Co-official, endangered, indigenous, regional and minority languages, usually referred to as Regional Minority Languages (RMLs), have one thing in common: their speakers tend to switch to the dominant language in certain contexts and situations. They do so when there is a speaker of the dominant language around, or when they approach a stranger, or when they go to the shops or to work. Where the minority language is not officially supported the switch can be faster and more frequent. Psychologists have a name for this behaviour: submissiveness. Submissiveness is a spontaneous, self-induced suppression of a certain behaviour in favour of another one by virtue of habit, or of fear of punishment. Linguistic submissiveness happens when somebody stops speaking her or his minority language and switches to the other one, even when no-one has asked for this. If someone is a speaker of Welsh and when entering a local shop in a Welsh-speaking area where they know that the staff speak Welsh yet they start to speak English, then that person is being linguistically submissive. If two speakers of Irish are having a conversation and then a stranger approaches them and they switch to English before being told anything, then they are being linguistically submissive. There are many forms of linguistic submissiveness. All of them can create anxiety in the speaker and they often help to induce a sense of failure and helplessness. The good news is that it is a behaviour, and as such, it can be changed. The LISTEN project has developed a methodology and resources to train speakers of RMLs to modify their behaviour, reduce anxiety, and become confident speakers of their minority language. The resources include a manual, an online course on language assertiveness, introductory animations, and a full-fledged Trainers’ Toolkit containing all the material that can be needed to plan and organize Linguistic Assertiveness workshops. With time, practice, and goodwill, anyone can change his or her attitude and increase the frequency of social use of the language.
This project intended to contribute to multilingualism by devising and implementing an innovative strategy for empowering minority language speakers groups to maintain and preserve their precious heritage and transmit it to future generations. Speakers of minority languages (MLs) are carriers and keepers of the linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe. Institutional support to MLs is not always provided or enforced. One of the main barriers for MLs is their relative invisibility, mostly due to the fact that ML speakers tend to switch to a dominant language (DL) in many or even in most social situations. The main objective of the LISTEN project was to provide teachers, activists and other relevant stakeholders involved in ML promotion, with effective behavioral strategies for increasing the frequency of social use of their language. This will, in turn, contribute to increasing the ML speakers’ awareness about the importance of their linguistic and cultural heritage. The transnational dimension of the project helped in focusing on the widely different situations that can be expected in terms of the relationship between DL and ML, as well as the variety of factors that can have an impact on the linguistic behavior of ML speakers.
Preservation and transmission of the unique European cultural heritage cannot be done without supporting multilingualism and multiculturalism. Europe is home to a great diversity of languages and cultures, with its incredible mix of supra-national, national, regional and minority languages, among which we should count not only the traditional languages of a particular territory, but also those brought in by migrational movements. There is a strong relationship between multilingualism and multiculturalism on the one side, and social cohesion and personal wellbeing on the other. Appreciation of the value of language diversity is key to acceptance and inclusion of the other. Researchers consensually claim that social cohesion can be developed by strengthening minority languages in an inclusive way. To maintain a minority language speakers must be able to use it as frequently and as freely as possible. However, minority language speakers often adopt self-censoring attitudes and avoid using their own language and switch to the majority language. LISTEN addresses the needs of minority language speakers by helping them increase the frequency and confidence with which they'll use their minority language.