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Language shift and cultural reproduction : socialization, self, and syncretism in a Papua New Guinean village

Part of the Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language series
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Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction is a fascinating anthropological study of language and cultural change among the villagers of Gapun, in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea.

Despite their strong attachment to their own language as a source of identity and as a tie to their lands, people are abandoning their vernacular in favour of Tok Pisin, the most widely spoken language in Papua New Guinea.

By examining village language socialization practices and drawing on Marshall Sahlins's ideas about structure and event, Don Kulick reveals how daily interactions, attitudes towards language, children, change, and personhood, all contribute to a shift in language and culture that is beyond the villagers' understanding and control.

This is the first detailed documention of the process of language shift.

It places linguistic change within an interpretive framework, and treats language as a symbolic system that affects, and is affected by, the thoughts and actions of everyday life.

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Product Details
Cambridge University Press
0521599261 / 9780521599269
Paperback / softback
24/04/1997
United Kingdom
English
317p. : ill.
23 cm
research & professional Learn More
Reprint. Originally published: 1992.