Everyday Language Practices Research Articles

Children’s agency as a relational concept in bilingual family language practices

ABSTRACT This paper reports the study of the agency of children aged 10–14 in their language practices as they interacted with their family members. The study was located in a Vietnamese migrant community in Victoria, Australia. In using a thematic, interactional analysis combined with a relational approach to agency, it was found that children’s agency emerged on a continuum which ranged from a more negative end of the continuum – manifested through the children’s explicit resistance to parental requests for home language use – to a more positive end of the continuum – manifested through their flexible linguistic repertoire in accommodating their interlocutors’ needs. Findings also suggest that the linguistic practices in the family domain surfaced as dynamic co-constructions to reflect the adults’ and children’s constant (re)negotiation in their everyday language practices in the home, which was also influenced by other factors such as children’s linguistic competence and the families’ linguistic norms. The study builds on previous findings on the relational nature of children’s agency by bringing attention to the different manifestations of children’s agency that arise in situ as they interact.

How Does Short Video Viewing Influence Young Children’s Everyday Language Practices? A Case Study of China

How Does Short Video Viewing Influence Young Children’s Everyday Language Practices? A Case Study of China

Causal learning by infants and young children: From computational theories to language practices.

Causal reasoning-the ability to reason about causal relations between events-is fundamental to understanding how the world works. This paper reviews two prominent theories on early causal learning and offers possibilities for theory bridging. Both theories grow out of computational modeling and have significant areas of overlap while differing in several respects. Explanation-Based Learning (EBL) focuses on young infants' learning about causal concepts of physical objects and events, whereas Bayesian models have been used to describe causal reasoning beyond infancy across various concept domains. Connecting the two models offers a more integrated approach to clarifying the developmental processes in causal reasoning from early infancy through later childhood. We further suggest that everyday language practices offer a promising space for theory bridging. We provide a review of selective work on caregiver-child conversations, in particular, on the use of scaffolding language including causal talk and pedagogical questions. Linking the research on language practices to the two cognitive theories, we point out directions for further research to integrate EBL and Bayesian models and clarify how causal learning unfolds in real life. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Learning Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development.

Documenting Multilingual Language Practices and the Erasure of Language Boundaries

Abstract Although we know multilingualism is the norm, most previous work has focused on languages as self-contained entities. Research on language contact mostly assumes bounded languages or repertoires: most studies presuppose contact between stable “communities” and the identifiability of specific languages in bilingual (sometimes plurilingual) corpora. Similarly, language annotation in corpus linguistics is based on the principle of univocity of items belonging to specific languages. In this paper, I address the notion of language boundaries, constructed both by linguists and by language users, and consider heterogeneity as a linguistic resource for speakers in their everyday multilingual language practices. First, there is a need for a shift in focus from linguistic systems toward language users. Second, there is a need for a solid methodology to reveal the heterogeneity of language practices through the annotation of plurilingual corpora. Ambivalence or play on boundaries is a common characteristic of communication in multilingual contexts that we can document.

Määräyspatteristo vai krumeluuriteksti – kielipoliittiset dokumentit yliopistojen hallintohenkilöstön näkökulmasta

The paper focuses on language policies in two Nordic universities and the way in which administrative staff perceive the policies as instruments of language regulation. There has been much interest recently in multilingualism and language policy in the context of higher education, but there is little research so far focusing on administrative staff. This is despite their key role in both producing and mediating texts for the consumption of a multilingual university community. The study is based on interview and document data collected at the University of Helsinki (Finland) and the University of Stockholm (Sweden). The analysis focuses on how staff talk about the role of the policies in their work and work community, and particularly how they describe the impact of the policies on everyday language practices.

Metrolingual multitasking and differential inclusion: Singapore’s Chinese languages in shared spaces

Arrival cities are defined through migration-led diversification that structures integration, notably through everyday language practices. In Singapore’s multilingual landscape, we find hints of historical waves of migrants from Southern China speaking Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien and Teochew and the recent contributions of new migrants from Mainland China. In light of the work of Pennycook and Otsuji, this article explores how the norms of metrolingual multitasking – of adaptation through language – structure differential inclusion in Singapore through banal and commonplace interactions in shared spaces, such as markets. By focusing on historically situated linguistic scripts of inclusion and exclusion in the city-state, we contrast the linguistic adaptations of older and newer arrivals to show how integration is continuously constituted through the differential inclusion of new arrivals. Based on a series of interviews, we shed light on how metrolingual multitasking, as praxis of differential inclusion, sets up the normative framework for the coexistence of various linguistic forms and resources, whether recognised officially or not, and their use in creative ways for pragmatic communication in completing daily tasks. In this context, the norms of metrolingual multitasking reveal an overall sense of ordinary coexistence in living with such diversity as a requirement for successful integration, despite necessary instances of differential treatment and exclusionary practices, including a refusal to engage with difference.

Supporting the academic staff of the internationalised university: a project at the Department of Management

ABSTRACT One of the consequences of the growing number of English-taught programmes offered by European universities is the top-down request that lecturers switch from their L1 to English, for teaching, while the administrative staff is required to communicate with international students. To help the academic staff cope with the change, some universities have provided them with training and support. In Italy, a project ran from 2015 to 2018 at the Department of Management of a university in the northern part of the country, and consisted of a support service in which the staff could arrange appointments with a language tutor, to discuss issues related to their use of English in academia. During one-on-one sessions, fieldnotes were kept about the participants' difficulties and needs. Through the lens of Grounded Theory, data were coded and grouped into categories, according to their types and frequency. The findings revealed that problems mainly concerned vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. The project is briefly presented, followed by a description of the linguistic and communicative problems most found. This study provides insights into the everyday language practices of the academic staff, since it identified the problems solved through the support service and those to be tackled in the future.

Paternal agency in heritage language maintenance in Australia: Polish fathers in action

ABSTRACT By adopting a tripartite FLP framework, this study aims to explore the agentive role of Polish-speaking fathers in heritage language maintenance. At the outset, it should be noted that as the theme of paternal agency has not been given much prominence in research, this paper delves into how Polish fathers of heteronormative families endeavour to maintain the minority language. More significantly, with the perspective of a new father–child relationship characterised by acknowledged paternity, presence and active involvement in a child’s life, the present article gives voice to fathers who want to engage in everyday language practices that seem to transgress the codes of hegemonic masculinity. Thus, the analysis of transcripts from semi-structured interviews disclose the informants’ ample opportunities for childcare, and most importantly, their struggle for children’s bilingual development. Fathers, as the primary agents, can have profound influence on their offspring’s beliefs, values, attitudes and behavioural patterns concerning the heritage language. The investigation underlines the fact that the gender of the minority-language speaking parent is less important in bilingual childrearing than the actual access to resources, time, and motivation. The study suggests that paternal agency exerts a significant influence on children’s linguistic orientation.

A defiance of language policy: seamless boundaries between languages in Botswana classrooms

Botswana is a multilingual and multicultural country with 25 to 30 languages. In contrast to this everyday lived multilingualism, the country�s language-in-education policy (LIEP) attempts to create a homogenous population in which only two languages are used�Setswana and English. This study investigates language use in classrooms in two schools in Botswana. It explores how the LIEP is enacted in classrooms, which language(s) are used and how. The paper argues that despite a LIEP which tends to prescribe how languages are to be used within education, there is evidence that Botswanan languages are used in much more fluid ways and that the boundaries constructed through the LIEP do not necessarily play out in the day-to-day worlds of teaching and learning in schools. The paper explores the different ways in which the current LIEP meets and diverges from everyday language practices and ends with some suggestions for future policy and practices.

SPACE DISCOURSE IN A LANGUAGE CONTACT SITUATION: “US” VS. “THEM”

Multilingual practices inevitably lead to language contact phenomena. This phenomenon occurs in Estonia, where the Russian speaking minority, often defined as a Russian diaspora, differs from the socially and linguistically dominant Estonian group with respect to their language and language practices. We suggest that the analysis of one of the languages in contact, in this case Russian, allows for a deeper understanding of the role of the other, i.e. Estonian, in the multilingual practices of the Estonian population as a whole. In this paper, we will focus on “spatial indicators” (i.e. toponyms, ergonyms, linguistic landscape objects, etc.) in the discourse on space provided by participants from the Russian-speaking population living in Estonia. These sociolinguistic foci have been partially described in several existing works which underscore the influence of Estonian on the speech of the local Russian speakers. Previous research gives insights into the peculiarities that the influence of Estonian generates: in the use of toponyms, in the naming of different language landscape objects, in the everyday language practices, and in the description and evaluation of the surrounding space (i.e. in the “spatial awareness”) of the local Russian speaking population. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that the aforementioned phenomena represent a whole that reflects the development of the speakers’ apprehension of the surrounding physical, sociocultural and sociolinguistic space. This process is put into focus in this paper and is shown to be characterized by the (re)definition of space(s) as “ours” vs “theirs”. Such processes will be revealed here by giving an overview of the “spatial components” in the speech of the Russian speaking population of Estonia in several spheres of communication (newspapers, TV shows, advertisements, web forums, etc.) and by analysing interviews involving three Estonian residents, each with a different sociolinguistic background. We attempt to demonstrate how these “spatial components” reflect the interaction of Russian and Estonian speakers, with an emphasis on their affinities across certain language practices. In the analysis of the interviews, we focus in particular on the participants’ (re)definitions of “us” vs “them” in their discourse on space. Special attention is also given to the use of Estonian insertions as a tool for evaluation and the creation of the opposition between “us” and “them” in the internet communication of Russian speakers living in Estonia.

A refugee to God. Aleksandr Vvedensky’s spiritual parables

The perception of A. Vvedensky’s work is prone to controversy: he is considered a precursor to absurdist literature; at the same time, his close friend, the poet Y. Druskin, insisted that Vvedensky was religious, and believed his absurdity, instead of representing a lack of meaning, points to a different kind of meaning. The article suggests an approach to the hermeneutic reading of the poet’s private symbolic language that helps to revise certain traditional assessments. The author argues that Vvedensky’s mature oeuvre consists of religious and philosophical allegories written in a most extremely absurdist form. At the core of the poet’s brilliant art of the cryptic portrayal of his innermost beliefs is the aesthetics of the absurd. Hence the alogical nature of his poetic dialogues and plays, semantic inversions and contaminations, paradoxes, allusions, aposiopeses, extended metaphors, etc. Subjected to ‘sweeping incomprehension’ are stereotypes of thinking and everyday language practices – from substandard vernacular and colloquialisms to philosophical discourse. Vvedensky’s ‘star of absurdity’ is seen as a symbol of revelation.

‘You are Iranian even if you were born on the moon’: family language policies of the Iranian diaspora in the UK

ABSTRACT With a focus on an under-studied group of immigrants in the UK, this paper examines Iranian families’ language ideologies and practices at home in relation to Persian acquisition and maintenance for their children. Working within a family language policy (FLP) framework, we draw on sociolinguistic data from semi-structured interviews with eighteen mothers to understand how parental beliefs, their everyday language practices and the attempts they make to maintain, improve, or alter their language use will lead to their children’s heritage language acquisition and maintenance. The results of the study suggest that the success in heritage language development and maintenance boils down to parental pro heritage language ideologies and their everyday small-scale practices. It was also found that the interrelationship between language and cultural values and a successful FLP was further reinforced by the parents’ migration trajectory and proficiency in English as the societal language. This research also showed that the large size of this diaspora in the UK (particularly in London), their close-knit social network, availability of heritage language weekend schools and the possibility of frequent visits to the home country create a conducive situation for the Iranian diaspora to raise their children bilingually.

Navigating the London-French Transnational Space: The Losses and Gains of Language as Embodied and Embedded Symbolic Capital

In this article, an interdisciplinary lens is applied to French migrants’ reflections on their everyday language practices, investigating how embodied and embedded language, such as accent and London-French translanguaging, serve as both in-group and out-group symbolic markers in different transnational spaces. Key sociological concepts developed by Pierre Bourdieu are deployed, including field, habitus, hysteresis and symbolic capital, to assess the varying symbolic conversion rates of the migrants’ languaging practices across transnational spaces. A mixed-methodological and analytical approach is taken, combining narratives from ethnographic interviews and autobiography. Based on the data gathered, the article posits that the French accent is an embodied symbolic marker, experienced as an internalised dialectic: a barrier to inclusion/belonging in London and an escape from the symbolic weight of the originary accent in France. Subsequently, it argues that the migrants’ translanguaging functions as a spontaneous insider vernacular conducive to community identity construction in the postmigration space, but (mis)interpreted as an exclusionary articulation of symbolic distinction in the premigration context. Finally, the article asks whether participants’ linguistic repertoires, self-identifications and spatialities go beyond the notion of the ‘cleft habitus’, or even hybridity, to a post-structural, translanguaging third space that transcends borders.

Convivial linguistic practices: lived togetherness through language in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract This paper takes up conviviality as an analytical tool to investigate everyday language choices made by foreign residents living in Ras Al Khaimah, a small city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It draws on recent work in human geography and cultural studies to understand conviviality in terms of practices rather than outcomes. Specifically, it investigates some of the linguistic dimensions of conviviality deployed by residents of the city in everyday situations of linguistic contact and negotiation of difference. The paper focuses on participants’ “small story” narratives (Georgakopoulou, Alexandra. 2015. Small stories research: Methods – analysis – outreach. In Anna De Fina & Alexandra Georgakopoulou (eds.), The handbook of narrative analysis, 255–272. Malden: John Wiley & Sons) that exemplify everyday language choices in the face of a highly ethnolinguistically diverse as well as racially and economically stratified society. Considering the multitude of ethnolinguistic and socioeconomic divisions in the city and the country as a whole, the paper unpacks how such cross-border contact is negotiated through everyday language practices. The paper identifies four types of convivial linguistic practices described by my participants: language sharing, benevolent interpretation, language checks and respectful language choices. In the process, I also probe the limits of what studying conviviality can tell us about everyday linguistic togetherness in highly segregated societies marked by stark inequalities.

Language choice of Vietnamese ethnic minority students in family and community interactions: implications for minority language maintenance

ABSTRACT This article examines Vietnamese ethnic minority students’ experiences of language choice in communication with people of different ages and in different relations to them in their family and ethnolinguistic community. Concepts of power, solidarity and marked and unmarked choices are adapted to examine the students’ strategies of language choice. Interviews with a group of students are used as the main data source. Findings suggest that the mainstream language was set up as the generational solidarity code among young members while the L1 was considered the power code associated with older members of the family and community. These emerging patterns of language choice may result in disruption of everyday in-group language practices among different generations and perpetuate language shift. It is suggested that explicit L1-promotion policies in the community and minority language support in public domains may encourage young people to engage in language management efforts and empower minority languages in the polity.

Cultural values and practices: the pillars of heritage language maintenance endeavours within an immigrant multilingual Malayali community in the UK

ABSTRACT The widespread marginalisation of heritage languages in public and political discourse coupled with the association of proficiency in host languages with personal and professional gain have led many diasporic communities to shy away from transmitting their heritage languages at home (Curdt-Christiansen 2016): a context considered to be optimal for minority language maintenance (Vaccarino 2011). This does not imply however that attempts-on the part of migrants-to keep alive their heritage languages, are non-existent. Demonstrating a harmonious convergence between their everyday language practices and the above-mentioned assumption that the home is a ‘stronghold' for heritage language use (Pauwels 2016 p.90) are a Malayali community based in Yorkshire, England. Making this a possibility was their commitment towards maintaining certain cultural practices and values associated with the first-generation migrants' country of origin, India. Drawing on semi-structured interview responses, observational field notes and audio-recorded family conversations obtained from this community, what I thus propose in this paper is that these cultural values and practices form the pillars that support the Malayalis’ attempts to preserve their heritage language Malayalam. Furthermore, my findings suggest the agents behind these endeavours to pan across three generations, in two countries: the UK and India.

Nahuatl in Coatepec: Ideologies, practices and management for linguistic and cultural continuance

Although more than a million people still speak Nahuatl, this number is rapidly diminishing. Historically, Nahuatl was the dominant language of Coatepec de los Costales, a small village in Guerrero, Mexico. The last 50 years have seen a pronounced shift there from Nahuatl to Spanish. The ultimate cause of language shift is a disruption in intergenerational language transmission as a result of often violent colonial encounters. Using a conceptual framework that combines (1) the primacy of Indigenous knowledge systems, (2) a critical sociocultural approach to language acquisition, (3) Bernard Spolsky’s definition of language policy as language practices, ideologies and management, and (4) the ethnography of language policy, this article explores, from a critical Indigenous perspective, the local dynamics and global influences that contribute to the endangerment of Nahuatl. More specifically, it examines the mechanisms through which language ideologies, family–community language management strategies and everyday language practices operate among people of different generations, thereby revealing socialisation practices and Indigenous systems of community-based learning. This work may assist other Indigenous communities in better understanding the multiple mechanisms at play in language loss and reclamation – spanning educational to environmental contexts.

The Hegemony of Language Separation: Discontents en Programas de Lenguaje Dual en Paraguay and El Paso

While language hegemonies often take the form of one language imposed upon speakers of another, this article focuses on the hegemony of language boundaries themselves imposed upon everyday language practices, and in particular, upon those of teachers and students in bilingual classrooms. This examination of two different borderland contexts—El Paso, Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border and a central Paraguayan community on an urban-rural Spanish-Guarani speaking border—illustrates how similar dominant ideologies and discourses worked in both places to make it seem as if what participants saw as “language separation” was pedagogically and socially superior to what they saw as people’s everyday “mixed” language use. While teachers’ languaging in practice refused these boundaries, it remained unaffirmed by any explicitly positive discourse. With others, I argue that discourses that explicitly affirm and valorize translanguaging practices must become more available to teachers as ways to name, understand, and evaluate their own (and students’) language use. And specifically, here I highlight the embracing of translanguaging in formal, public events beyond the classroom as key to this process, illustrating this proposal with two such moments in the El Paso and Paraguayan borderland contexts.

(Inter) relations between literacy practices in the writing of narratives in German and Portuguese by children living in the context of German as a heritage language

This article discusses some of the results of a broader research which aimed at understanding (inter) relationships established between reading and writing practices in German and Portuguese languages of primary school children and the context of inheritance language where they are inserted. For the theoretical dimension, the study follows the perspectives of Applied Linguistics and Education, focusing intercultural contexts. This qualitative-interpretative research had as setting a municipal school located in a rural area of the city of Blumenau, Santa Catarina. Regarding the methodological procedures, two proposals were used to produce written narratives, one in Portuguese and the other in German language. The results suggest that (i) children have limited dominance of the narrative structure, applying it partially in productions in both languages; (ii) vocabulary and grammatical structures are characteristics of everyday ordinary language practices; (iii) students are not aware of or they have not internalized spelling rules especially in German. The results of the research affirm the importance of guaranteeing the learning of the inheritance language in formal education, alongside Portuguese, in similar bi/multilingual contexts.

Nouméa at the Crossroads of New Caledonian Multilingualism

This paper aims at questioning two diasporic communities settled in Noumea, New Caledonia's capital city. The first consists of those with internal (domestic) mobility (from Lifou and Ouvea, Loyalty Islands), while the second are those from Vanuatu, the product of external (inter-regional) migration. From these case studies, we examine how unevenly they are managed bytthe weight of linguistic norms on everyday language practices of diasporic urban speakers of Drehu, Iaai and Bislama languages. This contribution also investigates the strategies used by diasporic speakers as well as language institutions, like the Kanak Languages Academy, to maintain their languages and preserve their heritage.