Tracing Stories of a Family Language: Personal Accounts of Diasporic Experience

  • Abstract
  • Literature Map
  • Similar Papers
Abstract
Translate article icon Translate Article Star icon

Abstract In this chapter, we share narratives from our personal experiences with a shared focus on the relationships between personal identities and family language. The acquisition of a family language is said to be accompanied by a specific ‘intercultural burden’ (Kagan 2012), which is manifested at the intersection of different influences and psychological tensions. This psychosocial and cultural reality has the potential for the development of a true intercultural identity that brings together contradictions and conflicts of inherited cultural differences. Here, through a prism of three personal narratives, we create a series of questions and reflections in relation to the family language. The three voices are articulated through three auto-ethnographic accounts of individuals – two linguists and a theatre scholar who are both personally and professionally invested in the topic of post-migration. The common thread of the three narratives is the experience of Serbian as the first language. As an aspect of personal identity, the idealised concept of family language affects one's identity and makes a decisive impact on investment and potentially life-defining decisions.

Similar Papers
  • Single Book
  • Cite Count Icon 42
  • 10.4324/9781315759371
Multilingualism in the Chinese Diaspora Worldwide
  • Oct 16, 2015
  • Li, Jinling + 1 more

1. Transnational Connections and Multilingual Realities: The Chinese diasporic experience in a global context Li Wei Part I: Emerging Diaspora, Emerging Identities 2. Globalization Off the Beaten Track-Chinese Migration to South Africa's Rural Towns Ana Deumert and Nkululeko Mabandla 3. Polycentric Repertoires: Constructing Dutch-Chinese Youth Identities in the Classroom and Online Jinling Li and Kasper Juffermans 4. Sojourner Tongues: Language Practices among the Chinese of Cairo Wang Jie Part II: Changing Times, Changing Languages 5. The Dungans of Kazakhstan: Old minority in a new nation-state Juldyz Smagulova 6. Chinese-Spanish Contact in Cuba in the 19th Century J. Clancy Clements 7. Shifting identities, shifting practices: The Chinese-speaking communities in Suriname Paul Brendan Tjon Sie Fat 8. Multilingualism and the West Kalimantan Hakka Josh Stenberg 9. Being Chinese Again: Learning Mandarin in post-Suharto Indonesia Charlotte Setijadi Part III: Transnational Communities, Cultural Mediators 10. Multilingualism in the Chinese community in Japan John C. Maher 11. From monolingualism to multilingualism: The linguistic landscape in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown Wang Xiaomei, Koh Yi Chern, Patricia Nora Riget, and Supramani Shoniah 12. Grandmother's tongue: decline of Teochew language in Singapore Lee Cher Leng 13. Multilingual mediators: The (continuing) role of the Peranakans in the contact dynamics of Singapore Lisa Lim Part IV: Transnational Families, Transcultural Living 14. The transnational journey of an Indonesian Chinese couple in Hong Kong: the story of one family, three places, and multiple languages Katherine Hoi Ying Chen 15. Family Language Policy in the Chinese Community in Singapore: A Question of Balance? Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen 16. Language Maintenance in the Chinese Diaspora in Australia Linda Tsung 17. Across Generations and Geographies: Communication in Chinese Heritage Language Speaking Households Agnes Weiyun He

Save Icon
Up Arrow
Open/Close