Knowing and remembering: Rethinking lexical recall as a measure of proficiency in endangered language communities

dc.creator Daria Boltokova
dc.creator Jessica Kantarovich
dc.creator Lenore Grenoble
dc.creator Maria Pupynina
dc.date.accessioned 2022-07-13T02:36:29Z
dc.date.available 2022-07-13T02:36:29Z
dc.date.copyright 2022
dc.date.issued 2022-07
dc.description.abstract This paper problematizes the assessment of speakers’ proficiency in endangered language communities. We focus in particular on processes of lexical production and elicitation as proxies for full proficiency assessment. Among linguists, it is standard to assess a speaker’s knowledge of specific lexical items in order to set a baseline for further data collection and research. Yet, as we argue in this paper, such tests can give the false impression that speakers do not know their language, since such tests do not distinguish between what speakers can recall in a particular moment and what they do not know because they did not acquire it. The endangered language context in particular calls for a more fine-tuned interpretation of lexical knowledge, given the high degree of idiolectal variation and lack of a community-based standard language. Drawing on fieldwork with Chukchi and Even Indigenous communities in northeastern Russia, we analyze lexical items that speakers claim to not remember. We then distinguish different reasons that are given for not remembering and consider their implications for speakers’ proficiency. Finally, we conclude with two recommendations for improving elicitation and language assessment tests.
dc.description.sponsorship National Foreign Language Resource Center
dc.format Article
dc.format.extent 23
dc.identifier.citation Boltokova, Daria, Jessica Kantarovich, Lenore Grenoble, Maria Pupynina. 2022. Knowing and remembering: Rethinking lexical recall as a measure of proficiency in endangered language communities. Language Documentation & Conservation 16: 145-167.
dc.identifier.issn 1934-5275
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/10125/74676
dc.language eng
dc.publisher University of Hawaii Press
dc.title Knowing and remembering: Rethinking lexical recall as a measure of proficiency in endangered language communities
dcterms.rights Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
dcterms.type Text
prism.endingpage 167
prism.publicationname Language Documentation & Conservation
prism.startingpage 145
prism.volume 16
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