Linguistics Colloquium: Jhonnatan Rangel

17 Dwight Street, Boston MA

Description

Dr. Jhonnatan Rangel (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales; CNRS) joins us to deliver a colloquium entitled "Words like the wind: Documenting variation in critically endangered languages". Abstract: Although variation is a phenomenon inherent to all world languages, its study has traditionally been focused on hegemonic and/or colonial languages spoken in WEIRD societies (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic). As such, the tools that have been developed to study variation have so far been focused on those contexts, limiting our understanding of variation to just one side of a complex story. In this talk I will share some of my experiences documenting variation in Ayapaneco, a critically endangered indigenous language spoken in Mexico. Documenting variation in a critically endangered language spoken in a predominantly NORM context (nonmobile, older, rural males) raises complex theoretical and methodological questions that challenge fundamental concepts for linguistics. At the same time, it broadens our perspective and understanding of variation as a universal characteristic of language. As 10% of the world’s languages are critically endangered, any effort to engage with these languages, especially to document them, will need to confront and include variation without a well developed set of tools to do so. By sharing some of my experiences and perspectives, I hope to start a conversation regarding the study of variation in nontraditional contexts. Watch the YouTube livestream (of the talk only) at: bit.ly/bulingyt Register (to participate in the Q&A) by 3/17 at: bit.ly/bulingspring21 Made possible through the Emerging Scholars Program funded jointly by BU's Office of the Provost and the CAS Dean's Office.