Update: Published!

The special issue on the acquisition, preservation and evolution of indigenous children’s language in minority contexts, which was described in the Call for Papers below, was published by First Language in October 2015, as Volume 35, Issue 4-5.

The issue consists of seven articles (plus an introduction by the guest editors) that look into topics such as parent-child talk, linguistic differentiation and the challenges of research in minority language settings. The diversity of contexts is also impressive, as the articles cover areas such as the Peruvian Andes, Mozambique, Runion and the Netherlands.

You can access the table of contents by clicking on the link below:

Special Issue: Indigenous children’s language: Acquisition, preservation and evolution of language in minority contexts. First Language, 35(4-5)

(sadly, paywalled)

Call for papers

First Language are inviting contributions for a special issue entitled “Indigenous children’s language: Acquisition, preservation and evolution of language in minority contexts”. As stated in the Call for Papers (link no longer active):

Over the last decade or so there has been a surge in interest in the acquisition of small Indigenous languages across the world. There are a few significant reasons for this growth. Firstly, indigenous languages are dying at an alarming rate, which means that now is often our last chance to study their acquisition. Secondly, there is a broad recognition among child language researchers that our theories of acquisition are skewed by the over-representation of data from large European languages (especially English), whereas many children across the world are acquiring typologically under-studied languages (e.g. polysynthetic languages), often in situations of rapid language shift.

The editors have indicated that they will be particularly interested in field studies in contexts such as remote communities, as well as empirical studies of how minority language users develop within multilingual societies. Prospective authors are invited to contact the editors of the Special Issue:

• Barbara Kelly: b.kelly[at]unimelb.edu[dot]au;
• Evan Kidd: evan.kidd[at]anu.edu[dot]au; and
• Jill Wigglesworth: g.wigglesworth[at]unimelb.edu[dot]au.

Papers (8,000 words max) should conform to the guidelines of the journal, and are to be submitted online (link no longer active) by 30 September 2014.