Abstract
For several decades, Breton language activists have been working hard to create programs for children and adults to learn the language for this severely endangered Celtic language. Current estimates suggest that there are now only 107,000 speakers of Breton—down from one million speakers in the mid-twentieth century. In addition, the majority of Breton speakers are elderly, so the number of speakers is dropping precipitously every year. In this context, creating new speakers of all ages is critical to the survival of the language.
For children, Breton bilingual and immersion schools have been available since the late 1970s. In the mid-1990s, the first six-month Breton language immersion program for adults was created as an effective and efficient means to create new adult speakers to work in the schools, as well as in cultural organizations and retirement homes for seniors. This program was so successful that it has spawned other similar programs, which are now available across the region of Brittany.
This presentation will focus on insights from an ethnographic study that I have been conducting since the beginning of this year, examining one cohort's experience in one of these highly successful language immersion programs for adults. The study involved weekly observations of the class lessons and break times, as well as recordings and interviews with the students and the staff. Over an intensive six-month period, participants in the program—most of whom have no previous knowledge of the language—become Breton speakers.
This transformation allows them to become active participants in their local Breton language communities, and a number of them go on to become teachers in the region's growing number of bilingual and immersion schools for children. In this talk, I will focus on some of the challenges, success strategies, and language ideologies that play a part in this unique learning environment.
BIO DATA
Madeleine Adkins is a doctoral student at Université Rennes 2 in Brittany, France, where she is pursuing her degree in Breton language, literature and culture, and is a member of the Center d'Etudes des Langues, Territoires et Identités Culturelles – Bretagne et Langues Minoritaires (CELTIC-BLM) lab. Madeleine has degrees in Linguistics from Georgetown University (BS) and UC Santa Barbara (MA). This fall, she is spending four weeks at UiO's Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, working closely with her co-advisor, Dr. Haley De Korne.