Multilingual Region Research Articles

Children's language-based pedagogical preferences in a multilingual society.

A majority of the world's population is multilingual, yet children's language-based preferences have largely been studied in Western monolingual contexts. The present research investigated language-based preferences in 4- to 8-year-old children living in Hyderabad, India, a multilingual region with languages such as Telugu (official language of the state, and the native language of many children in the state) and English (medium of instruction in some schools). We presented to children novel objects and probed their selective preference to learn from different speakers (Telugu, British-accented English, or Indian-accented English). In addition, the current study assessed the flexibility of children's preferences by manipulating the learning goal (i.e., performance goal vs. enjoyment goal) and learning content (i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics [STEM] objects vs. cultural objects). Children showed a preference for both English speakers over Telugu speakers, a tendency that increased with age. This preference was especially pronounced for performance learning goals and for STEM learning content. Furthermore, children whose native language was Telugu showed a less pronounced English bias. The results of this study provide new insights into the development of language-based biases in multilingual environments. First, they highlight dual and intersecting considerations of speaker familiarity and speaker status in guiding children's choices about from whom to learn. Second, the results suggest that children's language-based preferences in a pedagogical setting are flexible, as children integrate social cues (e.g., language-based attitudes) as well as contextual cues (e.g., the learning goal) strategically. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Cholam Talks: The Origins of Migueleño in a Multilingual Region

Cholam Talks: The Origins of Migueleño in a Multilingual Region

Authenticating ‘mother tongue’ in a multilingual minority community

ABSTRACT This study examines mother tongue in a multilingual region which includes a national language, a recognised ethnic minority language, and multiple other minority languages (including so-called ‘dialects’) and English. We probe into practices and perceptions of one designated ethnic minority group in China across domains of family, community and education through a process of authentication. Drawing on a questionnaire of 576 students with local, multilingual education experience and interviews with 48 students of the Zhuang minority group, we examine the intersubjectivities of language, ethnicity and Chineseness. The findings highlight an unwavering affirmation of Putonghua (PTH) dominance as central to Chineseness along with wavering support of Zhuang and other minority languages or dialects as linked to ethnicity and regional identity. Crucially, our data show that the policies and ideologies around recognised minority languages can make it difficult for speakers to name or claim their ‘mother tongue’. The analyses suggest that ‘mother tongue’ is a misnomer in many ways as it is not primordial, matrilineal or geneological but is based in (primarily monolingual) ideologies which do not adequately represent multilingual individuals and communities. We propose a conceptual framework to expand our understanding of the authentication of mother tongue and the resilience of minority/minoritised language, problematised by monolingual ideologies.

Linguistic In/Exclusion in Medicine: Multilingual COVID-19 Communication in Russia

The paper discusses providing (or not) information about coronavirus during the pandemics of COVID-19 in minority languages in Russia. It explores different minority languages, indigenous, and migrant, in the announcements and doctor-patient communications. The study is based on the observation of the linguistic landscape in 4 Russian cities (N=150) and on materials from semi-structured interviews. According to the data, Russian has been the preferred language for communicating official information about COVID-19. Doctor-patient communication in the multilingual regions was also predominantly in Russian, but there is a tendency to use another, minority native language in communication with mid-level medical staff and with all other actors in the rural area. The paper discusses creation of a more trusting relationship between a doctor and a patient by using the native language.

“We Post and Post, and Others Will Come to Like Us...”, or Translingual Practices in B. Anfinogenov’s Poetry

The article deals with the study of translingual practices in the works by the Udmurt poet B.V. Anfinogenov. The interest to the questions of transcultural literature is due to the importance of research in cultural diversity of multilingual regions of Russia. The methodological basis of the article is the linguistic analysis of a literary text, synthesis-generalization of the achievements of modern literary criticism, structural analysis of a poetic text, etc. The collection of poetic texts by B. Anfinogenov “Dz’ikya Promo” (2023) is used as the material for analysis. Based on the analysis, the peculiarities of translingual practices representation in the works by B. Anfinogenov are revealed, extra-textual (ethnic and cultural self-identification of the author, themes, foreign language inclusions) and intra-textual (hybrid cultural canons and codes) levels of representation of translingualism are outlined. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the role of graphic determination as well as the use of interlanguage homophony and intertextuality in transcultural literature.

Value transmission in primary schools: are teachers’ acculturation orientations a moderator?

The transmission of human values to primary school pupils is key, which is acknowledged in curricula in a variety of cultural contexts worldwide. The present study presents data from the multicultural and multilingual region of Bolzano in Northern Italy (n = 422 pupils in k = 30 classrooms). In addition to class teachers’ values as predictors of their pupils’ values we investigated whether teachers’ acculturation orientations would strengthen the relationship between teachers’ and children’s values, thereby acting as moderators. We focused on the opposing acculturation orientations of integration-transformation versus exclusion. A multilevel analysis showed that teachers’ conservation values (tradition, conformity, and security) significantly predicted their pupils’ conservation values, and that teachers’ openness to change values (self-direction, stimulation, and hedonism) significantly predicted their pupils’ openness to change values. This indicates successful value transmission in the classroom. Teachers’ self-transcendence (benevolence and universalism) and self-enhancement (achievement and power) values did not significantly predict pupils’ values. As expected, teachers’ acculturation orientations were related to their values, but they did not play a role in predicting pupils’ values. Implications for value transmission in the school context and for acculturation research are discussed.

A Micro-Typology of Contact Effects in Four Tibeto-Burman Languages

Abstract When minority languages with similar typological profiles are in long-term contact with a genealogically unrelated socioeconomically dominant language, the perfect context is provided for investigating which observed contact effects are demonstrably allied to sociolinguistic dynamics rather than purely structural ones. This paper investigates the factors determining the different extent of contact effects in four Tibeto-Burman languages (Gurung, Gyalsumdo, Nar-Phu, and Manange) spoken in a geo-politically defined and multilingual region of Nepal. Using corpus data and sociolinguistic interviews collected in the field, we demonstrate that a range of social, economic and geo-spatial factors contribute to asymmetries where contact effects are observed in the four speech communities. These notably include factors specifically relevant in mountasin-based communities, including proximity to transport and trekking routes, outward migration effects on small settlements, and the primary economies of the different parts of the Manang District.

Probing sociodemographic influence on code-switching and language choice in Quebec with geolocation of tweets.

This paper investigates the influence of the relative size of speech communities on language use in multilingual regions and cities. Due to peoples' everyday mobility inside a city, it is still unclear whether the size of a population matters for language use on a sub-city scale. By testing the correlation between the size of a population and language use on various spatial scales, this study will contribute to a better understanding of the extent to which sociodemographic factors influence language use. The present study investigates two particular phenomena that are common to multilingual speakers, namely language mixing or Code-Switching and using multiple languages without mixing. Demographic information from a Canadian census will make predictions about the intensity of Code-Switching and language use by multilinguals in cities of Quebec and neighborhoods of Montreal. Geolocated tweets will be used to identify where these linguistic phenomena occur the most and the least. My results show that the intensity of Code-Switching and the use of English by bilinguals is influenced by the size of anglophone and francophone populations on various spatial scales such as the city level, land use level (city center vs. periphery of Montreal), and large urban zones on the sub-city level, namely the western and eastern urban zones of Montreal. However, the correlation between population figures and language use is difficult to measure and evaluate on a much smaller sub-urban scale such as the city block scale due to factors such as population figures missing from the census and people's mobility. A qualitative evaluation of language use on a small spatial scale seems to suggest that other social influences such as the location context or topic of discussion are much more important predictors for language use than population figures. Methods will be suggested for testing this hypothesis in future research. I conclude that geographic space can provide us information about the relation between language use in multilingual cities and sociodemographic factors such as a speech community's size and that social media is a valuable alternative data source for sociolinguistic research that offers new insights into the mechanisms of language use such as Code-Switching.

Цифровые технологии в развитии русской речи и социокультурных компетенций детей-билингвов в России и за рубежом

The research uses the methods of triadic scaffold protocol, case study, survey, interviewing, and observation. The researchers created and tested the first ever model for the development of Russian speaking skills and social and cultural competences in children aged 3 to 8 living in the multilingual regions of Russia and abroad using digital educational tools, as well as the general principles for the integration of digital tools into preschool speech development programs.
 Rapid digitization of education and society in general make this work extremely important. Research findings can be recommended for consideration by methodologists, teachers, and parents interested in the development of competencies related to understanding early bilingual development mechanisms, the peculiarities of the generation of digital natives, the criteria for assessing digital resources for preschool and elementary school children’s speech development, scenarios of digital resource integration into family and formal (mass) education, as well as pedagogical strategies for taking advantage of multimodality, interactivity, and gamification offered by digital teaching tools.

Learning the language of social environment: the case of Hungarian in Vojvodina (Serbia)

ABSTRACT This article explores Yugoslav education policy in Vojvodina (Serbia), one of the most multilingual regions of the country, which was implemented in the period between the 1960s and 1980s through the school subject the ‘Language of social environment’ (LSE). Based on archival and field research, this case study is devoted to the school subject Hungarian as LSE intended for students whose L1 was Serbo-Croatian. The article addresses the discourses of policy makers who advocated for the introduction of LSE and how former students and teachers remember the school subject, which was abolished in the 1990s. The analysis shows that LSE was based on the values of societal multilingualism for all members of society and in line with a ‘language-as-resource’ orientation to language planning and policy, both as an etic concept at top-down policy level and as an emic concept at local level where nostalgic memories and bottom-up initiatives for its reintroduction emerged.

Mathematics e-learning in the conditions of bilinguality

The world is going through a period of the rapid development of electronic learning systems. In addition, the creation of a digital educational environment and the formation of scientific ideas about using such systems in the educational process are currently taking place. This is of particular importance when teaching small-numbered indigenous peoples living in bilingual and multilingual regions. The article aims to develop an approach to organizing mathematics e-learning for students in a bilingual environment using mechanisms for adapting educational content to specific linguistic features. The study used scientific literature analysis and empirical methods. We suggest that adaptive e-learning courses be a means of e-learning in mathematics. They enable students to pursue an individual educational route and ensure content adaptation according to students’ language and the national peculiarities of their perception of learning materials. The result of the present study is an individual educational route created in an adaptive e-learning course in mathematics in a bilingual environment. In the future, the results of the research can become an element in the methodological system of personalized adaptive learning aimed at the preparation of a university student in a bilingual environment.

Multilingualism in the Banat: A Focus on Intellectual Perspectives through the Analysis of Literary Works

SummaryThe Banat has been one of Europe’s most multilingual regions since the 18thcentury. From the 19thcentury European intellectuals have been engaged in building nations, which has resulted in the marginalization of multilingualism in many forms. The monolingual literary novel has been described as one of the important instruments in this process. Phenomena remaining resistant to this idea are brought into focus through the analysis of multilingualism in four novels written by authors from the Banat. In this manner, the chances of multilingualism in the context of national cultures and intellectuals are examined. As a conclusion, it is argued that the multiplicity of languages in literature presents an opportunity for a better cross-cultural understanding.

ПРОБЛЕМЫ ЯЗЫКА И ГЕОПОЛИТИКИ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ АНАЛИЗА ЯЗЫКОВОЙ СИТУЦИИ В ПЕРИФЕРИЙНЫХ И АНКЛАВНЫХ РЕГИОНАХ)

Objective of the study. This paper is aimed at revealing the issues in the area of language policy from geopolitical perspective. The methodological basis of the research. To achieve the objective formulated the following set of geopolitical methods are used in the study such as geosituational analysis, sociologigal approach, comparative analysis/ Research results. The article discusses specific cases of the potential of geopolitical analysis in the study of sociolinguistic issues. The authors' research is focused on the following relevant regions: Adygea (as a textbook example of an enclave linguistic and cultural community) and Wales and Scotland (as geographically and historically peripheral regions of Great Britain). The main conclusion reached by the authors of the article suggests that in a multiethnic and multilingual region (which include the peripheral and enclave ones studied by the authors), those languages with respect to which language policy and planning are carried out are more likely to to survive.     Prospects of the study. The issue for further research is likely to be the consideration of potential consequences of a language policy implementation in peripheral or enclave multiethnic regions.

A code-mixed task-oriented dialog dataset for medical domain

In the healthcare domain, medical and patient interactions form a crucial part of the diagnosis. Initially, the AI models developed for healthcare centered only on monolingual data. However, such models do not cater to the multilingual regions, where most conversations are Code-Mixed. We present the Code-Mixed Medical Task-Oriented Dialog Dataset to facilitate the research and development of Code-Mixed medical dialog systems. We analyzed the dataset using medical, conversational, and linguistic theories. The dataset contains 3005 Telugu–English Code-Mixed dialogs between patients and doctors with 29 k utterances covering ten specializations with an average code-mixing index (CMI) of 33.3%. We manually annotated the conversational dataset with intents and slot labels. We also present baselines to establish benchmarks on the dataset using existing state-of-the-art Natural Language Understanding (NLU) models. We improved the existing baselines using contextual ground truth intent labels and processing the slots as chunks. The data is made publically available.11https://github.com/suman101112/Code-Mixed-TOD-Medical-Dataset.git.

The role of language attitudes and ideologies in minority language learning motivation

AbstractThe present article examines the importance of language attitudes and ideologies for studying motivation to learn minority languages by adults. In the contemporary globalised world, proficiency not only in English, but also in other languages, is necessary in order to communicate internationally and find employment. These may be other ‘major’ state languages, such as French or Spanish. However, in many linguistically diverse or multilingual regions, the local languages are important for increasing one’s own social and cultural capital, social cohesion and occasionally also for their economic values. Hence, it is important to study what motivates people to learn minority and minoritised languages. The L2 Motivational Self System has been developed and used for explaining the motivation to learn English in homogenous educational settings. However, this is only one context in which languages are learned. Drawing on qualitative data obtained among Polish post-2004 adult migrants in Wales, this article discusses the relevance of Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System and integrativeness (Gardner & Lambert 1972) in learning minority languages and the role of more subtle, social aspects of (minority) language learning such as language ideologies. It is proposed that integrativeness and language ideologies are vital in the motivation to learn minority languages.

ЯЗЫКОВЫЕ УСТАНОВКИ ГОРОДСКОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ ДАГЕСТАНА

The national (native) language is a key identifier of ethnic self-identification and its state to a certain extent determines the state of the interethnic sphere: infringement of the national language is usually accompanied by a deterioration of the interethnic climate, the formation of the principles of intolerance, hostility and aggression in the public consciousness. In this regard, the study of linguistic behavior seems to be an urgent task against the background of the ongoing complex and contradictory ethno-linguistic processes in modern Russian society. The aim of the study is to identify the factors influencing the language behavior of the urban population of Dagestan. Based on the results of an empirical study, it is concluded that the Russian language prevails as the language of interethnic communication in all social spheres of modern Dagestan society. This circumstance is quite natural, for Dagestan is a multilingual region, in which there is an objective need for the language of interethnic communication. While the importance of the Russian language is high, there is a decrease in the weight of the national languages of the peoples of Dagestan, moreover, printed publications in Russian (books, magazines, newspapers, electronic resource), as well as social networks are the main source of information for the surveyed urban population of the republic. Verification of the survey results shows that many factors have a destructive effect on linguistic processes, including the processes of urbanization and modernization leveling the ethnocultural specifics, the absence of the Law "On the languages of the peoples of Dagestan", naturally contributing to the transformation of linguistic consciousness and the resulting linguistic behavior of the urban population of the republic.

Mental well-being in residents of monolingual and multilingual regions of Russia

IntroductionDespite numerous studies of the mental health and well-being of the population depending on various factors, insufficient attention is paid to the research of the relationship between well-being and mono- and multilingual regional specifics in multilingual and multicultural Russia.ObjectivesThis study aims to identify a possible relationship between mental well-being in some regions of the Russian Federation and monolingualism and multilingualism inherent in these regions.MethodsThe study involved 966 participants (29.5% men and 70.5% women) aged 11 to 80 years (M=24.8; SD=12.19) from six regions of the Russian Federation: Crimea, Adygea, Bashkortostan, Sakha, Tatarstan and Kabardino-Balkarian region. The mental well-being of participants was assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (Tennant et al., 2006; Tennant et al., 2007).ResultsThe measures of mental well-being were compared among residents from the regions as following categories: native Russian language speakers in monolingual regions (144 participants); native Russian language speakers in multilingual regions (193 participants); native national language speakers in multilingual regions (325 participants); native Russian and national languages speakers in multilingual regions (304 participants). Using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), it was found that there were no significant differences in the assessments of mental well-being (F = 0.852; p = 0.521) among residents from the above categories.ConclusionsResidents who are native speakers in Russian and national languages and are living in Russia’s regions with monolinguism and multilinguism demonstrate no difference in mental well-being measures. The reported study was funded by the RFBR, project number 17-29-09167.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Vernacular Multilingualism. The use of French in Medieval Dutch Literature

Recently new attention has been paid to the presence and use of French outside of France in multilingual regions, one of them being the Southern Low Countries. Scholarship focusing on this area has emphasized the presence of French within the Dutch literary culture as well as studied the language attitude of Dutch authors towards French. This article adds a third focus to this scholarship, namely that of the use of French found within multilingual texts from the Southern Low Countries. Through an analysis of a selection of bilingual and trilingual texts, it is determined how French is incorporated in these texts, what functionality it serves and to what extent this function reflects or contradicts findings from the other two views on French in medieval Dutch literary culture.

Graecia Belgica: writing Ancient Greek in the early modern Low Countries

Abstract The early modern Low Countries formed a multilingual region where Latin and several vernaculars lived in symbiosis. It is often forgotten, however, that Ancient Greek was also cultivated among the cultural and intellectual elite, so intensely that a vast corpus of Greek texts was produced in this region. This article offers a first exploration of the reasons behind this cultural phenomenon. It starts with a general introduction, including a state of research in the field and a first survey of the source materials. The main body of the article is divided into two parts. The first situates the so-called New Ancient Greek literature of the early modern Low Countries in historical perspective by introducing first Greek studies and then Greek composition in this region. Against this background, the second part explores what motivated and inspired this Greek literary production in four sections, each discussing an important aspect of the phenomenon under study: language learning, cultural distinction, networks and communities, and aesthetic appreciation. The article thus demonstrates that writing in Greek in the early modern era had uses far beyond showing off one’s literary talent and erudition.

ЯЗЫКОВОЕ СОЗНАНИЕ ГОРОДСКОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ ДАГЕСТАНА

t. The increased interest in the position of national (native) languages in the world space is due to the intensification of the processes of globalization and, along with it, urbanization; the formation of an information society, which itself determines the dominant language that is necessary for communication. The growth of the importance of one language naturally contributes to the weakening of the status of other national languages, the narrowing of the areas of their functioning, respectively, the transformation of linguistic consciousness and human behaviour. The Republic of Dagestan is a multilingual region in which many national languages and dialects function. The intensity of modernization and urbanization has a huge impact on ethno-linguistic processes, the formation of a certain linguistic consciousness and the resulting linguistic behaviour. Therefore, the study of the state and status of the national language not only as a key identifier of the ethnic self-identification of an individual and a means of communication, the linguistic consciousness of the urban population, their preferred language of interpersonal communication, attitude to the native language of their ethnic community, the influence of the media on linguistic consciousness seems to be relevant in the mainstream ethnolinguistic processes, which are very difficult in a multinational community. Empirical material shows that complex ethnolinguistic processes are taking place in the modern urban space; there is a decrease in the weight of national (native) languages with an increase in the importance of the Russian language. It has been established that there is a transformation of the linguistic consciousness of the urban population, preference is given not to the national (native) language, the priority is communication in Russian.