PRELIMINARY LIST OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTIC GROUPS

The following languages of Los Angeles are enumerated according to their places in the genealogical classification that is used simply as an accepted system of reference. The numerically predominant languages are underlined. The culturally important literary and sacred dead languages still used as religious means of communication are put in italics bold. The languages enumerated below will be the main objects of research and will be described in the geographical atlas and in the main text of the future book and CD-ROM. Some languages with a limited number of speakers and/or not described by previous investigators are not identified individually, but are put together with an indication of a general linguistic group as a common label. Some of the problems to be studied are enumerated in respect to important languages:

1. English as the main language of the city, the state and the country. Main functions of English. Its use in media, education, administration, law, banks, commerce, sports, transport, computer programs; types of the oral and written (and beginning automatic) translation into English and from English. The use in mass media and publications as compared to the other languages. Local dialects and social variants of English. Black English. The interaction between English and the other languages of LA. Borrowings and loan-translations from English. English syntactical features in the speech of the
representatives of the other speech communities.
2. Quasi-pidgins (as mixed English-Korean, English-Japanese and English-Chicano Spanish, also English-Gypsy etc.) being formed in LA (particularly in bilingual families with different linguistic capacities of the age groups) compared to the other Pidgins and Creole languages based on English; NeoMelanesian historically continuing Pidgin English. American Indian pidgin and its traces in the Western American English dialects. 3. German and its dialects represented in Los Angeles. The history of the community, its rites (carnival etc.) and their calendar. The language of the local German newspaper published in LA. The cultural centers.
4. Yiddish; its use by the representatives of the older generation (partly as a secret domestic language). Recent attempts to restore the use of Yiddish in the younger generation. The role of videotapes of the old American films in Yiddish. The typological similarities and differences between Yiddish, Sephardic, Judeo-Persian (and Judeo-Tat), Hebrew and other languages (Russian, Polish, Rumanian, Persian) used in the families of Jewish origin and/or (religious ) communities.
5. Dutch and its history in the families of the Dutch origin.
6. Scandinavian languages. Danish-speaking community in Los Angeles.

7. Latin, its role in the Catholic churches, in education, scholarship and for the everyday purposes (medical and legal documents). Languages interacting with Latin as a sacred church code (e.g. Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Lithuanian)
8. Spanish as the language having the largest number of speakers after English. The functional relations and division of the spheres of communication between Spanish and English. Borrowings from Spanish into the local variety of English (local notions like Santa Ana as the name for a hot wind that blows from the Mojave Desert towards the west). The role of Spanish place-names (including the name of the city itself). The aspects of the city life in which Spanish is particularly significant (transport, commercial life, street conversations). The use in media. Interaction of Spanish and other languages. Dialects and varieties of Spanish (different types of Latin American Spanish: Chicano Mexican Spanish dialects, Guatemala Spanish etc.). Publications in Spanish. Sociolinguistic aspects of the speech of the Chicano groups. Pidgins and Creole languages based on Spanish. Relations between Spanish of the immigrants from Latin America and native American Indian languages.
9. (Brazilian) Portuguese in its relation to the other languages. Pidgins based on Portuguese.
10. Italian community in Los Angeles. Intellectual, commercial and other aspects of the Italian groups.
11. French and its local (Swiss and other) variants. Creole languages based on French.
12. Romanian community (approximately 8 000 people). The interference with the Church Slavonic as a sacred language.
13. The other Romance languages.

14. The language situation in the families of the Celtic origin. English in its relation to the Celtic dialects.

15. Church Slavonic as a sacred language used by the Orthodox religious groups speaking Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Romanian.
16. Russian as the numerically largest Slavic ethnic group. Linguistic features of the three waves of the Russian emigration. The relationship between languages in the families of Jewish origin (see above on Jiddish). The influence of English. English borrowings, loan translations and syntactical calques. Quasi-pidgin. The loss of Russian and attempts to revive it in different age groups. The use in media. Russian publications. Russian and Ukrainian.
17. Bulgarian (about 3000 speakers), dialectal groups, the role of the Orthodox Church.
18. Polish in different groups of immigrants. Comparison to the largest group in Chicago.
19. Czech and other Slavic languages in LA.

20. Lithuanian language in LA (see Supplement for some details). Latvian speakers, their dialects.

21. Armenian as the language numerically having the third place in LA, its variants and dialects. Two main literary variants (Western and Eastern) in their relation to the dialects. The use in media. The role of Grabar (Old Armenian) as a traditional sacred language. The types of the interaction between Armenian and other (mainly Caucasian and Near Eastern) languages of the immigrants from the former Soviet (now independent) Armenia, Lebanon and other Near Eastern countries. The cultural centers and the linguistic life of the community. Publications in Armenian and the degree of the use of the Armenian writing (types of literacy in Armenian and English). Preservation of the language in different local and age groups. The use in media.

22. Greek, its main two varieties and dialects. The role of the Eastern Christian (Orthodox) church for the Greek ethnic group. Literacy in Greek. The knowledge of the Ancient Greek in different layers of the population (including university scholars etc.). Modem Greek and the other languages of the Balkan linguistic zone as reflected in LA: Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian (see above).

23. Persian (Farsi), its economic and social role for some areas of LA, areas, blocks and houses with the predominant Persian population (e.g. in Westwood). The character of the dialects and the Judeo-Persian linguistic features. The role of the Arabic writing and the written language. Bookstores and the Persian editions available in LA. The use in mass media.
24. Other Iranian languages: dialects of Kurdish immigrants etc.

25 . Dialects of Gypsies (Romani) (around 5000 in LA) in their relations and their peculiar features in comparison to the other dialects of the Eastern and Central Europe and the Balkans. The Kalderash dialect and its differences from the Machvaya (Machvano) one (the retroflex phoneme series, palatalization etc.). Borrowings from the Latin American Spanish dialects. The English-Gipsy pidgin and the spheres of the use of Romani.
26. Other Indo-Aryan languages in LA. The linguistic differences in their relation to the religious and cultural communities. The role of Sanskrit for different linguistic groups of the immigrants from the Southern Asia.

27. Immigrants from India speaking Dravidian and Munda languages. The features of India as a linguistic zone brought to LA by the immigrants.

28. Georgian and other Kartvelian immigrants from the Southern Caucasus. Their relation to the other representatives of the Caucasian linguistic zone, particularly to the speakers of Armenian (above) and of the Northern Caucasian linguistic family (Nakh-Dagestan and Abkhaz-Adyg branches).

29. Basque community near Los Angeles and the way the language is preserved there.

30. Hungarian community in LA. Chronology of immigration. Intellectual groups of Hungarian immigrants and their role in the city.
31. Estonian immigrants and their dialects. Finnish and the other Finno-Ugric languages in Los Angeles.

32. Turkish linguistic group in LA, its size (around 100 000) and comparison to the other (smaller) communities in the other American cities. The degree of the preservation of Turkish in the youngest age group and the number of the bilingual children. Turkish cultural institutions.
33. Uigur immigrants (from the Hinjiang- Chinese Turkestan) and their language. other Turkic (particularly Central Asiatic: individual speakers of Uzbek etc.) languages in LA.

34. Kalmuck immigrants in LA and speakers of the other Mongolian languages.

35. Ethnolinguistic and socio-economic features of the Korean community in the Koreatown and other parts of LA. The use of Korean in media. Differences between the age groups, lesser knowledge of English in the oldest parts of the Korean-speaking community. The types of family interaction in English and Korean within a family and in Korea-town; commercial and other uses of Korean. The mixture of languages and the elements of the Korean-English pidgin. The syntactical and phonetical features of English especially difficult for the speakers of Korean (the place of the object before the verb etc.). The use in media. The degree of literacy in Korean and English.

36. The Japanese community, the features of the written language (syllabic -- kana -- elements and hieroglyphics) and of the oral in their relation to the American English language. Problems of literacy. Publications in Japanese. The use of mass media. English borrowings of recent origin. The problems of the phonetic differences of the Japanese and English languages. The family communication and the elements of a Japanese-English pidgin. Dialects of Japanese present in LA.

37. Tagalog speakers. The main features of the language preserved in the speech of the younger generation. Publications in Tagalog. The use in mass media.
38. Other Austronesian languages spoken (partly together with Tagalog) by the immigrants from the Phillipine islands, Taiwan and the other islands of the Pacific ocean. Indonesian in LA. Changes in the use of the polite forms and in the respective role of the Sanskrit and Arabic borrowings.

39. Thai and other Austro-Thai languages. Bilingual Thai-Chinese families. The relation between Thai and Chinese elements of the vocabulary. The cultural functions of the Thai language. The Thai publications and the degree of literacy.

40. Vietnamese in LA. The main dialects. The relations between Vietnamese and other Austroasiatic languages of the different ethnic groups of Vietnam. The differences between tone systems of the Vietnamese (Southern and Northern) dialects. Publications in Vietnamese and the degree of literacy. The use in mass media.

41. Khmer community (mainly in the Long Beach area). Bilingual Khmer-Chinese families and the communication inside them. The slang forms used by the younger age groups in the Long Beach area connected to the Chinese linguistic influences (Khmer and Chinese stylistic double variants). The relictal polite forms (of the pronouns and the other words). Traces of the Sanskrit- based new words (comparison to Indonesian). The degrees of literacy in Khmer. English borrowing in the Khmer slang of LA.
42. Other Austric languages of Cambodia in their relation to Khmer.

43. Chinese and its main varieties spoken and written in LA Cantonese and Mandarin in their relation to each other. Taiwanese and other less known Chinese local dialects. Tonal and other phonemic and lexical differences between the Chinese dialects. The written language and its use in different parts of the city. The use in media. Chinese publications. Chinese in its relation to the other languages of the Southern-Eastern and Eastern Asia: Thai, Khmer (see above). its role as a second cultural language.
44. Speakers of the other Sino-Tibetan languages.

45. Classical Arabic and its main cultural and religious functions (also for the Moslem speakers of the other languages such as Persian). Different local variants of Arabic in the speech of the immigrants from the Near East and Northern Africa.
46. Hebrew and its religious and cultural role. The spoken Hebrew as the language of the people coming from Israel. The role of Hebrew in Jewish families using it only as a sacred language (see above on Yiddish). Hebrew education at the universities and high schools in LA.
47. Modem Aramaic dialects, their representation in LA. The center for the speakers of Aramaic.
48. Other Semitic languages. Languages of the immigrants from Ethiopia.

49. Coptic being taught (in the church school) in LA. The exceptional value of the language and of its role in the Coptic Church in LA.
50. Other Afro-Asiatic languages represented in Los Angeles.

51. African lingae francae represented in LA: Swahili, Hausa. Main languages of the Niger (Kongo) - Kordofan and Nilo-Saharan macrofamilies in LA.

52. American Indian (Amerindian) languages of the LA area and their recent history. The age differences: languages known to the older generations, their passive knowledge within the younger age group. The difference of the linguistic knowledge between the age and gender groups inside one family: Serrano mythological texts recorded (near LA) by a male representative of a younger age group who does not speak the language , but can interpret and translate the stories told by his mother and aunt. The fate of the other languages of the same Uto-Aztecan family that originally occupied chiefly all the LAC as Gabrieleño (one of the mission languages of the Uto-Aztec group named by the monks) did. At the edge of the present city according to the notes of one of the pioneers (Benjamin I. Hayes) on a little rise of the ground (in San Fernando Valley) there was a "petty village of fifty beings" who spoke Cahuilla (at present it is spoken in the area of Palm Springs). The river- and place-names of the American Indian origin.
54. Traces and disappearance of some Amerindian languages of the Hokan-Siouan, Penutian and other groups. American Indian reservations near LA. American Indian pidgin and expressions from it borrowed into the American English language of LA.
55. The presence of the representatives of the different other groups of the American Indians in Los Angeles as due to the recent measures undertaken in order to support American Indian languages. Cultural and religious centers. The results of the postwar relocation of some American Indians to Los Angeles. Western Apache speakers in LA (Athabascan family, possibly included into Na-Dene group with controversial further connections beyond American Indian).
56. The Amerindian languages of some bilingual immigrants from Mexico. The slow disappearance and death of some of the languages of the Maya-Quiche and other families. Relation between these languages and Spanish.

Back to Languages of LA main page.