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Abstract Which parties embrace multilingualism in their communication? Despite growing interest in parties’ multilingualism among normative scholars of deliberative democracy, empirical research has largely overlooked the linguistic aspect of party competition. We leverage large‐scale data on Facebook posts by more than 800 parties in 87 democracies and analyze their day‐to‐day language practices. By so doing, we develop, for the first time, the classification of monolingual and multilingual parties around the world. Moreover, using this novel dataset, we explore what factors are associated with parties’ adoption of multilingualism and how multilingual parties predict the language use of candidates they nominate. Overall, this study provides the most comprehensive picture of parties’ multilingualism in contemporary democracies and sets agendas for future research in the intersection of parties and language representation.
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A theoretically driven and empirically grounded calculation for language dominance and degree of multilingualism
Abstract Bilingualism research has long been challenged by a lack of a unified approach to quantifying language dominance and degree of multilingualism. While numerous questionnaires (e.g., LHQ, BLP, LEAP‑Q, and LUQ) provide valuable data on language background variables, they lack a standardized formula to compute key measures from it. We introduce two formulas that synthesize critical linguistic variables to efficiently calculate language dominance and a multilingualism score that ranges from perfect monolingualism to native-like proficiency in multiple languages. Validation across two large datasets shows our dominance measure closely aligns with more complex PCA methods while being simpler and more efficient.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2446452
- PAR ID:
- 10658166
- Publisher / Repository:
- Bilingualism: Language and Cognition
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Bilingualism: Language and Cognition
- ISSN:
- 1366-7289
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 7
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Purpose: To contribute to the establishment of a novel approach to language documentation that includes bilingual and multilingual speech data. This approach would open this domain of study to work by specialists of bilingualism and multilingualism. Approach: Within language documentation, the approach adopted in this paper exemplifies the “contemporary communicative ecology” mode of documentation. This radically differs from the “ancestral-code” mode of documentation that characterizes most language documentation corpora. Within the context of multilingualism studies, this paper advocates for the inclusion of a strong ethnographic component to research on multilingualism. Data and Analysis: The data presented comes from a context characterized by small-scale multilingualism, and the analyses provided are by and large focused on uncovering aspects of local metapragmatics. Conclusions: Conducting language documentation in contexts of small-scale multilingualism requires that the adequacy of a corpus is assessed with regard to sociolinguistic, rather than only structural linguistic, requirements. The notion of sociolinguistic adequacy is discussed in detail in analytical terms and illustrated through an example taken from ongoing research led by the authors. Originality: To date, there are no existing publications reviewing in the detail provided here how the documentation of multilingual speech in contexts of small-scale multilingualism should be structured. The contribution is highly original, in particular, for its theoretical grounding of the proposed approach. Significance/Implications: This article can serve as a reference for those interested in methodological and theoretical concerns relating to the practice of language documentation in contexts of small-scale multilingualism across the world. It may also help clarify ways for sociolinguists to engage more closely with work on language documentation, a domain that has thus far remained primarily informed by structural linguistic approaches.more » « less
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ABSTRACT Multilingualism refers to a phenomenon where individuals routinely use three or more languages. Spatial processes, such as mobility, may shape the outcome of multilingual linguistic behaviors but are considerably under‐explored. We evaluate the effect of mobility on language use in the framework of dual spatialization in a small‐scale multilingual society. We use a footpath network to characterize mobility in absolute space, and a language network to characterize language use in relational space; we then assess the correspondence between the two networks. Redundancy analysis and thek‐means method are used to support the research goal. We found a high correspondence between mobility and language use. The results identify the absence of regional “centers of gravity” as a distinctive feature in language use, as mobility has fostered local clusters of language use. Conceptually, this study showcases the power of dual spatialization in understanding the mechanisms underlying the space–language connection.more » « less
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In the history of language and conflict, experience has shown that when there is multilingualism in very restricted communities like Lower Fungom, the issue of identity comes up as many people are asserting their identity and this has often resulted into conflict. Yet, there seem to be apparent calm in Lower Fungom and therefore the question is how these languages cohabit with the people such that there is relative calm. Hence, we study the households to see the kind of culture the people have and how they practice their multilingualism in such a way that it helps to blend them or separate them. This paper examines the interface on which multilingualism and inter-community relationship is expressed in Lower Fungom such that there is a peaceful cohabitation among the people. A sociolinguistic survey was carried out in four of the thirteen villages of Lower Fungom with an ethnographic interview guide that handled both linguistic and ethnographic information. Data were collected through in-depth interviews from ten households in each of the four chosen communities. The information collected through in-depth interviews was later verified through focus groups discussions where the participants refuted or confirmed what was provided as information during in-depth interviews. The analysis of the data collected is based on the information that was provided by participants during focus group discussions. The data collection and analyses revealed that significant rates of multilingualism in the area are explained socially in terms of blood relations, marriage, in-laws, perceived proximity and similarity, religion, education, individual relations and movements. Also, the data suggests that household multilingualism transmitted from one generation to another has become a culture and is responsible for the peaceful community and inter- community coexistence in the area. The ethnographic approach employed in data collection revealed that there is no identity crisis but there is a new way of negotiating identity which begins from the household where there is tolerance and consensus in the use of different languages. This tolerance and consensus is extended to the entire community and even beyond the community. Furthermore, household and community multilingualism should be a national responsibility for reasons other than those of international politics. This is because language crisis often tend to breed other crisis such as economic, political, and social crises which, in turn, create a dysfunction in the society.more » « less
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Traits of dominant plant species drive normalized difference vegetation index in grasslands globallyAbstract AimTheoretical, experimental and observational studies have shown that biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships are influenced by functional community structure through two mutually non‐exclusive mechanisms: (1) the dominance effect (which relates to the traits of the dominant species); and (2) the niche partitioning effect [which relates to functional diversity (FD)]. Although both mechanisms have been studied in plant communities and experiments at small spatial extents, it remains unclear whether evidence from small‐extent case studies translates into a generalizable macroecological pattern. Here, we evaluate dominance and niche partitioning effects simultaneously in grassland systems world‐wide. LocationTwo thousand nine hundred and forty‐one grassland plots globally. Time period2000–2014. Major taxa studiedVascular plants. MethodsWe obtained plot‐based data on functional community structure from the global vegetation plot database “sPlot”, which combines species composition with plant trait data from the “TRY” database. We used data on the community‐weighted mean (CWM) and FD for 18 ecologically relevant plant traits. As an indicator of primary productivity, we extracted the satellite‐derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from MODIS. Using generalized additive models and deviation partitioning, we estimated the contributions of trait CWM and FD to the variation in annual maximum NDVI, while controlling for climatic variables and spatial structure. ResultsGrassland communities dominated by relatively tall species with acquisitive traits had higher NDVI values, suggesting the prevalence of dominance effects for BEF relationships. We found no support for niche partitioning for the functional traits analysed, because NDVI remained unaffected by FD. Most of the predictive power of traits was shared by climatic predictors and spatial coordinates. This highlights the importance of community assembly processes for BEF relationships in natural communities. Main conclusionsOur analysis provides empirical evidence that plant functional community structure and global patterns in primary productivity are linked through the resource economics and size traits of the dominant species. This is an important test of the hypotheses underlying BEF relationships at the global scale.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728925100849
