Keeping Q’anjob’al Separate: Indigenous Language Ideologies in Diaspora Among Newcomer English Learners

• In Event: Critical Approaches to Studying Language Ideologies: Race, Power, and Resistance

Abstract

Long dismissed as inconsequential to linguistic study, language ideologies recently have received more academic interest insofar as they represent important cultural practices and approaches to understanding the nature of communication and culture (Kroskrity, 2000). Language ideologies among Indigenous groups have been explored in relation to language revitalization (Shulist & Granadillo, 2022). Youth language ideologies, however, have received less attention, and youth have differing approaches to language, especially post-migration. This paper asks how Indigenous youth language ideologies are articulated in diaspora. I use interviews and ethnographic observations conducted with Mayan youth to analyze how the community and educational surroundings post-migration influence Indigenous language ideologies. I show how language ideologies have important implications for how Mayan youth engage in language learning.

Author

• Jackson Gzehoviak, University of California - Los Angeles