This dissertation research project will try to explain why some Yupik Eskimo communities retain Yupik as their primary language while other villages undergo language shift to English. A PhD student in anthropological linguistics from the University of California-Berkeley will conduct ethnographic research, including collecting qualitative and quantitative data on language use in two villages, one speaking Yupik and the other English. Methods used will include ethnographic participant observation, a census of language use, analysis of social networks, video-taping of language behavior and sociolinguistic interactions, and conversation-and rhetorical analysis. This research is important because most of the world's 9,000 languages exist as minority languages within multilingual nation- states. Understanding of the general causal principles which influence language retention and change will help planners achieve policy goals of preserving cultural diversity while maximizing socio-political integration.
