Overview of survey goals and methods

3.3.6 Bilingualism participatory method

Description and Purpose: This method helps language community members describe the demographics and patterns of multilingualism within their community. Procedure: Participants listed the languages spoken most frequently in their community. They then described categories of people who speak each language well, the relative size of each category of speakers, and which categories may be increasing most quickly. See Appendix E-2a for the specific steps included in this method. Sampling: A group of 15 Yamphu speakers seven ladies and eight men in the village of Hedangna participated in this facilitation. Advantages: This method allows those participating to describe the linguistic situation in their community. Through discussion and interaction, it reveals the community’s perception of bilingualism. An insider perspective can be very insightful, providing data that other methods may miss. Disadvantages: This method is not very accommodating to multilingual situations exceeding the complexity of bilingualism. It does not help document or illustrate community attitudes towards their bilingualmultilingual context. The tool is exclusively descriptive and observational. It does not provide an opportunity for participants to evaluate the merits of various language use choices.

3.3.7 Appreciative Inquiry participatory method

Description and Purpose: The Appreciative Inquiry AI method helps community members discuss what they are proud of, what desires they have for their language, and begin planning for how to achieve those dreams. It shows what the community regards as priorities for their own language-based development. Procedure: Participants discuss things in their L1 or culture that have made them happy or proud. They then consider how to build upon the good things they identified, or list their own dreams for their language. Next, they discuss which dreams might be accomplished sooner and which ones will take longer. Then, they identify which dreams are most important to them. Finally, participants choose a dream they would like to create a plan for, including first steps, who will be involved, and when the plan will be put into action. See Appendix E-4a for detailed steps on how to carry out this method. Sampling: A group of 15 Yamphu speakers seven ladies and eight men in the village of Hedangna participated in this facilitation. Advantages: AI is very adaptable. Its emphasis is on what the community can do now to work towards their dreams for language development. Disadvantages: AI may raise false hopes of outside assistance in reaching their goals.

3.4 Overview of survey goals and methods

Goal 1 Understand each language community’s desires for language development. Research Questions What goals do these communities express for future language development? Methods Used Informal Interviews Appreciative Inquiry participatory method Goal 2 Investigate vitality of the Yamphu language. Research Questions • What languages are used in various domains of life? • To what degree is the mother tongue being passed on to the next generation? • Is the speech community located near, or do they have access to, a population center where its members would have contact with speakers of other languages? • What types of code switching are present? With what frequency? • What are the population and group dynamics? • Is it necessary for immigrants into each community to learn L1? • Is there a network of social relations supportive of the targeted vernacular? • Is there an internal or external recognition of the language community as separate and unique within the broader society? Is there material or non-material evidence of such a distinction? • Does the target language have prestige among other neighboring or regional languages? What is the relative prestige of the language within the speech community? • Is there an acceptable economic base supportive of continuing use of the target language? Methods Used Informal Interviews Domains of Language Use participatory method Bilingualism participatory method Goal 3 Investigate variation among Yamphu varieties. Research Questions • What dialects exist within the language? • What is the lexical similarity between varieties? • What is the level of intelligibility between varieties? • Where are dialects located? • What are the attitudes between varieties? Methods Used Wordlists Recorded Text Tests Informal Interviews Dialect Mapping participatory method Goal 4 Understand lexical similarity, comprehension, and attitudes between Yamphu [ybi], Yamphe [yma], Northern Lohorung [lbr], and Southern Lohorung [lrr] communities. Research Questions • Is Yamphe a separate language? • Is Southern Lohorung a separate language? • Where are the varieties located? • What is the lexical similarity between varieties? • What is the level of intelligibility between varieties? • What are the attitudes between varieties? Methods Used Wordlists Recorded Text Tests Informal Interviews 4 Desires for development The research question we want to answer in this chapter is, “What goals do these communities express for future language development?” Several questions on the informal interview schedule dealt with this topic. Additionally, participatory methods were used in Hedangna to assess desires for language development.

4.1 Informal interview results