Overt Language Attitudes and Linguistic Identities among Multilingual Speakers in Northern Belize

Abstract

Abstract The current study examines Mestizo adolescent and post-adolescent speakers’ overt language attitudes towards their language varieties and bilingual/trilingual codeswitching. Results show that contrary to previous studies where code-switching has typically been negatively perceived even by the speakers themselves, codeswitching has thrived in Belize, particularly among post-adolescent speakers, because they are positively predisposed to code-switching and associate it with their multilingual identity. In contrast, the use of monolingual varieties of Spanish is marked and pejoratively perceived, especially among high school speakers. Interview data revealed that an incipient trend among younger high school speakers is to employ more Belizean Kriol and less Northern Belizean Spanish and codeswitching. This is a trend which merits further investigation as it may be pointing to the genesis of a strong pan-Afro-Belizean linguistic identity among younger Belizeans which cuts across ethnic lines, and which consequently holds implications for issues of language dominance, language shift, and language policy and planning in Belize.