A comparative study of the impact of displacement on multilingualism and language endangerment

Communities all over the world are frequently impacted by displacement due to events such as natural disasters or political conflict, and displaced people often experience significant changes to their linguistic environment when the areas that they move to are dominated by different languages than those spoken in the regions that they come from. For instance, members of a rural community speaking an endangered language who move to an urban area after a natural disaster may shift from an environment where most people they meet during the course of a day speak their first language to one where only their close friends and family members do.

Similarly, refugees fleeing their homes may find themselves in camps occupied by people from many different areas who do not, at least initially, share a common language. Moreover, displacement may change more than just the primary language that an individual uses in their day-to-day lives. In many parts of the world, users of languages associated with small communities are multilingual and actively use three or more languages.

When they move, they may learn a new language but also stop using other languages that they know, including endangered languages. The impact of displacement on multilingualism and endangerment has yet to be systematically investigated, even though increased knowledge in this domain would help refine policies intended to support minority language maintenance and to improve the conditions of displaced people.

This project studies three communities with demonstrated linguistic diversity that have experienced recent displacement in different ways. One community is currently experiencing displacement due to active political conflict, and another experienced displacement due to conflict that was resolved decades ago. The third community is a refugee camp housing displaced individuals from a linguistically diverse neighboring region.

By studying language use across these three communities, the investigators are able to conduct a comparative analysis of how displacement impacts language vitality in multilingual contexts. The investigators use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data, including ethnographic observation, sociolinguistic interviews, and language proficiency assessment tasks.

Documentary records of language use among displaced people will also be created. The project is innovative in that it emphasizes understanding the social dynamics that promote language vitality rather than focusing on endangerment primarily as an outcome of global trends. This project also strengthens connections between linguistics, political science, and other disciplines studying peace and conflict.

The project's outcomes can inform the study of societal resilience in the face of adversity. Its results also have the potential to inform government policies seeking to promote the use of minority languages by giving policy makers a clearer perspective of the factors that contribute to speakers continuing to use those languages. Results also have the potential to lead to actionable recommendations for organizations that work with displaced people.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.