Silozi is one of the local languages of Namibia with over 200 thousand mother-tongue speakers. The aim of this study is to examine the language situation in the Malozi Community of Caprivi and to identify the factors influencing the maintenance of Silozi in Namibia. The following factors were identified as relevant to the maintenance of Silozi: education, media, religion, contact situations, cultural activities and language loyalty. Despite the strong influence of English in education and increased use of English bythe younger generation, the findings indicate that Silozi is likely to survive for several generations into the future. The study reveals that a high percentage of both young and old use more Silozi in the domain of home, neighbourhood and church than English. It is evident that Silozi will continue to be used as a functional language in Caprivi for many years to come. / Linguistics / (M.A. (Sociolinguistics))

Dissertation submitted to the Department of African Languages and Linguistics in fulfilment of the requirement for Master of Art's Degree in Humanities The University of the Witwatersrand, School of Literature, Language and Media, March 2016 / The gradual decline in the use of Black South African languages (BSALs) has been a concern for the past 20 years in both the South African civil population and academia. The last census data of 2011 informs this phenomenon by showing how language use has changed nationally over the years. In an effort to counter this decline, some researchers have called for the improvement of existing non-standard language varieties, which could serve to improve some of these decreasing Black South African languages (Ditsele, 2014). Non-standard language varieties are ‘languages’ largely spoken in black townships around South Africa. They are sometimes referred to as stylects, sociolets or speech varieties, due to their structures and functions (Bembe & Beukes, 2007). Applying a psycholinguistic approach, this study seeks to compare the standard language Sesotho to a non-standard language variety, Mamelodi Lingo. This study looks at the discursive behaviour focusing on speech and gesture. Previous literature on South African language varieties focuses on the semantic and pragmatic description of the words in use (Calteaux, 1996; Hurst, 2008; 2015; Rudwick, 2005; Ditsele, 2014), and very few have incorporated co-speech gesture, which form an integral part of non-language varieties (Brookes, 2001; 2005). The present study presents the results of an empirical investigation that compares 20 narratives produced by Sesotho and Mamelodi Lingo speakers. Using the methodology used in the elicitation of speech and gesture by Colletta et al., (2009; 2015), participants watched a speechless short cartoon and were then asked to retell the story they had seen to the interviewer. Using the language annotation tool, ELAN narratives were annotated for language complexity, length, and type of clause, syntax, as well as story grammar memory-recall. Narratives were also annotated for gesture: type of gesture and function of gesture. The focus was on the discursive performance of speech and gesture. Results show a significant use of meta-narrative clauses from the language variety compared to the standard language as well as a higher use of non-representational gestures by the non-standard language. The findings also show an interesting use of interactive co-speech gestures when retrieving lexical items that are not present in the repertoire of Mamelodi Lingo / GR2017

<p>The aim of this research has been to describe and analyse Swedish linguistic and cultural influence, on identification, and idiomatic awareness as well as on the Spanish used by Hispanic Americans who have lived more than 12 years in Sweden.</p><p>The analysis has been carried out within the field of sociolinguistics, specifically in the area of language contact, drawing on methodological aspects of ethno linguistics, sociology of language and cognitive linguistics. The research was divided into two phases. In the first phase, we describe and analyse Corpus 1, consisting of 20 interviews of first generation Hispanic Americans political refugees. In the second phase, we describe, compare and analyse Corpus 2, which consists of 105 questionnaires distributed to first and second generation Hispanic Americans in Sweden.</p><p>The results have shown that in Sweden Hispanic Americans have gradually generated a variety of Spanish which clearly shows features of Swedish culture and language and with an aspect of standardisation due to the fact that in the intercommunication between language speakers of varieties of Spanish certain variations have slowly been eliminated over the course of time. The sociolinguistic situation of the informants has been observed as well as the nature of the immigration and identification and idiomatic awareness in relation to their integration or lack of integration into Swedish society. The use of 38 words with a high level of synonymy was also investigated in order to establish standardisation of these representative words among the varieties of Spanish, spoken in Sweden. Furthermore we have investigated clichés, lexical, semantic-pragmatic and syntactic loans from Swedish as well as Swedish cultural influence on use tense among the informants.</p>

The aim of this research has been to describe and analyse Swedish linguistic and cultural influence, on identification, and idiomatic awareness as well as on the Spanish used by Hispanic Americans who have lived more than 12 years in Sweden. The analysis has been carried out within the field of sociolinguistics, specifically in the area of language contact, drawing on methodological aspects of ethno linguistics, sociology of language and cognitive linguistics. The research was divided into two phases. In the first phase, we describe and analyse Corpus 1, consisting of 20 interviews of first generation Hispanic Americans political refugees. In the second phase, we describe, compare and analyse Corpus 2, which consists of 105 questionnaires distributed to first and second generation Hispanic Americans in Sweden. The results have shown that in Sweden Hispanic Americans have gradually generated a variety of Spanish which clearly shows features of Swedish culture and language and with an aspect of standardisation due to the fact that in the intercommunication between language speakers of varieties of Spanish certain variations have slowly been eliminated over the course of time. The sociolinguistic situation of the informants has been observed as well as the nature of the immigration and identification and idiomatic awareness in relation to their integration or lack of integration into Swedish society. The use of 38 words with a high level of synonymy was also investigated in order to establish standardisation of these representative words among the varieties of Spanish, spoken in Sweden. Furthermore we have investigated clichés, lexical, semantic-pragmatic and syntactic loans from Swedish as well as Swedish cultural influence on use tense among the informants.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 256-264)

Cette recherche porte sur la situation sociolinguistique en Algérie et sur les conflits linguistiques qu’elle a connus de 1962 à nos jours. L’objet de notre thèse se situe au croisement des facteurs historiques, politiques, socioculturels et des enjeux éducatifs. Il s’agit de développer une approche sociolinguistique afin d’analyser un conflit dialectique devenu permanent. Une première partie de ce travail met en évidence des aspects de ce conflit générés par l’opposition binaire entre le colonisateur et le colonisé. Nous proposons un aperçu historique remontant à 1830, en nous basant sur des témoignages historiques relatifs à la naissance de ce conflit identitaire, socioculturel et linguistique. Une deuxième partie analyse la situation sociolinguistique de 1962 à nos jours, une nouvelle période qui a vu apparaître un autre type de conflit. Il s’agit là d’un conflit tripartite, cette fois entre trois communautés linguistiques (arabophone, francophone, berbérophone) et leurs relations complexes et ambiguës. Après avoir présenté et étudié la situation dans le Maghreb en général et en Algérie en particulier, nous cherchons à comprendre les phénomènes et les pratiques sociolinguistiques que l’on peut observer actuellement auprès de la population algérienne. Une troisième partie comporte une étude empirique des comportements linguistiques et de la perception des différentes langues sur le terrain. Nous l’avons effectuée à l’aide d’un questionnaire destiné aux trois communautés linguistiques qui nous a permis d’évaluer le paysage sociolinguistique de la société algérienne dans des situations formelles et informelles et dans le rapport entre la sphère privée et la sphère publique. Au travers de cette recherche nous nous interrogeons sur la tension instaurée par ce conflit dialectique d’ordre sociolinguistique, dans un pays en proie à des divergences historiques, politiques et socioculturelles, mis face aux conséquences des politiques éducatives controversés de ces dernières décennies. Notre recherche soulève la question des enjeux de l’idéologisation et de la politisation de la question linguistique, mettant au jour ses effets sur l’image des langues en présence dans les perspectives des locuteurs algériens. / The research undertaken in this thesis is centred on the conflictive sociolinguistic situation in Algeria from 1962 until the present day. The main focus of this study can be found at the crossroads of historical factors with political and sociocultural ones as well as with questions pertaining to education. The aim is to develop a sociolinguistic approach of a permanent dialectic conflict. The first part of the study puts to the fore elements that characterise this conflict in its binary dimension between coloniser and colonised. We propose a historical vision of events that go back to 1830, basing our work on historical accounts pertinent to the origins of a sociocultural and linguistic conflict of identity. The second part analyses the sociolinguistic situation from 1962 until the present, a new period that has witnessed the arrival of new forms of conflict of a threefold type in accordance to three components related to the three linguistic communities (Arab-speaking, French-speaking and Berber-speaking) and to the complex and ambiguous relationships they entertain with one another. After the presentation of this question as regards the wider field of North Africa, we centre our study specifically on Algeria and seek to understand the sociolinguistic phenomena and practices developed by Algerians. A third part is devoted to an empirical field study based on a questionnaire aimed at the three linguistic communities. This work has enabled us to evaluate the sociolinguistic landscape of Algerian society in formal and informal situations, and in the relationship between private and public space. This study questions the tensions arising from a sociolinguistic situation that evolved from historical, political, socio-cultural an educational reasons. It brings to light questions pertaining to a certain ideological and political use of the linguistic aspects of the country, highlighting the effects on the image of the languages concerned as regards the perspectives of Algerian speakers.

Silozi is one of the local languages of Namibia with over 200 thousand mother-tongue speakers. The aim of this study is to examine the language situation in the Malozi Community of Caprivi and to identify the factors influencing the maintenance of Silozi in Namibia. The following factors were identified as relevant to the maintenance of Silozi: education, media, religion, contact situations, cultural activities and language loyalty. Despite the strong influence of English in education and increased use of English bythe younger generation, the findings indicate that Silozi is likely to survive for several generations into the future. The study reveals that a high percentage of both young and old use more Silozi in the domain of home, neighbourhood and church than English. It is evident that Silozi will continue to be used as a functional language in Caprivi for many years to come. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / (M.A. (Sociolinguistics))

When two or more languages come in contact, they influence each other in various ways, for example through word borrowing, transfer of sounds, morphology and syntax taken from one language system and imported to another. In this study, the primary concern is on the indigenous communities of Uganda learning the English language, plus the influence that this interaction brings into the linguistic space. Bringing the Ugandan multilingual situation into perspective, the study looks at how the English language has interacted with the local languages and the local speech habits, customs and traditions of the indigenous people, to the extent that it has been indigenized. Some word usage results in miscommunication due to the socio-cultural uniqueness of Ugandan cultural expressions. As an example, because of the practice of polygamy in most Ugandan cultures, words like co-wife are coined to mean 'a woman who shares a husband, or a husband's other wife', a word that is absent in both the language and culture of native English speakers. Furthermore some words are formed by calquing some indigenous language expressions, e.g. 'to eat money' or 'to eat cash', an expression that is calqued from the Luganda phrase, kulya sente. Such word coinages are meant to fill the 'shortfall' where the English language fails to provide adequate equivalents. Understanding the context of this kind of English usage and the influence from the indigenous languages is helpful in handling inter-cultural discourses, as the same expression may convey different senses to different people in different contexts. So then, this study deals with some peculiarities of Ugandan English, namely; the features of Ugandan English grammar which are influenced by the indigenous languages. Evidence from the Corpus of Ugandan English is explored to establish that indigenous languages in Uganda have a significant influence on the English language variety spoken in the country, and that a large part of English bilingual speakers cannot speak English without transferring the features from their mother tongue or indeed, switching and mixing codes. A British corpus was used for the purposes of comparison with Ugandan English. The research was conducted in Uganda, drawing data from English newspapers, radio and television talk -shows that were recorded to provide a structural analysis of the contact situations. The result of the study points to the fact that, indeed, the phonological, morpho-syntactic and semantic characteristics of Ugandan English have a considerable amount of influence from indigenous local languages. This study is hinged on the assumption that when indigenous languages and the target language come together in a linguistic contact situation, the resulting variety would exhibit distinct phonological, lexical, grammatical and semantic/pragmatic features ( cf. Sankoff, 2001; Thomason, 1995; Thomason & Kaufman, 1988; Winford, 2005). However, some of these innovations have attracted criticism from 'prescriptivists' such as Quirk (1985, 1988, 1990); Gaudio (2011); and Abbot (1991) who perceive them as 'nonstandard', 'incorrect English language usage' and a 'direct translation from the language user's mother tongue into English'. Yet, indigenous languages continue to play important roles in shaping the kind of English language usage in Uganda.

Submitted by Ana Helena Rufo Fiamengui null (ana_hel15@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-09-11T17:50:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fiamengui_AHRF_Tesefinal.pdf: 2306836 bytes, checksum: 6817adf245390e5f5c9b8e026cf2dac3 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-09-12T17:14:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 fiamengui_ahr_dr_sjrp.pdf: 2306836 bytes, checksum: 6817adf245390e5f5c9b8e026cf2dac3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-12T17:14:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 fiamengui_ahr_dr_sjrp.pdf: 2306836 bytes, checksum: 6817adf245390e5f5c9b8e026cf2dac3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-22 / A realidade escolar fronteiriça, que se mostra muitas vezes conflituosa e, sobretudo, múltipla e problemática, motivou a realização deste trabalho, que teve como intuito discutir e analisar as atitudes e as crenças dos alunos em relação às línguas oficiais na fronteira Porã, especificamente entre as cidades de Ponta Porã, sul de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil, e Pedro Juan Caballero, capital do Departamento de Amambay, Paraguai. Para a análise de atitudes, foi empregado um teste baseado principalmente na matched guise technique (técnica dos falsos pares), de Lambert et al. (1960), que envolve gravações de falantes bilíngues, depois avaliadas por respondentes em relação a um número relevante de atributos. Já o teste de crenças, construído a partir da técnica empregada por Barbosa (2009), tomou por base afirmações diversas sobre as línguas fronteiriças gravadas em visitas anteriores, em relação às quais os alunos deveriam exprimir concordância ou discordância. Além desses dois instrumentos metodológicos, que foram posteriormente reduzidos a dados estatísticos, adotamos ainda instrumentos etnográficos para a coleta de dados, mediante observação participante e gravação de entrevistas. Os testes foram aplicados a dez escolas, sendo cinco de cada país, de que fazem parte 324 adolescentes com idade igual ou superior a 14 anos (fase da percepção social para LABOV, 1974 [1964]). O processamento estatístico dos dados do teste de atitudes apontou uma distribuição dos treze atributos em quatro dimensões: caráter, competência, relacionamento e aparência. Os atributos da dimensão da competência mostram uma tendência clara de atribuição de prestígio ao português em detrimento das línguas do Paraguai, mesmo para os adolescentes que estudam nesse país. Já a análise das outras dimensões permite entrever, em algum grau, uma tendência favorável à atribuição de prestígio encoberto ao guarani. O espanhol recebeu, com frequência, notas intermediárias entre os extremos de valorização e estigma, atribuídos ao português e ao guarani, respectivamente. A análise dos dados submetidos à variável “sexo” demonstrou sutilmente haver maior grau de sensibilidade linguística das mulheres, mas, quando correlacionados à variável “idade”, os dados não forneceram um padrão claro de diferenciação, já que adolescentes entre 14 e 16 anos apresentam reações bastante similares. Quando submetidos à variável “grau de bilinguismo”, os dados evidenciam que esse grupo de fatores atua diferentemente em cada uma das quatro dimensões, mostrando-se os respondentes mais sensíveis ao parâmetro da aparência, numa relação diretamente proporcional entre grau de bilinguismo e valores das notas atribuídas. Também o fator “nível socioeconômico” não mostrou diferenciação significativa a ponto de ser possível depreender um padrão único de avaliação, ainda que haja a tendência de adolescentes de nível mais alto atribuírem notas ligeiramente mais baixas. O teste de crenças, em geral, acompanhou os dados do teste de atitudes em termos da atribuição de maior grau de relevância e utilidade ao português e ao espanhol, embora o guarani também seja considerado relevante e funcional na área de fronteira. As entrevistas, por sua vez, subsidiam e explicam os achados dos outros dois testes. Os dados obtidos forneceram um panorama detalhado das atitudes e crenças de adolescentes que estudam nas escolas de cada um dos lados da fronteira e apontaram para a necessidade de se promover um debate sério da questão do multilinguismo, não apenas no contexto de sala de aula, mas também no da comunidade como um todo. / The reality of schools located in borders, which is often conflictual and, above all, multiple and problematic, has motivated the accomplishment of this investigation, that had the purpose of discussing and analyzing students’ attitudes and beliefs regarding the official languages of the Porã border, specifically between the cities of Ponta Porã, south region of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and Pedro Juan Caballero, capital of the Department of Amambay, Paraguay. For analyzing the students’ attitudes, a test based mainly on Lambert et al. (1960)´s matched guise technique was used, which involves recording bilingual speakers and then evaluate by respondents in relation to a relevant number of attributes. The second test, the belief test, founded on the technique employed by Barbosa (2009), was based on assertions of border languages recorded in previous visits, in which students were expected to agree or disagree with. In addition to these two methodological instruments, which were later reduced to statistical data, we also adopted ethnographic instruments for data collection, through participant observation and interviews. The tests were applied to ten schools, five from each country, in which 324 teenagers aged 14 or older participate (Labov’s Social Perception stage, 1974 [1964]). Statistical processing of the attitude test data pointed to a distribution of the thirteen attributes in four dimensions: character, competence, relationship and appearance. The attributes of the competence dimension show a clear tendency of ascribing prestige to Portuguese to the detriment of Paraguayan languages, even for adolescents who study in this country. On the other hand, the analysis of other dimensions allows us to see a favorable tendency to attribute covert prestige to Guarani in some degree. Spanish frequently received intermediate marks between the extremes of valorization and stigma, attributed to Portuguese and Guarani respectively. The analysis of the data submitted to the variable “sex” showed that there is a slightly higher degree of women linguistic sensitivity, but when submitted to the variable “age”, the data did not provide a clear pattern of differentiation, as adolescents between 14 and 16 years old present quite similar reactions. When submitted to the variable “degree of bilingualism”, the data indicated that this group of factors acts differently in each of the four dimensions, showing the respondents who are more sensitive to the appearance parameter, in a directly proportional relationship between the degree of bilingualism and the values of the attributed scores. Also, the “socioeconomic level” factor didn’t show significant differentiation to the extent that it is possible to see a single pattern of evaluation, although there is a tendency for higher level adolescents to give slightly lower scores. The belief test, in general, followed the attitude test in terms of assigning more relevance and usefulness to Portuguese and Spanish, although Guarani was also considered relevant and functional in the border area. The interviews, in turn, subsidize and explain the findings of the other two tests. The obtained data provided a detailed view of attitudes and beliefs of adolescents who study in schools from each side of the border and pointed the need to promote a serious debate on multilingualism, not only in the context of the classroom but in the community as well. / La realidad escolar fronteriza, que se muestra muchas veces conflictiva y, sobre todo, múltiple y problemática, motivó la realización de este trabajo, que tuvo como propósito discutir y analizar las actitudes y creencias de los alumnos en respecto a las lenguas oficiales de la frontera Porã, precisamente entre las ciudades de Ponta Porã, sur del estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil, y Pedro Juan Caballero, capital del Departamento de Amambay, Paraguay. Para el análisis de las actitudes, se empleó un test basado principalmente en el matched guise technique (técnica de pares ocultos), de Lambert et al. (1960), que implica grabaciones de hablantes bilíngües, que son evaluadas por respondedores en relación a un número relevante de atributos. El test de creencias, construido a partir de la técnica empleada por Barbosa (2009), tomó por base diversas afirmaciones sobre las lenguas fronterizas grabadas en visitas anteriores, en relación a las cuales los alumnos deberían expresar concordancia o discordancia. Además de esos dos instrumentos metodológicos, posteriormente reducidos a datos estadísticos, adoptamos también instrumentos etnográficos para la recolección de datos, mediante observación participante y grabación de entrevistas. Los tests se aplicaron a diez escuelas, siendo cinco de cada país, de las que forman parte 324 adolescentes con edad igual o superior a 14 años (fase de la percepción social para LABOV, 1974 [1964]). El procesamiento estadístico de los datos del test de actitudes indicó una distribución de los trece atributos en cuatro dimensiones: carácter, competencia, relación y apariencia. Los atributos de la dimensión de la competencia muestran una tendencia clara de atribución de prestigio al portugués en detrimento de las lenguas de Paraguay, incluso para los adolescentes que estudian en ese país. El análisis de las otras dimensiones permite entrever, en cierto grado, una tendencia favorable de atribución de prestigio encubierto al guaraní. El español recibió con frecuencia notas intermedias entre los extremos de valoración y estigma, atribuidos respectivamente al portugués y al guaraní. El análisis de los datos sometidos a la variable “sexo” demostró sutilmente mayor grado de sensibilidad lingüística de las mujeres, pero cuando relacionados a la variable “edad”, los datos no producen un patrón claro de diferenciación, pues los adolescentes entre 14 y 16 años presentan reacciones muy similares. Cuando se someten a la variable “grado de bilingüismo”, los datos evidencian que ese grupo de factores actúa diferentemente en cada una de las cuatro dimensiones, mostrándose los respondedores más sensibles al parámetro de la apariencia, en una relación directamente proporcional entre grado de bilingüismo y notas atribuidas. También el factor “nivel socioeconómico” no mostró diferenciación significativa hasta el punto de ser posible deducir un único patrón de evaluación, aunque los adolescentes de nivel más alto tiendan a atribuir notas ligeramente más bajas. El test de creencias acompañó en general los datos del test de actitudes en términos de atribución de mayor grado de relevancia y utilidad al portugués y al español, pese a que el guaraní también se considere relevante y funcional en el área fronteriza. Las entrevistas, a su vez, subsidian y explican los hallazgos de los otros dos tests. Los datos obtenidos proporcionaron un panorama detallado de las actitudes y creencias de adolescentes que estudian en las escuelas de cada lado de la frontera y señalan la necesidad de promover un debate serio sobre el multilingüismo no sólo en el contexto del aula sino también en el de la comunidad como un todo.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:19:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Rodrigo_Mesquita.pdf: 525946 bytes, checksum: 470203b5dc1e91eee9447425a51d6799 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-28 / Many languages, spoken by minority populations coming in contact with majority ones are losing vitality. Additionally, several other languages have become extinct, and this phenomenon is related to a cultural complexity involving a unique way to reflect on reality and to become a part of it. The reasons for this are many, and in each case, they act in different ways. Identifying these reasons can help to clarify the situation of a given language, and, consequently, provide subsidies for (re)vitalization projects, given that the understanding of the sociolinguistic situation may reveal what is behind the many facets resulting from the predominantly asymmetric relationships among unequally assigned political, economic and cultural powers among the involved populations. In this sense, variations and changes in those languages are directly related to changes that have taken place in the social and cultural medium and in the ecosystem where those peoples live. Thus, both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors act on those changes. According to several authors (Albó, 1988; Braggio, 1997; Godenzzi, 2000; Nettle & Romaine, 2000; Romaine, 1995 among others), borrowings made by minority languages which come in contact with dominant languages, are seen as signs that the lexicon of that particular language is losing vitality, in view of the speed with which those borrowings are incorporated. Thus, there is no time for the community to adapt the terms by creating them their own language or to filter the new terms, adjusting them to the structure of the native language. As stated earlier, the whole social, cultural, political and economic structure of those peoples is being threatened. The Xerente people are among those minorities whose language is being threatened. In this view, we intend to give our contribution to Linguistics, to the study of indigenous languages and to the Xerente Akwe&#61481; people, by bringing to light the sociolinguistic situation in which they find themselves, by studying the linguistic borrowings made from Portuguese to their language. Currently, they are 3,100 individuals and their language is part of the Jê family, Macro Jê language stock (RODRIGUES, 1986). They occupy an area in the State of Tocantins, approximately 80 km from Palmas, the State capital. They are distributed among 56 villages, and part of the population (approximately 10%) lives in Tocantínia, the city which is closest to them. Therefore, the main goals of this dissertation are: a) describing and analyzing the borrowings from Portuguese to Xerente Akwe&#61481;, in their linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects; b) making a contribution to the area of sociolinguistics, with the study of the borrowings, in a situation of close linguistic and socio-cultural contact and c) thinking, along with the Xerente people, about the phenomenon that is the object of this study and attempt to contribute to their school education and to the vitalization of their language in the aspects that are being most affected (Braggio, 2008). To attain these goals, we are using the method which consists of applying words lists with visual aids divided into semantic fields (such as transportation, tools and utensils, school, food etc., representing the new elements that are being introduced in the indigenous culture), for the purpose of determining up to what point these borrowings are being made on a regular basis, among languages that come in contact with each other as changes that are unique to each language, as a lexicon-expanding tool or if they are taking place in a disorderly fashion, thereby contributing to the dislocation of the Xerente language, or both. Regarding linguistic aspects, we have identified four types of borrowings: i) borrowings by creation; ii) loanblends; iii) phonetic/phonological adjustments and iv) direct borrowings, each with different degrees of structural complexity. The last ones are used exactly like they are used in Portuguese, and thereby represent a prevalent force of the Portuguese language as used by the speakers, in their effort to adapt them to the indigenous language. This type of borrowing marks the real beginning of a language obsolescence, since it is related to the speed with which the borrowings make their appearance. Additionally, one can not separate borrowings from attitudes, since they are very important for the linguistic policies that the Xerente people have been adopting. Results from the analysis of extra-linguistic aspects have shown that some borrowings have become aportuguesados , that is, they show Portuguese-like characteristics, which are closer or identical to the forms used in Portuguese. They are more commonly found among the children and the younger Xerente who live in the city and have more schooling. The forms created with elements of the native language are more easily found among the older population, living in the indigenous community with little or no schooling. Generally speaking, the social reality of the Xerente, consisting of migration, internal dispersion and schooling in the Portuguese language, as Braggio (idem) states, can be considered as being one of the factors that can potentialize an intrusion of Portuguese into the Xerente Akwe&#61481; language. We believe that this study fills a gap by dealing with a specific aspect of the sociolinguistic reality of the Xerente people, thereby providing subsidies for future studies. / Muitas línguas faladas por povos minoritários em situação de contato com povos majoritários encontram-se em situação de desvitalização. Além disso, várias outras línguas foram extintas, juntamente com uma complexidade cultural que envolve toda uma forma peculiar de refletir sobre a realidade e nela estar inserido. As razões para que isso ocorra são diversas e, para cada caso, atuam de diferentes formas. Identificar estas razões pode ajudar a clarear a situação de uma língua e conseqüentemente dar subsídios para projetos de (re)vitalização, uma vez que o entendimento da situação sociolingüística pode revelar o que há por trás das várias facetas originadas das relações, predominantemente assimétricas, de poder político, econômico e cultural desiguais entre os povos envolvidos. Neste sentido, as variações e mudanças nas línguas estão diretamente relacionadas com as mudanças ocorridas no meio sociocultural e no ecossistema em que estão inseridos os povos que as falam. Assim, tanto os fatores lingüísticos quanto os extra-lingüísticos atuam sobre estas mudanças. De acordo com vários autores (Albó, 1988; Braggio, 1997; Godenzzi, 2000; Nettle & Romaine, 2000; Romaine, 1995 entre outros), os empréstimos feitos por línguas minoritárias em situação de contato com línguas dominantes têm sido vistos como sinais da desvitalização do léxico destas línguas, dada a velocidade com que são incorporados ao léxico. Desta forma, não há tempo para que a coletividade adote os termos criados dentro da própria língua ou filtre os novos termos, adaptando-os à estrutura da língua incorporadora. Assim como a língua, toda a estrutura sociocultural, política e econômica desses povos são ameaçadas. O povo xerente encontra-se entre estas minorias que têm sua língua nativa ameaçada. Em vista disso, pretendemos dar nossa contribuição à Lingüística, aos estudos sobre línguas indígenas e ao povo xerente akwe&#61481;, trazendo à luz a situação sociolingüística em que se encontram, através do estudo dos empréstimos lingüísticos do Português para a língua xerente. Atualmente, somam por volta de 3.100 indivíduos e sua língua está filiada à família Jê, tronco Macro Jê (RODRIGUES, 1986). Sua área indígena encontra-se no estado do Tocantins, a aproximadamente 80km da capital Palmas. Ali estão distribuídos em 56 aldeias, além de parte da população (aproximadamente 10%) que vive no centro urbano de Tocantínia, a cidade mais próxima. Sendo assim, os principais objetivos desta dissertação são: a) descrever e analisar os empréstimos do Português para o Xerente Akwe&#61481;, em seus aspectos lingüísticos e extra-lingüísticos; b) contribuir para a área da sociolingüística com o estudo dos empréstimos em situação de contato lingüístico e sociocultural e c) refletir com o próprio povo Xerente acerca do fenômeno estudado e, assim, tentar contribuir para a educação escolar indígena e para a vitalização da língua nos aspectos em que estão sendo mais afetadas, dado que há fatores extra-lingüísticos concorrendo para uma possível desvitalização (Braggio, 2008). Para tanto, utilizamos como método a aplicação de listas de palavras representadas visualmente e divididas em campos semânticos (tais como transportes, ferramentas e utensílios, escola, alimentos etc., que representem os novos elementos que vão sendo introduzidos na cultura indígena), com a finalidade de verificar até que ponto estes empréstimos se dão de forma regular entre línguas em contato, como uma mudança própria de cada língua, como ferramenta de ampliação lexical ou se dão de forma desordenada, contribuindo para o deslocamento da língua xerente, ou ambas. Quanto aos aspectos lingüísticos, identificamos quatro tipos de empréstimos: i) por criação; ii) loanblends; iii) com adaptações fonético/fonológicas e iv) diretos, cada qual com diferentes graus de complexidade estrutural. Estes últimos são usados exatamente como o são no Português, representando assim uma força dominante do Português para parte dos falantes para adaptá-los à língua indígena. Este tipo de empréstimo é considerado como um indício real de obsolescência de língua, uma vez que está relacionado à velocidade com que os empréstimos estão entrando. Além do mais, não se pode desvincular os empréstimos das atitudes por parte dos próprios indígenas e das políticas lingüísticas que precisam ser adotadas para refletir sobre a situação. Os resultados da análise dos aspectos extralingüísticos mostram que os empréstimos aportuguesados , ou seja, mais próximos ou idênticos às formas portuguesas, são mais comuns entre as crianças e os Xerente +jovens, que vivem na cidade e que têm maior grau de escolaridade e que as formas criadas com elementos da língua nativa são de uso mais amplo dos indígenas +velhos, que vivem na aldeia e com pouca ou nenhuma escolaridade. De uma forma geral, a realidade social xerente, de migração, dispersão interna e escolarização através do Português, como afirma Braggio (idem) podem ser consideradas como uma das pontencializadoras da intrusão da língua xerente akwe&#61481; pelo Português. Acreditamos que este trabalho preenche uma lacuna ao vislumbrar um recorte da realidade sociolingüística do povo xerente e dá subsídios para que futuros estudos sejam realizados