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Description
Societal multilingualism typically involves the use of different languages in different domains and with varying levels of vitality. Several approaches aim to assess language vitality within a continuum or scale. In almost all of these frameworks, intergenerational transmission is considered crucial for a language’s prospects of maintenance. Intergenerational language transmission refers to the passing on of a language from one generation to the next (Fishman, 1991). While the focus is obviously placed on parental behavior, children’s agency should not be neglected (Luykx, 2005). Children’s language use cannot simply be deduced from parental input; rather, there is considerable dynamic interaction between the two generations.
Consequently, a vitality study conducted among the Sso community by SIL Cameroon surveyed both generations. The language community comprises about 10,000 people in the Centre region of Cameroon (Eberhard, Simons and Fennig, 2023). Other languages present in the community include the neighbouring languages Beti (also the language of wider communication), Makaa and Koonzime as well as French, one of Cameroon’s two official languages. The primary instrument used in the study was an individual sociolinguistic questionnaire, administered in several variants – one for each group of subjects. Regarding the parental generation, attention was given to mothers specifically. Although the scientific debate on gender roles in transmission continues (cf. De Houwer, 2007), research suggests a tendency toward greater maternal influence (e.g., Velázquez, 2018). Rather than distinguishing only two unrelated social groups (mothers and children), mothers and children were systematically paired: for each mother, two of her children were surveyed. This design allows the mother’s information to contextualize those of the children and the children’s answers to cross-check the mothers’ reports.
This contribution examines the congruence between mothers’ and their children’s responses. The questionnaires administered to both groups included some identical or similar questions, targeting the same aspects, such as language choices with each other, languages choices with siblings, and the children’s language proficiency. It will be shown that the views effectively diverge. It will be discussed on what aspects divergence is greater or smaller, what kinds of divergence can be observed (number of languages, languages, etc.) and how the divergence can be explained.