Reviving disappearing languages: ‘Language is part of your identity’
Appointment
Rik van Gijn was appointed professor of Ethnolinguistic Vitality and Diversity in the World from 1 December this year. He is keen to use the position to set up research on language vitality. ‘People almost never give up their mother tongue entirely voluntarily.’
A lot of research is already being done in Leiden on language variation. Van Gijn himself, for instance, studies how different language families have spread through South America over thousands of years. With the start of the new chair, another task will be added: charting the vitality of languages and strengthening the position of disappearing languages.
Language never just disappears
‘Language is part of your identity,’ Van Gijn explains the importance of his assignment. 'When people give up their language, they almost never do so entirely voluntarily. It may sometimes seem as if they do, in order to gain more economic opportunities, for example, but if you were to then ask them whether they would still switch if they could also get those economic opportunities with their own language, I think the answer will almost always be no.'
Added to this are the more distressing situations that make people switch languages. Van Gijn: ‘They might, for example, be punished at school for using their language. Nowadays you see less of that, thankfully, but such policies have left traces in the way people think about their own language, as have discrimination and racism. If such groups want to revitalise their language, I want to help them as best I can.'
From South America to the Netherlands
Van Gijn adheres to the scientific adage that more research is necessary. 'At the end of March we are going to Peru, where we have a meeting with a university where the aim is to give indigenous youth better access to higher education. I hope this will give us an entry point into the region, because South America is also an area in which the faculty has a lot of knowledge. I want to continue to project that.'
Another focus will be multilingualism in Dutch cities. ‘We have made contacts both within Leiden and beyond,’ says Van Gijn. 'Together with colleagues from Tilburg, Amsterdam and Groningen, we want to map which languages people speak in Dutch cities. Municipalities often have information on the nationality of their residents. They often also know whether people have a migration background, but little or nothing is known about language use. That can be useful information for their communication. For myself, it's nice to suddenly be working close to home, rather than with data about South America.'
‘Let the tradition continue’
For now, it remains to be seen whether the first initiatives will lead to a project that will be funded, but in any case Van Gijn is happy to start as a professor. 'It’s quite extraordinary that there is funding for a new chair at a time when the humanities are under so much pressure. In Leiden, we take a unique approach to Latin American Studies and African Studies. I hope I can contribute to this excellent and important tradition with this externally funded chair.'