Pierpaolo Di Carlo
Biographic Data
| ID | 828245 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Pierpaolo Di Carlo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Pierpaolo |
| FAMILY NAME | Di Carlo |
| SIGNATURE | DI CARLO P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University at Buffalo, State University of New York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8986-6745 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Documentary linguists and risk communication: Views from the virALLanguages project experience
Linguists are seldom, if ever, engaged in work aimed at communicating risk to the general public. The COVID-19 global pandemic and its associated infodemic may change this state of affairs, at least for documentary linguists. Documenting languages may bring researchers in direct contact with communities speaking minority or marginalized languages and gain key insights into their communicative ecologies. By being both immersed in local networks an…
“What Is Your Primary Language?”: Spatial Considerations of Primary Language Identification in a Multilingual Rural Region
In small-scale multilingual societies, an individual uses a large number of languages and usually identifies one of them as the primary language. Although empirically observable, primary language has been significantly underexplored, particularly the spatiality of its identification. It is not clear whether and how place is related to why one language might be seen as being more significant than other languages. This study predicts the primary la…
Reappraising Survey Tools in the Study of Multilingualism: Lessons From Contexts of Small-Scale Multilingualism
Surveys can allow for the collection of non-speech data in a relatively short time and might benefit field linguists working in contexts of language contact. Existing survey models broadly share a basic structure embodying ways of understanding speakers and contexts of interaction that are ultimately derived from diglossia theory. By attempting a critical analysis of the ideological foundations of survey tools, this article provides the opportuni…
Preuve archéologique de l’augmentation et de l’effondrement de la population entre ~2500 et ~500 ans cal. BP en Afrique centrale occidentale: Version abrégée en français
Des études paléoenvironnementales antérieures ont montré que des changements majeurs de la végétation et de l’environnement se sont produits en Afrique centrale à partir de l’Holocène moyen (ex. Maley & Brenac 1998). Plusieurs d’entre elles mettent en évidence une origine humaine et supposent que les grandes migrations de population, les innovations techniques (par exemple, la technologie de la fonte du fer) et/ou de nouveaux choix dans les prati…
Towards a coherent methodology for the documentation of small-scale multilingualism: Dealing with speech data
Purpose: To contribute to the establishment of a novel approach to language documentation that includes bilingual and multilingual speech data. This approach would open this domain of study to work by specialists of bilingualism and multilingualism. Approach: Within language documentation, the approach adopted in this paper exemplifies the “contemporary communicative ecology” mode of documentation. This radically differs from the “ancestral-code”…
Archaeological Evidence for Population Rise and Collapse between ~2500 and ~500 cal. yr BP in Western Central Africa
Des études paléoenvironnementales antérieures ont montré que des changements majeurs de la végétation et de l’environnement se sont produits en Afrique centrale à partir de l’Holocène moyen (ex. Maley & Brenac 1998). Plusieurs d’entre elles mettent en évidence une origine humaine et supposent que les grandes migrations de population, les innovations techniques (par exemple, la technologie de la fonte du fer) et/ou de nouveaux choix dans les prati…
Multilingualism and the heteroglossia of ideologies in Lower Fungom (Cameroon)
Located at the northwestern edge of the Cameroonian Grassfields, Lower Fungom is a rural, linguistically highly diverse region (pop. ca. 12,000) where individual multilingualism in three local languages plus Cameroonian Pidgin English (henceforth CPE) is the norm, with a minority also speaking Cameroonian English. This article focuses on the different types of identity that can be projected via the use of English, CPE, and the local languages. Da…
Towards an understanding of African endogenous multilingualism: Ethnography, Language Ideologies, and the Supernatural
In a globalised sociolinguistics "[d]ifferent types of societies must give rise to different types of sociolinguistic study", as Dick Smakman and Patrick Heinrich argue in the concluding remarks of their (Smakman, Dick. 2015. The westernising mechanisms in sociolinguistics. In Dick Smakman & Patrick Heinrich (eds.),Globalising sociolinguistics. Challenging and expanding theory, 16-35. London: Routledge) bookGlobalising sociolinguistics. Challengi…
The vitality and diversity of multilingual repertoires: Commentary on Mufwene
In this commentary, we argue that examining the topic of language endangerment and loss requires close attention to culturally specific local factors that influence patterns of language choice and that shifting the emphasis of investigation from language endangerment to language vitality can yield significant research insights. Drawing largely on lessons from the investigation of patterns of multilingualism in rural Africa, we also suggest that e…
Spatial Reasoning and GIS in Linguistic Prehistory. Two Case Studies from Lower Fungom (Northwest Cameroon)
Being an ontologically multidisciplinary topic, language change is among the best candidates to be addressed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS can integrate datasets from diverse disciplines along with real-world geographical information, hence facilitating the investigation of (i) the spatial relations existing between research items and (ii) (past) landscapes. Drawing from an ongoing project focused on the historical development o…
Lower Fungom linguistic diversity and its historical development: Proposals from a multidisciplinary perspective
Lower Fungom, in Northwest Cameroon, is one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the Cameroonian Grassfields. Seven languages or small language clusters are spoken in its thirteen villages and five of them are not obviously closely related to each other nor to any other language spoken outside of the region. This paper discusses the non-linguistic factors that may have resulted in this surprising linguistic scenario. The region’s overall e…
The languages of the Lower Fungom region of Cameroon: Grammatical overview
La région du Lower Fungom, au nord-ouest du Cameroun, est l’une des zones présentant la plus grande diversité linguistique des Grassfields camerounais. Sept langues ou petits groupes de langues sont parlés dans ses treize villages reconnus, et quatre d’entre eux se limitent à un seul village. Alors que ces langues peuvent être toutes classées comme bantoïdes, cinq d’entre elles n’ont aucun parler fortement apparenté en dehors de la région, et ne …
Take Care of the Poets! Verbal Art Performances as Key Factors in the Preservation of Kalasha Language and Culture
Unlike all the neighboring societies within the Hindu Kush region, the Kalasha still practice a pre-Islamic religion of Vedic origin. The process of culture maintenance finds in the ancestral language an irreplaceable symbolic resource for identity purposes. This, in turn, determines that those Kalasha who convert to Islam are inclined to repudiate their fathers' language. Culture and language maintenance are clearly interdependent processes; hen…
Archaeological Evidence for Population Rise and Collapse between ~2500 and ~500 cal. yr BP in Western Central Africa
Des études paléoenvironnementales antérieures ont montré que des changements majeurs de la végétation et de l’environnement se sont produits en Afrique centrale à partir de l’Holocène moyen (ex. Maley & Brenac 1998). Plusieurs d’entre elles mettent en évidence une origine humaine et supposent que les grandes migrations de population, les innovations techniques (par exemple, la technologie de la fonte du fer) et/ou de nouveaux choix dans les prati…
Towards an understanding of African endogenous multilingualism: Ethnography, Language Ideologies, and the Supernatural
In a globalised sociolinguistics "[d]ifferent types of societies must give rise to different types of sociolinguistic study", as Dick Smakman and Patrick Heinrich argue in the concluding remarks of their (Smakman, Dick. 2015. The westernising mechanisms in sociolinguistics. In Dick Smakman & Patrick Heinrich (eds.),Globalising sociolinguistics. Challenging and expanding theory, 16-35. London: Routledge) bookGlobalising sociolinguistics. Challengi…
Multilingualism and the heteroglossia of ideologies in Lower Fungom (Cameroon)
Located at the northwestern edge of the Cameroonian Grassfields, Lower Fungom is a rural, linguistically highly diverse region (pop. ca. 12,000) where individual multilingualism in three local languages plus Cameroonian Pidgin English (henceforth CPE) is the norm, with a minority also speaking Cameroonian English. This article focuses on the different types of identity that can be projected via the use of English, CPE, and the local languages. Da…
Take Care of the Poets! Verbal Art Performances as Key Factors in the Preservation of Kalasha Language and Culture
Unlike all the neighboring societies within the Hindu Kush region, the Kalasha still practice a pre-Islamic religion of Vedic origin. The process of culture maintenance finds in the ancestral language an irreplaceable symbolic resource for identity purposes. This, in turn, determines that those Kalasha who convert to Islam are inclined to repudiate their fathers' language. Culture and language maintenance are clearly interdependent processes; hen…
Take Care of the Poets! Verbal Art Performances as Key Factors in the Preservation of Kalasha Language and Culture
Unlike all the neighboring societies within the Hindu Kush region, the Kalasha still practice a pre-Islamic religion of Vedic origin. The process of culture maintenance finds in the ancestral language an irreplaceable symbolic resource for identity purposes. This, in turn, determines that those Kalasha who convert to Islam are inclined to repudiate their fathers' language. Culture and language maintenance are clearly interdependent processes; hen…
Lower Fungom linguistic diversity and its historical development: Proposals from a multidisciplinary perspective
Lower Fungom, in Northwest Cameroon, is one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the Cameroonian Grassfields. Seven languages or small language clusters are spoken in its thirteen villages and five of them are not obviously closely related to each other nor to any other language spoken outside of the region. This paper discusses the non-linguistic factors that may have resulted in this surprising linguistic scenario. The region’s overall e…
The languages of the Lower Fungom region of Cameroon: Grammatical overview
La région du Lower Fungom, au nord-ouest du Cameroun, est l’une des zones présentant la plus grande diversité linguistique des Grassfields camerounais. Sept langues ou petits groupes de langues sont parlés dans ses treize villages reconnus, et quatre d’entre eux se limitent à un seul village. Alors que ces langues peuvent être toutes classées comme bantoïdes, cinq d’entre elles n’ont aucun parler fortement apparenté en dehors de la région, et ne …
Spatial Reasoning and GIS in Linguistic Prehistory. Two Case Studies from Lower Fungom (Northwest Cameroon)
Being an ontologically multidisciplinary topic, language change is among the best candidates to be addressed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS can integrate datasets from diverse disciplines along with real-world geographical information, hence facilitating the investigation of (i) the spatial relations existing between research items and (ii) (past) landscapes. Drawing from an ongoing project focused on the historical development o…
The vitality and diversity of multilingual repertoires: Commentary on Mufwene
In this commentary, we argue that examining the topic of language endangerment and loss requires close attention to culturally specific local factors that influence patterns of language choice and that shifting the emphasis of investigation from language endangerment to language vitality can yield significant research insights. Drawing largely on lessons from the investigation of patterns of multilingualism in rural Africa, we also suggest that e…
Towards an understanding of African endogenous multilingualism: Ethnography, Language Ideologies, and the Supernatural
In a globalised sociolinguistics "[d]ifferent types of societies must give rise to different types of sociolinguistic study", as Dick Smakman and Patrick Heinrich argue in the concluding remarks of their (Smakman, Dick. 2015. The westernising mechanisms in sociolinguistics. In Dick Smakman & Patrick Heinrich (eds.),Globalising sociolinguistics. Challenging and expanding theory, 16-35. London: Routledge) bookGlobalising sociolinguistics. Challengi…
Multilingualism and the heteroglossia of ideologies in Lower Fungom (Cameroon)
Located at the northwestern edge of the Cameroonian Grassfields, Lower Fungom is a rural, linguistically highly diverse region (pop. ca. 12,000) where individual multilingualism in three local languages plus Cameroonian Pidgin English (henceforth CPE) is the norm, with a minority also speaking Cameroonian English. This article focuses on the different types of identity that can be projected via the use of English, CPE, and the local languages. Da…
Preuve archéologique de l’augmentation et de l’effondrement de la population entre ~2500 et ~500 ans cal. BP en Afrique centrale occidentale: Version abrégée en français
Des études paléoenvironnementales antérieures ont montré que des changements majeurs de la végétation et de l’environnement se sont produits en Afrique centrale à partir de l’Holocène moyen (ex. Maley & Brenac 1998). Plusieurs d’entre elles mettent en évidence une origine humaine et supposent que les grandes migrations de population, les innovations techniques (par exemple, la technologie de la fonte du fer) et/ou de nouveaux choix dans les prati…
Towards a coherent methodology for the documentation of small-scale multilingualism: Dealing with speech data
Purpose: To contribute to the establishment of a novel approach to language documentation that includes bilingual and multilingual speech data. This approach would open this domain of study to work by specialists of bilingualism and multilingualism. Approach: Within language documentation, the approach adopted in this paper exemplifies the “contemporary communicative ecology” mode of documentation. This radically differs from the “ancestral-code”…
Archaeological Evidence for Population Rise and Collapse between ~2500 and ~500 cal. yr BP in Western Central Africa
Des études paléoenvironnementales antérieures ont montré que des changements majeurs de la végétation et de l’environnement se sont produits en Afrique centrale à partir de l’Holocène moyen (ex. Maley & Brenac 1998). Plusieurs d’entre elles mettent en évidence une origine humaine et supposent que les grandes migrations de population, les innovations techniques (par exemple, la technologie de la fonte du fer) et/ou de nouveaux choix dans les prati…
Reappraising Survey Tools in the Study of Multilingualism: Lessons From Contexts of Small-Scale Multilingualism
Surveys can allow for the collection of non-speech data in a relatively short time and might benefit field linguists working in contexts of language contact. Existing survey models broadly share a basic structure embodying ways of understanding speakers and contexts of interaction that are ultimately derived from diglossia theory. By attempting a critical analysis of the ideological foundations of survey tools, this article provides the opportuni…
“What Is Your Primary Language?”: Spatial Considerations of Primary Language Identification in a Multilingual Rural Region
In small-scale multilingual societies, an individual uses a large number of languages and usually identifies one of them as the primary language. Although empirically observable, primary language has been significantly underexplored, particularly the spatiality of its identification. It is not clear whether and how place is related to why one language might be seen as being more significant than other languages. This study predicts the primary la…
Documentary linguists and risk communication: Views from the virALLanguages project experience
Linguists are seldom, if ever, engaged in work aimed at communicating risk to the general public. The COVID-19 global pandemic and its associated infodemic may change this state of affairs, at least for documentary linguists. Documenting languages may bring researchers in direct contact with communities speaking minority or marginalized languages and gain key insights into their communicative ecologies. By being both immersed in local networks an…
Linguistics (11 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (7 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (7 works) · Geography (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Multilingualism (5 works) · Anthropology (4 works) · Art (4 works) · Ethnography (4 works)