Multilingual Country Research Articles

Parental views on language choice and its impact on bilingual families of children with autism spectrum disorder: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT India is known for its linguistic and cultural diversity, and is one amongst the most multilingual countries of the world. Yet only little is known about bilingualism in families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study, thus, aimed to explore the parental views on language choice and their impact on bilingual families of children with ASD, in India. The study employed a descriptive qualitative research design using in-depth interviews on 12 parents of children with ASD having English as their second language. The data obtained was subjected to inductive thematic analysis. Results revealed four major themes and corresponding subthemes, namely, parental opinion on language approach, language choice and practice, factors determining language choice, and their impact. Parents presented mixed views on bilingualism. Despite having positive opinion regarding bilingualism, parents demonstrated a mismatch between the opinion on language choice and practice. Although parents wish to practice bilingualism, several factors influenced their use of languages with their children with ASD. Some of these factors involved the child’s ability, family factors, the role of English and advice received from professionals and fellow parents. The parental language practice showed impact on the family, education, and intervention of the child. Results of our study support the existing literature and highlight specific factors supporting bilingualism in the Indian context.

Language Policy under NEP: 2020 – A Critical Analysis

Education is the backbone of a country. Education also plays vital role to upload national unity. Thus education policy always plays a congruent role in the spread of education in a country. Education policy acts as a basic requirement of a country. Any education policy sets on the analysis of the past. It deals with the need of the present days and also focuses on the possibilities of the future. Like the other countries, India also felt the need of a well- planned education policy to ensure all-round development of our society at large. The new education policy of India enlightens preservation as well as development of all Indian languages but the problem lays in the fact that India being a multilingual and multicultural country will select which particular language as a medium of instruction in the education system. NEP 2020 for the first time harps on introducing mother tongue as a medium of instruction at the primary level. All the relevant aspects of language issues are carefully integrated from paragraphs 4.11 to 4.22 very carefully under the heading ‘Multilingualism’ in NEP 2020. The inclusion of many vernacular languages in educational curriculum will definitely protect endangered languages in India. It will also help the students to be connected with the culture of the nation. Indirectly, this will help our students to increase qualitative creative skills. NEP 2020 has proposed to implement ‘Three-Language-Formula’ to promote multilingualism from the school level. The objective of NEP 2020 is to make the students proficient in different languages and also know the mother tongue to be respectful and knowledgeable about the ancient literature. The objective of this study is to identify the necessity of new education policy (NEP 2020) and its impact on education system of our country for holistic development of the students from primary to higher education. Key Words: Education system, Multilingualism, Multicultural, Holistic Development, Three-Language Formula.

ELT in Mother Tongue Dominant Schools in Nepal

English language teaching (ELT) in mother tongue (MT)/first language (L1) dominant primary schools in Nepal, a multilingual country, without the use of L1 may pose difficulties to both teachers and students. Overemphasis on only-English/Nepali teaching may create language phobias among students at the early stages of their lives and can force some vernacular languages and cultures to die. Hence, MT-based schools may help to preserve the local languages and cultures by going against the trend of teaching only English or Nepali. This qualitative study explored three English teachers’ teaching experiences in three Nepal Bhasa dominant primary schools at Kathmandu valley. Guided by the interpretive paradigm, the teachers’ perceptions and teaching experiences were captured through interviews and classroom observations. Findings show that teaching English in a multilingual class is challenging because teachers need to know and apply their students’ mother tongue(s) to teach effectively. The use of L1 reduces learners’ dropouts, builds a language learning foundation and using only English/Nepali disregarding L1 may kill indigenous culture. This study is beneficial for not only the teachers, but also the policymakers, curriculum developers, and other stakeholders to get insights for providing a rightful space to the use of L1 in ELT classrooms.

Factors influencing students’ reading literacy in Morocco: A multilevel analysis

Morocco is a multilingual country with a diverse culture. When it participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) for the first time, its reading literacy scores ranked relatively low in the test. Employing hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), the present study examined the effects of both student- and school-level factors on students’ reading literacy in Morocco. Student-level (N = 5800) and school-level (N = 179) data were drawn from the PISA 2018. The results showed that students’ reading literacy differed significantly across schools, accounting for about 40.5% of the overall variation. Further, the results showed that at the student level, when the variables of gender and family indices (i.e., economic, social, and cultural status) were controlled, language spoken at home, understanding and remembering of meta-cognition, self-concept of reading, expected occupational status, adaptation to instruction, teacher support in test language lessons, and duration in early childhood education and care all had significant effects on students’ reading literacy. At the school level, school location, school type, school size, shortage of educational material, and proportion of highly educated teachers had a crucial influence on student reading literacy, either directly or indirectly. To date, the reasons for these effects have not been systematically investigated. Morocco was the only African country to take part in the PISA test and it would be worthwhile to explore the factors affecting reading literacy in this low-performing country. Further, the results may be applicable to some extent to low reading performance in other countries.

Translation and validation of the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) into Kannada: a tool for clinical and research use in the Indian population

Purpose The Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) is a widely recognized measure for evaluating tinnitus and is frequently used in both therapeutic and research contexts. Unfortunately, TFI is currently not available in any Indian languages. In a multilingual country like India, cross-cultural adaptation, translation, and validation of such scales in regional languages are critical to improving their use for clinical and research purposes. Therefore, this study focused on translating and validating the TFI in Kannada for use among the Indian population. Materials and methods The original version of TFI was translated with the help of audiologists and linguistic experts who were proficient in Kannada. The translated version was content validation by five audiologists and a cognitive debriefing by native speakers to check the familiarity of words. The final version (TFI-K) was then administered to 181 participants with tinnitus. Along with the TFI, other scales like Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) were also obtained to check the convergent validity. The obtained data was then subjected to various statistical analyses like internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and factor analysis. Results The TFI-K was found to have an excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.974) and good convergent validity (p < 0.001; r = 0.778) with THI-K. A principal component analysis with varimax rotation showed communalities ranging from 0.64 to 0.91. Scree plots with the TFI-K component showed a sharp decline after the first factor and approximately four factors above the eigenvalue of 1. The factor analysis results suggest that the TFI-K has a structurally intact 8-factor loading, with a few exceptions that are discussed in detail. Conclusion The TFI-K has demonstrated remarkable dependability and satisfactory integrity, making it a valuable tool for assessment and treatment planning in clinical and research settings.

Changing language hierarchies and ideologies in New Zealand dual language picturebooks: 1973-2020

Aotearoa New Zealand is a multilingual country with three official languages, Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, and English. The presence of Māori and English in picturebooks published in New Zealand between 1973 and 2020 offers a method of exploring and documenting the changing language hierarchies and ideologies across a 47-year period. This is of particular importance because of the contribution of children’s literature to developing language attitudes in child and adult readers. In this article, a sociolinguistic lens called Linguistic Landscape is used to analyse a sample of seven picturebooks, showing how picturebooks reflect language beliefs and attitudes to official yet minority languages in an English-dominant society. The picturebooks are analysed in terms of the relative space and dominance afforded each language. Links to language status in law and education are examined exploring the potential of picturebooks as a source for the study of changing language hierarchies and ideologies.

“Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Wept”: Exploring Translations of Language, Practices and Story Forms in IsiZulu Journalism

ABSTRACT In multicultural and multilingual societies like South Africa, newswork, or the practices that underpin the news-making process, is made possible by linguistic and cultural translation. In other words, both linguistic and cultural translation play a significant role in contemporary journalism practices in South Africa. While the linguistic level is concerned about language, the cultural level focuses on para language, especially the practices around news gathering and reporting. This paper seeks to illustrate how translation works in terms of language, practices and forms of journalism in multicultural contexts like South Africa. The country is a multicultural and multilingual country meaning that the English media content in mainstream journalism almost always appears as a translation. When sourcing in a variety of languages and cultural contexts, journalists and other media producers have to translate at both linguistic and practice levels. The practice level is influenced mostly by the cultural contexts. Operating in an environment where journalism is conducted within a specific news culture whose borders are inscribed by the hegemonic English and western journalistic cultures, journalists working for indigenous languages newspapers like Ilanga newspaper, an isiZulu newspaper, undertake numerous “translation” processes in the conduct of their work. Central to the arguments in this paper is the idea that both journalism practice and translation are routine aspects of news-work in multicultural countries.

Training Problems of Non-native Translators in Multilingual Countries

Training Problems of Non-native Translators in Multilingual Countries

Validation of the self-report classification tool to determine language dominance in Kannada-English bilinguals

Background In recent times, the efforts to profile the language characteristics of bilinguals have been extended from mere documentation of proficiency in each language to the determination of language dominance that captures both proficiency and usage (i.e., frequency &amp; contexts) of each language. In multilingual countries, individuals are immersed in various languages in different contexts. With the broader intention to improve the linguistic profiling of bilinguals in countries with similar characteristics, we aimed to adapt and validate the Self-report classification tool in Indian Kannada-English bilinguals. Methods A group of 88 adult Kannada-English bilingual participants self-rated their language proficiency. We measured their language dominance with the adapted tool. Finally, to objectively measure their language abilities, we used the short version of the Bilingual Aphasia Test. Results Discriminant analysis of the ratings showed that the self-report classification tool accurately classified our participants into three groups based on language dominance. Both the self-rating and the objective measure of language proficiency supported the (dominance) classifications by the adapted tool. Conclusion Findings show that the adapted self-report classification tool is valid for determining language dominance in Kannada-English bilinguals. Further, the current study shows that this tool is adaptable to novel bilingual language dyads.

Communication with international visitors

Abstract According to Statistics Estonia, in 2022, there were 170 museums in Estonia with 277 visitor sites, all of which contribute to preserving, shaping, and communicating our memory and identity, translating our culture to the people of Estonia and international visitors alike. Among European countries, Estonia has the most museums per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2022, nearly 2.5 million people visited museums, which makes 1,769 attendances per 1000 inhabitants. Museum translation is integral to translation studies but has not been thoroughly studied in Estonia. The article attempts to reflect on the communicative potential of interlingual translation in the University of Tartu Museum, using the concepts developed in museum translation research. Estonia is an interesting case for discussion because, while it is a country with a very small population, it is a multilingual country, where about 30% of the population do not speak Estonian as their first language. As a small and multilingual country, museums cannot rely on Estonian-speaking visitors only; they also depend on foreign visitors. The research objective is to find out how the University of Tartu Museum communicates with visitors who do not understand Estonian and what communicative strategies have been used in the past.

Public Policy and Governance Issues in Multi-Ethnic Society: The Predicaments of Policy Agenda Setting in Nigeria

It is an indisputable fact that Nigeria is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious country. It is also widely recognized that the country has an abundance of material and human resources due to its diverse population. But what was once seen and considered as a blessing has turned into a serious problem for governance and politics in Nigeria. This is because the determination of ethnic entrepreneurs to invoke the common consciousness shared by individuals who identify with a specific ethnic or religious group lies at the heart of a lot of governance and policy challenges in the country. Symbolic ethnic pluralism has been an element in conflictual group relations whenever there is socioeconomic and political competition in the country. The objective of this paper is to examine how public policy agenda-setting and ethnoreligious consciousness intersect in Nigeria. The study used a qualitative approach, collecting data from the author’s observations as well as a comprehensive analysis of the body of existing literature. The findings imply that the overlapping roles of power, perception, potency, and proximity in political mobilization and policy-making in Nigeria have an impact on the intersection of ethnicity and religion as well as the reduction of complex geostrategic and historical conflicts to ethnic strife. The study recommended that the country’s current institutional arrangements and social norms be drastically altered.

Effects of Mother Tongue Education and Multilingualism on Reading Skills in the Regional Language and English in India

AbstractIn a highly multilingual country like India, challenges and opportunities arise in education and language policy. Although multilingualism is often associated with developmental advantages, Indian primary school children generally show low learning outcomes, specifically on literacy. Here we examine the influence of mother tongue education and multilingualism on the reading skills and reading comprehension of 1272 Indian primary school children from low SES homes. The children performed the ASER literacy task in both the regional, majority language and in English, which was followed by newly developed reading comprehension questions. The results show that minority language speakers from monolingual households—who do not receive mother tongue education—underperform compared to majority language speakers when reading in the majority language. When reading in English, growing up in a multilingual household improves children's performance. Finally, in sites which have a larger proportion of mother tongue‐educated children, children perform better in literacy in the regional language and worse in English. Overall, these results provide insight into the influence of mother tongue education and multilingualism on reading abilities and show that more support is needed for minority language speakers to develop literacy in the majority language, and for all children to develop literacy in English.

Assessing the Vitality of a Local Chinese Community Language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia

Malaysia is a multilingual and multiethnic country with a substantial population of ethnic Chinese, who use standardized languages such as Malay, English, and Mandarin, as well as various Chinese dialects in their daily lives within and beyond Chinese communities. Cantonese is a community language that significantly impacts the lives of local Chinese in the city of Ipoh, Malaysia. This study aims to examine the vitality of Cantonese in Ipoh using the language vitality and endangerment (LVE) tool developed by UNESCO. Nine LVE-proposed factors reflecting the degree of endangerment were investigated. Using a survey method, 377 participants from various groups were randomly selected from the Chinese community in Ipoh, Malaysia during January 6 to February 5, 2022. The result shows that Cantonese in Ipoh is rated as “Unsafe,” indicating that measures should be taken to prevent its further decline. The result suggests that further research is needed to gain a clearer understanding of the factors affecting language shift and maintenance, as well as the potential and challenges of linguistic and cultural diversity in the contemporary world.

Tense and Aspect in Balti Language: Morphological Perspective

Pakistan is a multilingual and multicultural country where 72 language diverse languages are used for communication. Gilgit-Baltistan is one of the most well-known northern regions for its stunning natural beauty, distinct landscapes, evergreen forests, snow-capped mountains, and rich cultural heritage. Most of the Gilgit-Baltistan regional languages have been studied historically and culturally, but a few studies address this from a linguistic perspective. Balti language is one of them. Balti is a member of the more extraordinary Tibeto-Burman language family, specifically the Western Tibetan branch of the Tibetan language family. The present study analyses the tense and aspect markers in the Balti language. This study contributes to the regional language of Pakistan and analyzes the language in the morphological domain that is not mostly touched yet; also, studying tense and aspect markers in the Balti language from a morphological perspective is crucial for understanding the language’s nuances within temporal expressions. The present study results show that Balti has a complex system of tense and aspect markers; using the qualitative research design, n= 50 root words (verbs) were collected from the Balti language within the framework of inflectional morphemes of tense markers for this study. Nine markers for tense and some of their aspect, including eḑ, en, s, yoḑ, and yoḑpə: set̪, ʊk, t̪ʊk, and sed̪ʊkt̪ʊk, are identified in the current study. These markers are attached to the corresponding root verbs to indicate the present simple, present progressive, past simple with progressive, future simple, and future participle. The study also develops a deep understanding of various future tense markers as connectors to root words based on the consonant and vowel sounds at the end of root words.

Code-mixing in Chhattisgarhi Conversation of Undergraduate Students

This paper investigates code-mixing in Chhattisgarhi based on conversation collected from the undergraduate students in the district of Gourella-Pendra-Marvahi (GPM). In India, lexical items from other languages are often mixed in most of the Indian languages since it is a multilingual country. In fact, this happens in Chhattisgarhi conversation by mixing English words in various situations. English language is used in India as second and foreign language in different places. So, the possibilities of mixing English words in Chhattisgarhi are commonly found in the spoken data. Code-mixing is a phenomenon in the society in which speakers mix words for various reasons. This paper focuses on the nature of code-mixing, the significance of code-mixing, how Chhattisgarhi undergraduate students mix English words, phrases, idioms, baster forms and clauses and the reasons for code-mixing in their Chhattisgarhi conversation. In this study, data was collected from twenty Chhattisgarhi undergraduate students at Pandit Madhav Rao Sapre College in Pendra Road of GPM district. Descriptive qualitative method was used and the informal conversations were collected from undergraduate students in different situations. The data was collected from the students through the audio-recorder in the natural settings. The recorded audio has been transcribed in IPA script, analyzed and discussed in detail in this paper. The participant of one of the researchers also helped to draw on first-hand observation through her membership in the community. The findings reveal that undergraduate students mix considerably English words, phrases, baster forms and clauses in Chhattisgarhi conversation. It is also identified that certain Chhattisgarhi case markers were attached to the English words and the insertion of sounds were found within the words i.e., intra-lexical code-mixing which leads to change the actual pronunciation of the word. The findings disclose the attitudes and opinions of undergraduate students while mixing the English elements and the main reasons for code-mixing in Chhattisgarhi conversation.

Monolingual Used on The Historical Sites in Dili, Timor-Leste: A Study of Linguistics Landscape

Timor-Leste which is further called (TL) is also well-known as a multilingual and multicultural country. Besides, Timor-Leste also has 32 local languages and 3 foreign languages such as Portuguese, Bahasa Indoenesia and English. Portuguese is used as the official language however, Bahasa Indonesia and English are used as working languages. This research aimed to determine and to explore the predominant language used in historical sites in Dili. This is a qualitative research and the data were collected by using taking pictures technique with a mobile phone camera. After all the data were collected then, they were analyzed by using qualitaive descriptive method. The Results in this research showed that there are 6 historical sites found in Dili. Tetum language is used as monolingual to describe and explain the brutal action done by the Indonesian Military during the Indonesian occupation in Timor-Leste.

Language Choice Among Children of Couples of Different Languages: A Case Study of Techiman Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana

Ghana is a multilingual country with an average Ghanaian being exposed to at least more than one language. This linguistic situation often impacts language choices among bi/multi-lingual families where parents from different linguistic backgrounds face the reality of deciding which language(s) to expose their children to. This study investigates possible opportunities and challenges that the children of Ghanaian couples of different languages face in choosing the language(s) to speak with either parents or both parents at home using families in Techiman in the Bono East Region of Ghana as a case study. The study, therefore, sought to answer the key question, “What language(s) do children of couples of different languages speak at home with their parents?” Using the purposive sampling technique, the study collected data using questionnaires which were analysed using the bivariate data analysis procedure of Content Analysis (CA). The analyses of the data show that the children of couples of different languages spoke English and Twi/Bono as the major unmarked codes used at home. Some other languages such as Dagomba/Mampruli, Gonja, Sissala, and Hausa were also used at home by a minority of the respondents. The study further found that speaking multiple languages helped the children to make friends seamlessly and to participate in school, church, and mosque activities, and the languages play certain roles in those domains. The study also shows that the main domains where the children of Ghanaian couples of different languages choose a particular code or language are schools, churches, and markets. The outcome of the study contributes to studies on family language use and has implications for language maintenance.

A descriptive study of vowels in Dialects of Pakistani English

The widespread use of English as a lingua franca has created many varieties of Global English. Pakistani English is an under-documented variety. As Pakistan is a multilingual country, it has been a difficult task for the linguists to document the dialects of Pakistani English and to determine how these dialects are influenced by regional languages (e.g. Pashto, Punjabi, Urdu etc.). Previous studies focused on Pakistani English of only a few locations (influenced by only a few regional languages). A broad-based study is required to document the phonetics of Pakistani English. The current study investigates two questions about the Pakistani English vowel system: how much variety there is, and whether the dialects of Pakistani English are influenced by regional languages. Speech data was collected from 208 undergrad students from thirteen cities representing thirteen regional languages of Pakistan (e.g. Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar etc.). Participants read thirty-two words expected to contain monophthongs in initial, medial and final position. Formant measurements are measured automatically in Praat. Preliminary analyses show variation in formant values of vowels in regional dialects; The results will allow for documentation of the vowel space of Pakistani English and will provide a broad representation of Pakistani English dialects.

POEM IN MOTION: A UNIQUE BLEND OF EAST AND WEST IN SANDHYA RAJU’S PERFORMANCE POETRY OF MAYA ANGELOU’S POEM ‘PHENOMENAL WOMAN’

Dance is an ancient, universal art form that stirs the souls of the performer as well as the admirers. Dance has the power to heal, nourish, teach, and spread joy and peace. In India, a multicultural and multilingual country, innumerable folk, and classical dance forms have flourished and continue to be practised across villages, towns, and cities. Religious festivals, cultural gatherings, social movements, and youth programmes are incomplete without the rhythm and beauty of music and dance. On Feb 2, 2022, the eminent Kuchipudi danseuse Sandhya Raju launched a terpsichorean rendition of the famous poem ‘Phenomenal Woman’ written by the American poet and activist Maya Angelou and published in 1978, as a tribute to the former’s mother on her birthday. Raju, with her co-dancers from the Aayana Dance Company, made a creative interpretation of the poet’s powerful words, while adding a verse of her own which in turn emphasised the concepts of inner strength of a woman and the depth of mother-daughter bonding. The choreography largely borrows from Kuchipudi, a dance form with its origin in an eponymous village in Andhra Pradesh and founded in the classical Sanskrit treatise Natya Sastra. Angelou’s emphatic paean to the confidence and inner beauty of the woman fuses with the Indian performance art form to weave a mesmerising visual-aural experience to the viewer, bringing in an East-West blend that surpasses the boundaries of language, culture, and race.

Ethnicity and Madheshi Sub-National Identity in Nepal

The 2015 Constitution defines Nepal as a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country but not a multi-national; however, historically, two powerful ethnic groups with potential sub-national characters have been contesting each other under the native versus immigrant dyad. The alleged immigrants, namely the Madheshis, and the self-claimed native settlers, to name the Pahadis, both assert their distinct ethnic and linguistic identity enriched with sub-national strength. As a result, the Madheshis question the legitimacy of the civic form of nationalism promoted by the Pahadi ruling elites under ‘Nepali’ monocultural framework, thereby demanding that their sub-national character be recognised, whereas the Pahadis aim to assimilate the Madheshis under the civic form of nationalist framework that they have been promoting for a long. The face-off between these two groups has impacted national ethnopolitics and everyday relations since the 2007 Madheshi uprising. On this backdrop, this article, based on secondary sources, inquires how strong the Madheshis’ claim of sub-national identity is in relation to the larger framework of Nepali national identity structured by Pahadi norms and values.