Sociolinguistic and Political

Below you will find suggestions of resources and activities to help develop your knowledge and skills for the Sociolinguistic and Political competencies for orthography consultants.

For a fuller list of resources relating to orthography, visit SIL Global’s orthography website (here). You will find resources on a wide range of different orthography-related topics, resources focused on particular geographic areas, and SIL Global’s orthography video series.

Socio-political

Can apply knowledge of the stakeholder and socio-political factors relevant to orthography development in the area.

- - Find out who the relevant stakeholders are and what their interests and viewpoints are, including any policies of the country regarding orthographies.
  - Investigate other socio-political factors that might influence people’s acceptance or rejection of a particular orthography.
  - Assist teams and local communities in evaluating the impact of socio-political factors on the acceptability of an orthography.

Rationale: Socio-political factors can have an enormous influence on both the process of developing an orthography, and its eventual use or disuse.

Expand this section to find suggestions of resources and activities to help develop your knowledge and skills in this area.

Here are some resource suggestions to help you develop knowledge about socio-political factors:

SIL orthography video 2: Stakeholders 1.
SIL orthography video 3: Stakeholders 2.
SIL orthography video 6: Why people reject orthographies: acceptability issues.
Cahill, Michael. 2014. "Non-linguistic factors in orthography." In Developing Orthographies for Unwritten Languages, edited by Michael Cahill and Keren Rice. SIL International.
Hinton, Leanne. 2014. "Orthography Wars" In Developing Orthographies for Unwritten Languages, edited by Michael Cahill and Keren Rice. SIL International.
Sebba, Mark. 2007. Spelling and Society: The culture and politics of orthography around the world. Cambridge University Press.

Here are some examples of activities for developing your ability to apply your knowledge (working with a mentor as appropriate).

Investigate the relevant socio-political factors in a local community, and their implications.

Here are some examples of activities for developing your ability to assist teams and local communities.

Facilitate a community discussion on how the various socio-political factors affect orthopgrahy choices.

Dialects

Can apply understanding of dialect issues to orthography development.

- - Find out which dialect (if any) is most prestigious and which is most understood.
  - Collect details that would help decide among unilectal and multilectal options for orthography.
  - Assist teams and local communities in exploring orthography options for dialects.

Rationale: Dialect issues are essential to consider, since they affect how much of the language community benefits from the orthography.

Expand this section to find suggestions of resources and activities to help develop your knowledge and skills in this area.

Here are some resource suggestions to help you develop knowledge and skills about dialect issues:

SIL orthography video 8: Dialects
Karan, Elke. 2014. "Standardization: What's the hurry?" In Developing Orthographies for Unwritten Languages, edited by Michael Cahill and Keren Rice. SIL International.
Clifton, John M. 2013. "Dialects, orthography and society." Work papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota: 53(1).

Here are some examples of activities for developing your ability to apply your knowledge (working with a mentor as appropriate).

Interview local communities to discover relevant dialectal factors.
Read three different survey reports and discuss with a mentor orthography implications.

Here are some examples of activities for developing your ability to assist teams and local communities.

Facilitate a community discussion on a language standardization decision.

Intergenerational Language Change

Can apply understanding of phonological change across generations to orthography development.

- - Discover how a language is undergoing phonological changes across generations.
  - Apply knowledge of intergenerational phonological change when assisting communities to make orthography decisions.

Rationale: Understanding phonological changes across generations is relevant for who can easily use the orthography.

Expand this section to find suggestions of resources and activities to help develop your knowledge and skills in this area.

Here are some resource suggestions to help you develop knowledge about intergenerational language change:

Video on YouTube: Is the Southern Accent Disappearing | Otherwords
NativLang: Historical Sound Change video series on YouTube
Stegen, Oliver. 2016. "Zanaki Vowels: A diachronic and phonetic puzzle." Conference paper presented at CALL 46, Leiden.

Here are some examples of activities for developing your ability to apply your knowledge (working with a mentor as appropriate).

Interview local speakers to discover phonological changes across generations.

Here are some examples of activities for developing your ability to assist teams and local communities.

Discuss with local communities the relevant phonological differences between generations, and implications for orthography choices.

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