in the Basque country
Neither a language nor a society remains unchanged. Change is both inevitable and natural. Similarly attitudes towards speakers of different languages change over time. When more than one language is spoken in a community their relative distance from one another influences attitudes within it, since speech is a particularly sensitive instrument for gauging stereotyped attitudes present in a community. The affective aspect has created much research interest among those working in the area of language acquisition and is of primordial interest to teachers and educationalists, especially those concerned with primary and secondary education where most formal language learning starts. The context of the present study is the Basque Country where two languages, Castilian and Euskera, the Basque language, are spoken. They are studied with reference to the attitudinal and affective aspects, with the main emphasis on the minorised language, Euskera. The history of Euskera is examined in the light of other selected minority languages. An investigation into language attitudes towards Euskera using the 'matched-guise' technique is described and the conclusion drawn that a process of constant community accommodation is required
De Echano Basaldua, Ana Maria
Minority language learning
Attitudes towards Euskera : using the matched-guise technique among school children in the Basque country. Neither a language nor a society remains unchanged. Change is both inevitable and natural. Similarly attitudes towards speakers of different languages change over time. When more than one language is spoken in a community their relative distance from one another influences attitudes within it, since speech is a particularly sensitive instrument for gauging stereotyped attitudes present in a community. The affective aspect has created much research interest among those working in the area of language acquisition and is of primordial interest to teachers and educationalists, especially those concerned with primary and secondary education where most formal language learning starts. The context of the present study is the Basque Country where two languages, Castilian and Euskera, the Basque language, are spoken. They are studied with reference to the attitudinal and affective aspects, with the main emphasis on the minorised language, Euskera. The history of Euskera is examined in the light of other selected minority languages. An investigation into language attitudes towards Euskera using the 'matched-guise' technique is described and the conclusion drawn that a process of constant community accommodation is required
attitudes_towards use matched guise technique among school_child country neither language society remain unchanged change inevitable natural similarly attitude_towards speaker different_language change_time language_speak community relative distance one_another influence_attitude within since speech particularly sensitive instrument gauge stereotype attitude present community affective aspect create much interest among work area language_acquisition primordial interest teacher especially concerned primary_secondary education formal_language learn start context present_study country two_language castilian language_speak study reference attitudinal affective aspect main_emphasis language history examine_light select minority_language investigation language_attitude towards use matched guise technique describe conclusion_drawn process constant community accommodation require