The naïf, the sophisticate, and the party girl
Regional and gender stereotypes in Breton language web videos
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i2.291Keywords:
Breton language, language revitalization, language endangerment, new media, language education, genderAbstract
Expanding upon research that has explored the reproduction of hegemonic gender norms in foreign language education, this paper analyses the stereotypes of gender and sexual hegemony, as well as a potentially subversive counterexample, in a Breton language web-based video comedy series designed to celebrate and promote the language, and explores the potential impact of these norms in this critically important endangered language revitalization context. Given that there is almost no intergenerational transmission of the Breton language, and that only a limited number of young people are educated in immersion and bilingual programmes, the Breton language has already largely disappeared from everyday life in Brittany; in response to this reality, Breton language media outlets have been established to reach out to the younger generation of speakers and encourage them to maintain interest in Breton after leaving school. This study offers insights into the complex interweaving of tradition, gender, and modernity in language revitalization efforts, and discusses the impact of such programming upon the Breton language community in Brittany and the Breton diaspora.
References
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Le Télégramme (2008) ken Tuch’. Un sitcom ‘pur breizh’ sur internet. Retrieved on 14 december 2010 at www.letelegramme.com/une/ken-tuch-une-sitcom-purbreizh-sur-internet-20080305-2643523_1244137.php
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Macdonald, S. (1997) Reimagining Culture: Histories, Identities and the Gaelic Renaissance. Oxford, Uk: Berg.
Mendel, k. (2004) Regional languages in France: The case of Breton. LSO Working Papers in Linguistics 4: 65–75.
Rifkin, B. (1998) Gender representation in foreign language textbooks: a case study of textbooks of Russian. The Modern Language Journal 82: 217–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1998.tb01195.x
Romaine, S. (2007) Preserving endangered languages. Language and Linguistics Compass 1: 115–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00004.x
Rose, M. a. (1993) Parody: Ancient, Modern, and Post-Modern. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sunderland, J. (2000) Issues of language and gender in second and foreign language education. Language Teaching 33: 203–223. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0261444800015688
Sunderland, J. (2004) Gendered Discourses. New york: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230505582
Sunderland J., Rahim, F.a. Leontzakou, C. and Shattuck, J. (2001) From bias ‘in the text’ to ‘teacher talk around the text’: an exploration of teacher discourse and gendered foreign language textbook texts. Linguistics and Education 11: 251–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0898-5898(00)00034-6
Timm, L. a. (1980) Bilingualism, diglossia and language shift in Brittany. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 1980: 29–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1980.25.29
Timm, L. a. (2001) Ethnic identity and minority language survival in Brittany. In C. O’Reilly (ed.) Language, Ethnicity and the State. Volume 1: Minority Languages in the European Union. London: Palgrave.
Timm, L. a. (2003) Breton at a crossroads: Looking back, moving forward. E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies 2: 25–61.
Turner, V. (1988) The Anthropology of Performance. New york: PaJ Publications.
TV Breizh (n.d.) La Chaîne. Retrieved on 3 May 2012 from http://www.tvbreizh. fr/tvbreizh/la-chaine/
Ann Henaff, G. and Strubel, E. (2008) dañs rond. Ken Tuch’. an Oriant, Breizh: dizale. Retrieved on 28 May 2008 from http://www.brezhoweb.com/an_holl_ brogrammou.html?rubrique=5
Ann Henaff, G. and Strubel, E. (2008) Ha ya! Ken Tuch’. an Oriant, Breizh: dizale. Retrieved on 28 May 2008 from http://www.brezhoweb.com/an_holl_ brogrammou.html?rubrique=5
Ann Henaff, G. and Strubel, E. (2008) Priñzes katell. Ken Tuch’. an Oriant, Breizh: dizale. Retrieved on 28 May 2008 from http://www.brezhoweb.com/an_holl_ brogrammou.html?rubrique=5
Barrett, R. (1995) Supermodels of the world, unite! Political economy and the language of performance among african american drag queens. In W. L. Leap (ed.) Beyond the Lavender Lexicon: Authenticity, Imagination and Appropriation in Lesbian and Gay Languages 207–26. New york: Gordon and Breach Press.
Butler, J. (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’. New york: Routledge.
Cavanaugh, J. R. (2004) Remembering and forgetting: Ideologies of language loss in a northern Italian town. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 14: 24–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jlin.2004.14.1.24
Chatterjee, R. (1993) Prostitution in nineteenth century Bengal: Construction of class and gender. Social Scientist 21: 159–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3520431
Dorian, N. (1989) Investigating Obsolescence: Studies in Language Contraction and Death. New york: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511620997
Echeverria, B. (2001) Privileging masculinity in the social construction of Basque identity. Nations and Nationalism 7: 339–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1469-8219.00020
Echeverria, B. (2003) Language ideologies and practices in (en)gendering the Basque nation. Language in Society 32: 383–413. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404503323048
Fishman, J. a. (1991) Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages. Clevedon, Uk: Multilingual Matters.
Fishman, J. a. (ed.) (2001) Can Threatened Languages be Saved? Reversing Language Shift, Revisited: A 21st Century Perspective. Clevedon, Uk: Multilingual Matters.
Garland, J. (2008) The Minority Language and the Cosmopolitan Speaker: Ideologies of Irish Language Learners. Unpublished dissertation. University of California, Santa Barbara.
Giaschi, P. (2000) Gender positioning in education: a critical image analysis of ESL texts. TESL Canada Journal 18: 32–46.
Grenoble, L. a. and Whaley, L. J. (eds) (2006) Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hebdige, d. (1988) Hiding in the Light: On Images and Things. New york: Routledge.
Hinton, L. and ahlers, J. (1999) The issue of ‘authenticity’ in Californian language restoration. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 30: 56–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/aeq.1999.30.1.56
Hinton, L. and Hale, k. (eds) (2001) The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. San diego: academic Press.
Hoare, R. (2002) an integrative approach to language attitudes and identity in Brittany. Journal of Sociolinguistics 5: 73–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00138
Irvine, J. T. and Gal, S. (2000) Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In P. V. kroskrity (ed.) Regimes of Language: Ideologies, Polities, and Identities 35–83. Santa Fe: School of american Research Press.
Jaffe, a. (1999) Ideologies in Action: Language Politics on Corsica. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Jouitteau, M. and Rezac, M. (2008) From mihi est to ‘have’ across Breton dialects. P. Benincà, F. damonte and N. Penello (eds) Selected Proceedings of the 34th Incontro di Grammatica Generativa 33: 161–78.
Kelly-Holmes, H. (2006a) Multilingualism and commercial language practices on the Internet. Journal of Sociolinguistics 10: 507–519. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2006.00290.x
Kelly-Holmes, H. (2006b) Operation Sexy Irish. a talk given at the american anthropological association, San Jose, California.
Krauss, M. (1992) The world’s languages in crisis. Language 68: 4–10.
Krauss, Michael (2007) Classification and terminology for degrees of language endangerment. In M. Brenzinger (ed.) Language Diversity Endangered 1–8. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
King, k. a. (2001) Language Revitalization Processes and Prospects: Quichua in the Ecuadorian Andes. Clevedon, Uk: Multilingual Matters.
Le Télégramme (2008) ken Tuch’. Un sitcom ‘pur breizh’ sur internet. Retrieved on 14 december 2010 at www.letelegramme.com/une/ken-tuch-une-sitcom-purbreizh-sur-internet-20080305-2643523_1244137.php
Livia, a. and Hall k. (1997) ‘It’s a girl!’ Bringing performativity back to linguistics. In a. Livia and k. Hall (eds) Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality. New york: Oxford University Press.
Macdonald, S. (1997) Reimagining Culture: Histories, Identities and the Gaelic Renaissance. Oxford, Uk: Berg.
Mendel, k. (2004) Regional languages in France: The case of Breton. LSO Working Papers in Linguistics 4: 65–75.
Rifkin, B. (1998) Gender representation in foreign language textbooks: a case study of textbooks of Russian. The Modern Language Journal 82: 217–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1998.tb01195.x
Romaine, S. (2007) Preserving endangered languages. Language and Linguistics Compass 1: 115–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00004.x
Rose, M. a. (1993) Parody: Ancient, Modern, and Post-Modern. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sunderland, J. (2000) Issues of language and gender in second and foreign language education. Language Teaching 33: 203–223. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0261444800015688
Sunderland, J. (2004) Gendered Discourses. New york: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230505582
Sunderland J., Rahim, F.a. Leontzakou, C. and Shattuck, J. (2001) From bias ‘in the text’ to ‘teacher talk around the text’: an exploration of teacher discourse and gendered foreign language textbook texts. Linguistics and Education 11: 251–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0898-5898(00)00034-6
Timm, L. a. (1980) Bilingualism, diglossia and language shift in Brittany. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 1980: 29–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1980.25.29
Timm, L. a. (2001) Ethnic identity and minority language survival in Brittany. In C. O’Reilly (ed.) Language, Ethnicity and the State. Volume 1: Minority Languages in the European Union. London: Palgrave.
Timm, L. a. (2003) Breton at a crossroads: Looking back, moving forward. E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies 2: 25–61.
Turner, V. (1988) The Anthropology of Performance. New york: PaJ Publications.
TV Breizh (n.d.) La Chaîne. Retrieved on 3 May 2012 from http://www.tvbreizh. fr/tvbreizh/la-chaine/
Published
2012-09-10
Issue
Section
Special Issue Articles
How to Cite
Adkins, M., & Davis, J. L. (2012). The naïf, the sophisticate, and the party girl: Regional and gender stereotypes in Breton language web videos. Gender and Language, 6(2), 291-308. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i2.291
