Linguistic Variations of Latin American Communities in Everett and Dorchester
Location
Center for Library Instruction, Joseph P. Healey Library (4th Floor), University of Massachusetts Boston
Start Date
29-4-2015 2:10 PM
End Date
29-4-2015 2:40 PM
Description
The interaction of people in terms of language and communication has a great impact in building a linguistic community in Everett and Dorchester. Linguistic communities are composed by a variety of dialects. As a result, a language barrier occurs when a person has to be confronted with individuals who speak a different language and do not have the necessary means to communicate in the same community. It is important to recognize the idea and problems that people face due the dominant language in that area that will undermine the power of other languages. When people are living in these communities, they feel more comfortable as they can communicate in their native languages. Based on this fact, the majority of people who immigrate to the United States try to adjust into a community where they feeling welcomed. The purpose of this project is to identify and analyze the benefits of maintaining the mother tongue language among members of these small communities and how the language gives or takes power among other ethnic groups in Dorchester and Everett. We will focus mostly in understanding how a community linguistic is formed as well as understanding the existing relationship between ethnic groups in those communities.
The method that we intend to use is Participant observation where we are planning to visit the commercial area of these communities where we can observe closely the interaction of people in stores, supermarkets, and general public places. In addition, we are also going to do a survey where we are going to ask specific questions that help us to answer the main purpose of this research project.
Linguistic Variations of Latin American Communities in Everett and Dorchester
Center for Library Instruction, Joseph P. Healey Library (4th Floor), University of Massachusetts Boston
The interaction of people in terms of language and communication has a great impact in building a linguistic community in Everett and Dorchester. Linguistic communities are composed by a variety of dialects. As a result, a language barrier occurs when a person has to be confronted with individuals who speak a different language and do not have the necessary means to communicate in the same community. It is important to recognize the idea and problems that people face due the dominant language in that area that will undermine the power of other languages. When people are living in these communities, they feel more comfortable as they can communicate in their native languages. Based on this fact, the majority of people who immigrate to the United States try to adjust into a community where they feeling welcomed. The purpose of this project is to identify and analyze the benefits of maintaining the mother tongue language among members of these small communities and how the language gives or takes power among other ethnic groups in Dorchester and Everett. We will focus mostly in understanding how a community linguistic is formed as well as understanding the existing relationship between ethnic groups in those communities.
The method that we intend to use is Participant observation where we are planning to visit the commercial area of these communities where we can observe closely the interaction of people in stores, supermarkets, and general public places. In addition, we are also going to do a survey where we are going to ask specific questions that help us to answer the main purpose of this research project.
Comments
Luis Bañuelos (Anthropology Department & Latin American and Iberian Studies Department), Maria Fonseca (Latin American and Iberian Studies Department), Andrew Levy (Latin American and Iberian Studies Department), and Brian Silva (Latin American and Iberian Studies Department & Psychology Department).