aerial view of Western's campus at night, with golden lights surrounded by dark trees

WWU's Sheryl Bernardo-Hinesley to discuss the Philippines' vanishing Cavite Chabacano language May 13

Western Washington University Assistant Professor of Modern & Classical Languages Sheryl Bernardo-Hinesley will present "Language Attitudes of Speakers of a Critically Endangered Philippine Creole Spanish" at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 13 via Zoom as part of the Linguistics Department's "Western Talks" lecture series.

The attitude of a speech community towards the languages spoken by its individuals is vital for predicting language shift. To be precise, the value assigned by the speakers of a given community to the languages spoken within it is a fundamental factor that promotes the displacement of a language. Thus, people’s attitudes towards a language are fundamental for its preservation. In her presentation, Bernardo-Hinesley will examine the language attitudes of Cavite Chabacano speakers in the Manila Bay region of the Philippines, which is one of the six Spanish-based creole varieties spoken in the country, as well as ways to use the educational system to promote and retain these critical cultural markers.

This presentation is free and open to the public; connect to the Zoom meeting by clicking here; email Sara Helms at helmss@wwu.edu with any questions or comments or go to https://chss.wwu.edu/language-attitudes-speakers-critically-endangered-philippine-creole-spanish for more information.