Project

ERC Consolidator Grant

Grant agreement ID: 101002696

Start date: 1 March 2022

End date: 28 February 2027

Principal Investigator: prof. Justyna Olko

Partner Institutions: MPI-EVA & Cape Town University

The project addresses the complex, multi-level dimensions of historical and contemporary multilingualism:

(1) the presence of individual multilingualism in local and regional settings;

(2) the characteristics and dynamics of such multilingual settings, in other words, societal multilingualism. The fundamental aim of the project is to reconstruct, explain and better understand the mechanisms and causality of the processes behind the emergence, continuity, reduction and loss (as well as possible re-emergence) of multilingualism in differing historical, geographical, social, political and cultural contexts. These goals address not only essential gaps in the state of knowledge, but also significant questions about the past and the present of human development.

The project embraces historical and contemporary multilingual milieux from four regions relevant for understanding the causal frameworks underlying multilingual trajectories: selected historical multilingual hotspots from Central-Eastern Europe, Mesoamerica, South Africa and the Archipelago of Vanuatu. They represent a diversity of pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial contexts, ensuring a meaningful comparison. The case studies also offer a novel possibility to study the ‘invisibility’ of multilingualism and uncover its neglected history(ies).
A multidisciplinary approach combines in novel ways historical and present data, qualitative and quantitative methods as well as mathematical modeling, data-driven mapping and GIS mapping. Its expected results will provide informed diagnoses and predictions with huge potential for improving existing language policies and educational strategies oriented toward the preservation of linguistic-cultural diversity and sustainable multilingualism.

The project MULTILING-HIST has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 101002696)

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101002696

https://www.uw.edu.pl/erc-consolidator-grant-dla-dr-hab-justyny-olko/

https://en.uw.edu.pl/second-erc-grant-awarded-to-professor-justyna-olko/

Europa, Ameryka Północna, Vanuatu i Kaszuby – o wielojęzyczności w Naja Szkòła w Wejherowie

Publications:

• Andrason, A. 2023. Grammaticalization in Fanagalo – Simplification, complexification, and acceleration. Studies in African Linguistics 52 (1): 1-32. https://journals.flvc.org/sal/article/view/135719/140010;
• Olko, J., Andrason, A. 2023. Introduction. Heritage Languages and the Well-Being of Speakers. Linguapax Review 11. Heritage Languages and the Well-Being of Speakers (pp 5-11)    https://www.linguapax.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Linguapax-2023-baixa.pdf;
• Majerska-Szajder, J., Chromik, B. (2023). Relational well-being in Wilamowice in the context of recent language revival activities. Linguapax Review 11. Heritage Languages and the Well-Being of Speakers (pp 79-91)  https://www.linguapax.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Linguapax-2023-baixa.pdf;
•    Olko, J. 2023. Language as a curse, language as a cure. Between ill-being and well-being of minority language speakers.  Linguapax Review 11. Heritage Languages and the Well-Being of Speakers (pp 143-155)    https://www.linguapax.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Linguapax-2023-baixa.pdf;
• Olko, J. Ethnolinguistic Vitality, Multilingual Communication and Speakers of Contested Languages, Handbook of Communication and Prejudice Research, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024 https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/research-handbook-on-communication-and-prejudice-9781802209655.html
  Justyna Olko
• Olko, J., Wicherkiewicz, T., Jabłoński, A., Chromik, B. 2024. Decolonizing and revoicing multilingual spaces in a nation-state: the case of minority languages in Poland, The Palgrave Handbook of Decolonizing Educational and Language Sciences (2024, forthcoming)
• Rosa Orozco Luis, Valentina Sánchez Víctor, Mireya González Pérez, Andrea Miramón Salvador, Enriqueta Cortes Hernández, Itzel Orozco Barragán, Ignacio Reyes Abasolo, 2024, Xtalakgtsokgni tipahluva talivan xla lakgtakgonsikgni xa lak kachikin, Tepango de Rodríguez, Puebla / Mintlacualehcuilol tename tlen chanchihua Tepango de Rodríguez, Puebla / Recetas de las abuelas de la comunidad de Tepango de Rodriguez, Puebla., https://culturalcontinuity.al.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Recetas_de_las_abuelas_Tepango_de_Rodriguez_-Puebla_WWW-1.pdf