Pohnpei sohte ehu: A survey- and interview-based approached to language attitudes on Pohnpei

Abstract

To the people of Pohnpei. Kalahngan en kupwuramwail. AcknowledgmentsThis dissertation would not have been possible without the help of many people. history of the island and its ideological effects on language use, as well as highlighting the diversity of opinions found on the island. Because of this framework, the dissertation does not aim to construct a monolithic narrative of language attitudes on Pohnpei, but rather seeks diversity wherever possible.To carry out these goals, the dissertation adapts quantitative methods (multidimensional scaling, cluster analyses, correspondence analysis, and poststratified Bayesian generalized hierarchical modeling) and combines them with critical theoretical tools such as sociolinguistic scale and translanguaging.The results showed two main different ideological groups both in terms of language use and language attitude patterns. Both groups highly value Pohnpeian, English, and other local languages generally. However, the first group values English over Pohnpeian and other local languages. They in general only use Pohnpeian to connect with Pohnpeians and in situations related to the soupeidi system, but use English for most other situations including education, work, media, and government. This group's language use patterns with scale-based language ideologies, where local levels of scale (such as family and kousapw) are highly multilingual, but become increasingly monolingual as scale increases toward the translocal level. The other group, conversely, finds Pohnpeian to be the most important language for them overall and tend to find Pohnpeian to be the most important language in every domain.The results of the dissertation indicate a disconnect between the current mostly monolingual English-focused educational practices among both private and public schools on Pohnpei and the desire of the research participants for greater use of Pohnpeian and other local languages. The current educational system likewise devalues the symbolic resources of its students, which has perpetuated negative ideologies about local languages. These ideologies adversely affect both the students and the linguistic future of local languages including Pohnpeian.iv

Assessing language knowledge in Jeju: Vocabulary and verbal patterns in Jejueo and English

“…Participants were asked to choose the one language that was used most frequently by their family members to estimate the amount of the language input indirectly. This method was adopted from the survey questionnaire developed by Rentz (2018).…”