Terminal-fluent speaker interaction and the contextualization of deviant speech

Analysis of slim texts and determination of speech deviance and non-deviance on discourse grounds rather than in the context of isolated or artificially produced utterances form the main thrust of this paper. Modern discourse analysis and the ethnography of speaking have contributed conceptual and methodological tools for the investigation of naturally occurring interaction. I suggest here that notions found useful in discourse, ethnographic, pragmatic and literary approaches to language use, can shed light on crucial aspects of communication in languages shift contexts. In particular, a combination of the above mentioned approaches broaches further possibilities for the investigation and understanding of the emergent properties of discourse with an emphasis on the acceptability and ratification of speech produced by low-proficiency speakers of a contracting or dying language. The Greek-Albanian speech community of modern Greece provides data suitable for this kind of analysis.