LidaCopeEastCarolinaUniversity

Outline…

1.  TexasCzechs:Thepopula=on&language

2.  TexasCzechLegacyProject:Ourpurposes&audiencesAudioArchive:sourcedatabasesBuildingthearchive&sitetour

3.  AsearchableaudioarchiveofTexasCzechasaresearchtool

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1.TexasCzechs:Popula7onandLanguage

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TexasCzechVernacular&itsSpeakers-  AblendofarchaicNortheasternMoravianand(toalesserdegree)NorthEasternBohemiandialects,andstandard(‘school’)Czech,heavilyinfluencedbyoveracenturyandahalfofcontactwithEnglishspokeninTexas.

-  The2010Census:8,748TexansasCzechspeakers.

-  Anendangeredimmigrantlanguagevarietyfastapproachingex=nc=on

-  Thelanguagewilllikelydieinthenext10-15years.Itsdocumenta=onisparamount.

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“IloveTexasPolkaandCzechmusic”onFacebook

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TheTexasCzechLegacyProjectattheUniversityofTexasatAus=nbeganin2012;aimstomakeavailablespeechandprintdatathroughitsopen-accessdigitalarchiveofaudio-recordingsandhistoricdocumentsgatheredfromethnicCzechMoraviansinTexasoveraforty-yearperiod.Supportedby:•  DepartmentofSlavicandEurasianStudiessince2012•  Humani@esTexas2013and2014•  Donated=meandexper=se:LAITS&TGDP

Cope,L.,Hopkins,M.,&Miller,R.(2012-2016).TexasCzechLegacyProject.hbp://laits.utexas.edu/txczechproject/home.Aus=n:UniversityofTexas.

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Objec7vesandAudiences

Objec7ves•  Documentandpreserve:

uniquelanguageandheritage

•  Aid:TexasCzechasaresourceinheritagelanguageteaching

•  Inspire:Collabora=veprojects(ac=vists,educators,researchers)

Audiences•  Communitymembers•  Educators•  Students•  Researchers

–  linguists,appliedlinguists,ethnographers,historians,folklorists,corpuslinguistsanddialectologistsintheUS,CzechRepublic

–  ConnectedsearchablecorporaforCzechenclavesaroundtheworld!

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hbp://jsfiddle.net/bkxyjs8m/embedded/result/

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Designinganinterac=vemap…

AudioArchive

Interviews

ElicitedLanguage(languagetasks)

Naturallyproducedspeech

VisualArchive

Newspapers

Photographs

Lebers

Biographies…

AudioArchive:SourceDatabases•  SvatavaPírkováJakobson’s(1908-2000)recordingsfromthe

late 1960s-1980s (The Briscoe Center for the AmericanHistory and Texas Czech Heritage & Culture Center, LaGrange,Texas).

•  KarelKučera’sdatafromthelate1980s:18hours•  LidaCope’sdatabase:cc.327hours (1997fieldwork);90full

interviews;groupinterviewsandcommunityevents;includeslanguagetasksandgramma=caljudgments

•  JohnTomecek’sdatabase:oralhistories(2007-2009):15hrs.•  Currentrecordingsfrom2012-2015

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DataStorage(DASe)then

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Transcrip7on&Transla7onwithELANhbp://tla.mpi.nl/tools/tla-tools/elan/

(TheMaxPlanckIns=tuteofPsycholinguis=cs)

•  Acopyofeachmasterfilesplitupintosegments(1-5minutes;longerwithlanguagetasks)

•  Eachsegmenttranscribed(modifiedSCorthography):accuracy accessibility authen7city

•  SegmentsassignedfileID#toassociateeachsegmentwithauniquedigitalmasterfile

•  Transcrip=on:–  TexasCzechtokenizedtranscrip=on–  Englishtokenizedannota=on–  Englishfreetransla=on

•  TranscriptdisplayedinTexasCzech,English,orbothTexasCzechandEnglish

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Let’stakeatour…

Websitedesign;dialectarchive;searchfunc=ons...h[p://www.laits.utexas.edu/txczechproject/home

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3.AsearchableaudioarchiveofTexasCzechasaresearchtool:butwhy?

-  Diasporicdialectsareworthyofstudyascontactvarie=es&

relevanttocontemporaryexamina=onsoftheirsourcelanguages

-  Thesix-volumeCzechLanguageAtlas(1992-2011)incorporatesresearchonCzechvillagesinRomania;aRomanianBanatcorpusshouldsoonbecomeavailablethroughtheCzechNa=onalCorpus…

-  Buttherearequiteafewotherloca=ons:Ukraine,Austria(VienneseCzech),Siberia,Bulgaria,Moldavia,Poland,Paraguay,UnitedStates…

-  Theexistenceofindividualcollec=ons=poten=alofhavingavailablecorporafor“contactCzechs”&learningfromcompara=veanalysesofdiasporicdialectsofCzecharoundtheworld

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Whenfullyfunc7onal,thecorpusshouldhelpanswer…

(1) Whatlevelofaccuracydoesacomprehensivecorpusanalysisaffordregardingtheintersec=onoflanguage-internalandcross-linguis=callyeffectedchange?

(2) Whatinsightdoessuchanalysisofferregardingthesynchronicanddiachronicchange(i.e.,theLabovianapparent:me=distribu=onofformsacrossagegroups,andinreal=attwoormorediscretepointsin=me)inthisdiasporicdialectandcompara=vely?

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Somebroaderques7ons:1)  Whichlinguis=cfeaturesofTexasCzechhavechangedover

thelastfortyyearsandwhy?Arethesechangessimilartothoseofotherrapidlyerodingdialectsthatareincontactwithotherlanguages?[andcomparingtoothercontactCzechs;ICNC]

2)  WhattypesofCzechlexicalandstructuralfeatureshaveprovenpar7cularlyresilientandwhy?

3)  Whatspecificinsightsintothelexicalandgramma=calcharacteris=csoftheCzechlanguagecanbegainedbystudyinganisolatedimmigrantdialectlikethatofTexasCzechs?

4)  Whatpredic7onsregardingfurtherdialectallevelingandchangeinEuropeanCzechcanbemade?•  Whatpredic=onscanbemadefortheoutcomesof

intensivecontactbetweenCzechandEnglishinEurope?•  Exactlywhichfeaturesrepresentanacceleratedchange

progressingataslowerrateinEuropeanSpokenCzechandwhatpredic=onsabouttheprocessesofchangeinESCcanbemadeasaresult?

Onthelinguis7cfeaturesofTexasCzech…

Eckert,E.&HannanK.(2009).Vernacularwri=ngandasociolinguis=cchangeintheTexasCzechcommunity.JournalofSlavicLinguis:cs,17(1-2),87-161.

Eckert,E.(2007).Stonesontheprairie:Accultura:oninAmerica.Bloomington,IN:

SlavicaPublishers.Cope,L.(2008).Wribencodeswitchingandethnolinguis=ciden==esofaCzechTexan.

InC.Cravens,M.Fidler,&S.S.Kresin(Eds.),Betweentexts,languages,andcultures:afestschriGforMichaelHenryHeim(pp.1-14).Bloomington,IN:SlavicaPublishers

Dutkova-Cope,L.(2001).TheLanguageofCzechMoraviansinTexas:Doyouknow

what‘Párknukáruuhauza’means?.SouthwestJournalofLinguis:cs,20(1),51-84.Dutkova-Cope,L.(2001).TexasCzech:TheLanguageofTexanswhosaytheyspeak“A

DifferentTypeofCzech.”SouthwestJournalofLinguis:cs,20(1),29-69.

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Appliedlinguis7csforlanguage

documenta7on:Cope,L.T.(2016).TexasCzechLegacyProject:Documen=ngthepastandpresentforthefuture.Interna:onal

JournaloftheSociologyofLanguage238,105-125.Cope,L.(Ed.).(2012).Appliedlinguistsneeded:cross-disciplinaryteamworkinendangeredlanguagecontexts.Routlege/Taylor&Francis.Eckert,E.,&Cope,L.(eds.)Mul=lingualismandminori=esintheCzechsociolinguis=cspace.AspecialissuefortheInterna:onalJournaloftheSociologyofLanguage.ForthcomingFeb.2016Hinton,L.(2002).Commentary:Internalandexternallanguageadvocacy.JournalofLinguis:cAnthropology,12(2),150-6.Krauss,M.(1992).Theworld’slanguagesincrisis.Language,68(1),4-13.Mihas,E.,Perley,B.,Rei-Doval,G.,&Wheatley,K.(Eds.)(2013).Responsestolanguageendangerment.InhonorofMickeyNoonan.JohnBenjaminsPublishingCompany.Sallabank,J.(2013).AWtudestoendangeredlanguages.Iden::esandpolicies.CambridgeUniversityPress.Simons,G.,&Lewis,M.P.(2013).Theworld’slanguagesincrisis:A20-yearupdate.InE.Mihas,B.Perley,G.Rei-Doval,K.Wheatley(Eds.),Responsestolanguageendangerment.InhonorofMickeyNoonan(pp.3-19).JohnBenjaminsPublishingCompany.

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ThankYou