El uso y el mantenimiento de la lengua: Garifuna en Sangrelaya, Honduras

Garifuna is a language spoken by thousands of people in Central America and in the United States. It is considered a mixed language of Arawak and Caribe descent. It has been demonstrated that indigenous languages in much of the world face endangerment; Garifuna is no exception. In many communities, Garifuna is threatened by the dominant language, either Spanish or English. Studies have, however, shown that in some Garifuna communities a process of language maintenance and revitalization is occurring. This study investigates the Garifuna community of Sangrelaya, Honduras. The purpose of this investigation was to analyze the state of Garifuna and Spanish spoken in Sangrelaya. The intent was to study factors involved with language use and maintenance, including: speech domains, linguistic landscape, literacy, and linguistic attitudes in order to diagnose the ethnolinguistic vitality of Garifuna and Spanish in Sangrelaya. The investigator utilized a sociolinguistic survey and personal observations for collecting data. The sociolinguistic survey consisted of questions relating to daily use of the languages, the degree of literacy in the two languages, the language of mass media, linguistic attitudes, and the linguistic landscape. The results indicate that the residents of Sangrelaya are bilingual in Spanish and Garifuna. It also suggests positive ethnolinguistic vitality. Even though some factors such as linguistic landscape and the institutional language are not in favor of maintenance of Garifuna, other factors such as speech community, separation of the linguistic domains, and a positive linguistic attitude are in favor of maintenance of the language.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Spanish

Grantor dc:publisher

Bowling Green State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• de Nijs, Paul E.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ducar, Cynthia

• Foreign Language
• Language
• Linguistics
• Minority and Ethnic Groups
• Sociolinguistics
• Language Use and Maintenance
• uso y mantenimiento de la lengua
• Garifuna
• Sangrelaya
• Honduras
• Speech Domain
• ambitos linguisticos
• Linguistic Landscape
• paisaje linguistico
• linguistic attitudes
• bilingualism
• bilinguismo
• vitality

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

Spanish

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363293768

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:bgsu1363293768