Receptive Multilingualism Research Articles

A small speech community with many small languages: The role of receptive multilingualism in supporting linguistic diversity at Warruwi Community (Australia)

At Warruwi Community (pop. 400), nine very different Indigenous languages are still widely used, which is unusual in the contemporary Australian Indigenous context. Using the receptive multilingual mode, speakers frequently address one another in different languages. This mode offers speakers of small languages such as Mawng (ca. 400 speakers) an alternative to accommodating to larger languages such as Yolngu-matha (ca. 2000 speakers). Although not unique to Warruwi, receptive multilingual practices are part of a set of “mutually constituting ideologies and practices” (Nakassis, 2016) that co-construct a speech community where many small languages flourish.

Introduction: Receptive multilingualism

This special issue of the Nordic Journal of Linguistics is devoted to receptive multilingualism (RM), and includes papers presented in the conference Receptive Multilingualism: Multilingual Resources in the Service of Mutual Understanding, held at the University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, in 2015. RM refers to a language contact situation in which hearers’ or readers’ understanding of a non-native language is based on their skills in either their first language or languages that they have learned later in life. In such situations comprehension can be based on linguistic similarity of the languages, on acquired knowledge of the languages, or both. A particular characteristic of RM is its emphasis on receptive language skills: the hearer or the reader does not necessarily actively command the language they are able to understand. In its most interactive form RM refers to a situation in which every conversation participant can use their native language and be understood by the others.

Towards a repertoire-building approach: multilingualism in language classes for refugees in Luxembourg

ABSTRACTThis contribution examines how the diverse language resources that teachers and learners bring to the classroom can support the process of language learning. It draws on a range of linguistic ethnographic data collected at a French language course that was attended mostly by Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Luxembourg. Drawing on the analysis of multilingual interactional practices, the article sheds light on some of the opportunities for learning that emerged as a result of translation, translanguaging and receptive multilingualism. It discusses the relevance of these practices for building a repertoire of resources that enables forced migrants to communicate in multilingual contexts such as Luxembourg.

A hearer-based analysis of Turkish–Azerbaijani receptive multilingual communication

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions:Receptive multilingualism (RM), a mode of multilingual communication in which speakers of different languages use their own native language to communicate and still understand each other, is considered to be a relatively under-investigated area in multilingual research. This paper examines features of Turkish–Azerbaijani RM and, focusing on a hearer-based analysis, looks into strategies applied for achieving understanding in the receptive multilingual communication (RMC).Design/Methodology/Approach:The study is carried out within the conceptual framework of RM.Data and Analysis:Authentic data obtained from oral communication between an Azerbaijani and a Turkish native speaker are analyzed and a post-interview was conducted with the participants in order to investigate to what extent they were able to understand each other in the RMC and what strategies they applied to achieve understanding.Findings/Conclusions:The study reveals that the Turkish and Azerbaijani participants could communicate with each other in RM mode without much difficulty thanks to the typological proximity of their languages. In a few instances in which lack of understanding occurred, the participants were found to apply strategies such as asking questions for clarification, conveying confirmation, repeating, rephrasing, resorting to their lexical and world knowledge as well as utilizing the let-it-pass strategy.Originality and Significance/Implications:The significance of the study is twofold: first, it demonstrates that RMC between Turkish and Azerbaijani can be utilized as an alternative to lingua franca communication; and second, the study expands the taxonomy of hearer-based strategies in RMC.

Interactions between formal distance and participant-related variables in receptive multilingualism

AbstractRecognizing cognates in a related but unknown language (Lx) is of key importance in receptive multilingualism. Many studies have consequently investigated the impact of both item-related characteristics (most notably the cognates’ formal distance to their L1/L2 counterparts) and participant-related variables (e. g., the make-up of the participants’ linguistic repertoires) on Lx cognate recognition. However, little is known about how these two factors interact with one another. Using data from a lifespan study on Lx (Swedish) cognate recognition in German-speaking participants, we investigate how the effect of the Lx cognates’ formal distance to their L1/L2 counterparts varies as a function of the participants’ richness of linguistic experience and their ability to deal with abstract patterns flexibly (‘fluid intelligence’). We do so for both written and spoken stimuli. The results underscore that the relationship between formal distance and recognition in receptive multilingualism, and cross-linguistic influence more generally, may vary systematically as a function of participant-related variables.

Receptive intelligibility of Turkish to Iranian-Azerbaijani speakers

AbstractAzerbaijani and Turkish are two closely-related languages from Oguz branch of Turkic languages, which are said to be mutually intelligible. Regarding this background, we designed an experiment within the framework of receptive multilingualism to investigate the role of linguistic factors in intelligibility of the Turkish language to Iranian Azerbaijanis. The study was carried out by controlling extra-linguistic factors such as language contact and negative attitude in order to make the findings attributable to only linguistic factors as the main focus of the present study. In the study, 40 native speakers of Azerbaijani in Iran were exposed to the Turkish language through short videos recorded from Turkish TV programs. The participants scored in average 56% of receptive intelligibility in spoken language of Turkish; though this score is not considered a high score of receptive intelligibility of Turkish to the Azeri speakers. It provides some pieces of evidence to show how this half understanding ...

A note on the relationship between Scandinavian and Low German

AbstractRecent work on language contact between Scandinavian and Low German during the Middle Ages widely assumes that the varieties were linguistically close enough to permit some kind of receptive multilingualism, and hence an example of dialect contact. Two arguments that have been invoked in support of this scenario are the lack of (1) meta-linguistic comments on flawed understanding, and (2) attested bilingualism. However, towards the end of the most intense contact period, in the early sixteenth century, there is indeed meta-linguistic information in the preserved sources suggesting that intelligibility was restricted. Furthermore, there are also examples of code-switching and active bilingualism indicating that the varieties were clearly perceived as distinct languages. This paper presents such examples from Norwegian primary sources that have not been observed in recent scholarship. Based on this evidence, it is argued that the relationship between the languages by the early sixteenth century was asymmetric, Scandinavians being able to understand Low German more often than vice versa.

The early learning of interlingual correspondence rules in receptive multilingualism

Aims and objectives: This article investigates whether learners are able to quickly discover simple, systematic graphemic correspondence rules between their L1 and an unknown but closely related language in a setting of receptive multilingualism. Design: Eighty L1 German speakers participated in a translation task with written Dutch words, most of which had a German cognate. In the first part of the translation task, participants were shown 48 Dutch words, among which either 10 cognates containing the digraph ‹oe› (always corresponding to a German word with ‹u›) or 10 cognates with the digraph ‹ij› (corresponding to German ‹ei›). During this part, participants were given feedback in the form of the correct translation. In the second (feedback-free) part of the task, participants were shown another 150 Dutch words, among which 21 cognates with ‹oe› and 21 cognates with ‹ij›. Data and analysis: The participants’ German translations of ‹oe› and ‹ij› cognates in the second part were coded for the presence of ‹u› and ‹ei›, respectively. The data were then analyzed in generalized linear mixed models. Data and R code are available online. Findings: Participants who encountered ‹oe› or ‹ij› cognates in the first part were more likely to translate ‹oe› or ‹ij› cognates using German words containing ‹u› or ‹ei›, respectively, in the second part compared to their respective controls, suggesting that correspondence rule learning had taken place. Learning effects during the second part, i.e. in the absence of explicit feedback, were more modest. Originality: This study provides the first direct experimental evidence of interlingual correspondence rule learning during a receptive multilingualism task. Significance: These findings pave the way towards investigations of the learning of more complex, less systematic correspondence rules that are nonetheless of great importance in receptive multilingualism.

Call for papers: NJL Special Issue on Receptive Multilingualism: Multilingual Resources in the Service of Mutual Understanding

The second issue of Volume 40 (autumn 2017) of the Nordic Journal of Linguistics will be a special issue devoted to receptive multilingualism. The issue will be edited by Helka Riionheimo, Annekatrin Kaivapalu and Hanna-Ilona Härmävaara.

Receptive multilingualism at school: an uneven playing ground?

ABSTRACTIn this article, we present an analysis of individual factors that influence how well a person can read and understand a text in an unfamiliar, but closely related language – the basis of the so-called teaching of intercomprehension. Our work analyzes these relations from two normally separate perspectives. The first perspective focuses on how individual linguistic profiles affect skills in receptive multilingualism, while the second examines the influence of personality traits on these abilities, an aspect that has not yet been studied in relation to receptive multilingualism. It also discusses the effect of a student's educational background, a major factor for success at school. 180 lower secondary students were asked to perform a task in receptive multilingualism; this task was followed by a psychometric personality test and questions designed to ascertain the linguistic background of the students, their attitude toward language learning, and their interest in the task. The results permit us to identify individual factors that exert more (and less) influence on the processes at work in receptive multilingualism, including personality traits (in particular extroversion and openness to new experiences) and attitudes toward language learning.

Co-text and receptive multilingualism ‒ Finnish students comprehending Estonian

This paper will offer some examples to explain the understanding of closely related languages. The traditional contrastive research in studying Estonian and Finnish has above all been based on similarities which have been studied on the level of, e.g., morphemes. However, resemblance is actually more holistic in nature. A rather new perspective on the intelligibility of closely related languages is that of receptive multilingualism. It refers to such communication where speakers use their L1s and understand the L1s of others. Common elements are often recognized in texts as well: cognates facilitate reading comprehension. The results of various translation tests show that the perceived similarity leads to different comprehension results in single items and in texts. Semantic relationships in phraseological units should also be considered and possibilities of improving mutual intelligibility by utilising semantic regularities will be discussed.Kokkuvõte. Pirkko Muikku-Werner: Ko-tekst ja retseptiivne mitmekeelsus – kuidas soome üliõpilased mõistavad eesti keelt. Tänapäevaseid keeleoskusnõudeid arvestades on mõistlik soodustada lähedaste sugulaskeelte, nagu eesti ja soome keele õppimist. Artikkel esitab näiteid, mis selgitavad arusaamist lähedaste sugulaskeelte vahel. Retseptiivse mitmekeelsuse uuringud sugulaskeele arusaadavusest emakeele baasil lähenevad mõistmisele üsnagi uuest vaatepunktist. Retseptiivne mitmekeelsus tähendab suhtlust, kus kõnelejad kasutavad oma emakeelt ja saavad aru oma kaasvestlejate emakeelest. Selle tähtsaks eelduseks on sarnasuste ärakasutamine holistilisematelt ja mitmekülgsematelt seisukohtadelt, kui seda varem on tehtud; näiteks ei liiguta pelgalt morfeemide tasandil, nagu soome ja eesti keele kontrastiivsed uuringud tavaliselt on teinud. Sarnasus on tegelikult palju holistlikum. Näiteks tekstidest ära tuntud sarnased elemendid lihtsustavad loetu mõistmist. Soome üliõpilaste seas läbi viidud testid näitavad, et tunnetatud sarnasus viib üksiksõnade ja lausetesse paigutatud sõnade tõlkimisel erinevate tulemusteni, mis annab tunnis tust ko(n)teksti olulisusest. Tähelepanu tasub pöörata ka fraseoloogilise ühendi liikmete vahelistele semantilistele suhetele. Nende vaheliste seaduspärasuste vaatlemine võib pakkuda uusi võimalusi lähedase sugulaskeele mõistmise lihtsustamiseks.Märksõnad: sarnasus, retseptiivne mitmekeelsus, sugulaskeeled, eesti keel, soome keel, arusaadavus, tõlketestid

Receptive multilingualism and its relevance to translation studies with data from interpreters of the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian languages

This paper examines the phenomenon of receptive multilingualism where speakers of two different languages communicate through each speaking his/her own language and understanding the other’s. Comprehension in such an interaction is aided by the speaker and the listener employing linguistic, discourse-pragmatic and other features which represent strategies of accommodation (i.e. reduction of linguistics dissimilarities). This phenomenon is not presented as an alternative to interpreting, but in the context of interpreters who work from or into a language which is closely related, but not identical to the language spoken by one of the participating clients. Background information is provided from language pairs with a high level of mutual intelligibility and the experiences of interpreters, while the focus of the data sample is on 23 interpreters who have accreditation in one, two or three of the following closely-related languages: Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. Responses are elicited on the following: self-reported incidence of accommodation in non-interpreted interactions; linguistic and ethical protocols when a different, but closely-related language is used by a client; comments from clients about interpreters’ proficiency and ethnicity; attitudes on the distinctiveness of the three languages and future intelligibility. Informants’ linguistic behaviour is analysed according to the number of accreditations held and, in general, those with three accreditations report the highest levels of accommodation.

How to check understanding across languages. An introduction into the Pragmatic Index of Language Distance (PILaD) usable to measure mutual understanding in receptive multilingualism, illustrated by conversations in Russian, Ukrainian and Polish

Abstract The paper proposes, under the roof-concept of a method abbreviated PILaD, a combination of quantitative and qualitative procedures aiming to clarify the relationship of ``closely related languages'' (Voegelin and Harris 1951). The method is based on the functional-pragmatic theory of `Communicative Apparatus', a cross-linguistically operating interactive structure, which is modified by Lingua Receptiva communication. The data consist of 4 Russian-Ukrainian, 4 Polish-Ukrainian and 4 Polish-Russian conversations which were recorded with a digital camera and transcribed in a HIAT transcription format under the multiparty data program EXMARaLDA. Cases of `problematic understanding' defined in terms of problematic utterances are related to the total number of utterances in a discourse. The communicative success is compared across the three language constellations and refined down to every participant. Statistical analysis gives an overall picture of how receptive multilingualism works in the three language constellations. The findings reveal that receptive multilingual communication between Polish, Russian and Ukrainian interactants is generally successful, yet, not symmetric, but depends itself on the direction of intelligibility. A summary of the PILaD method and the data base are attached.

Receptive multilingualism in Turkish-Turkmen academic counseling sessions

Abstract This study examines a case of receptive multilingual communication in academic counseling sessions with participants of Turkish and Turkmen languages. In particular, the study aims to explore the contribution of linguistic and extralinguistic factors that might facilitate and/or constraint interlocutors' understanding in receptive multilingual communications. To this end, elicited conversations of a Turkish academic advisor and a Turkmen university student were video recorded and analyzed. The analysis shows that linguistic factors such as morpho-syntactic and lexical similarities between these languages do not guarantee but facilitate understanding. As for the extralinguistic factors, the study confirms that the use of institutional keywords in academic counseling sessions activates interlocutors' common institutional knowledge and, thereupon, the interlocutors' understanding is facilitated.

The role of dialect exposure in receptive multilingualism

Abstract Previous investigations of inter-Scandinavian intelligibility have shown that, in general, Norwegians are better at understanding the closely related languages Danish and Swedish than Danes and Swedes are at understanding Norwegian. This asymmetry is often explained by the strong position that dialects hold in Norway as opposed to in Denmark and Sweden. In Norway, the general public is more exposed to language variation than in Sweden and Denmark. Due to this exposure Norwegians are assumed to have higher language awareness and more possibilities for linguistic transfer than Swedes and Danes. This could make it easier for them to understand closely related language varieties. The aim of the present investigation is to get an answer to the question whether Norwegians are better at understanding Nordic varieties relative to linguistic distances than Danes. If it is indeed the case that Norwegians have more language awareness, we would expect them to be better than Danes at understanding varieties with the same linguistic distance to their native variety. Our results show that Norwegians are generally better at understanding Nordic language varieties than Danes are. However, this can be explained by linguistic distances and knowledge of the language varieties in the test. No evidence was found for more general language awareness among Norwegians than among Danes.

Facilitating mutual understanding in everyday interaction between Finns and Estonians

Abstract Finnish and Estonian are relatively closely related languages, which, however, are not considered unconditionally mutually intelligible. The present article discusses the mutual intelligibility of Finnish and Estonian and explores the means by which mutual understanding is created in actual Finnish-Estonian multilingual communication. The data consist of video-recorded informal conversations between Finns and Estonians belonging to a social network in which using both languages (Finnish and Estonian) is a common way of communication. The data are analyzed within the framework of conversation analysis using the concept of participation framework. An overview of informal Finnish- Estonian receptive multilingualism is provided and the language choices are discussed. It is demonstrated that participating in either language does not necessarily cause problems in interaction, and that the shared elements of the languages constitute one resource in creating mutual understanding. However, the participation is also actively facilitated for the participants not competent in both the languages. Receptive multilingualism is shown to be a group phenomenon in the studied data.

Do speakers of Dutch use their knowledge of German while processing written Danish words?

This paper elaborates on a factor that plays a role in receptive multilingualism, namely the influence of a second language (L2). We investigated whether knowledge of German can help Dutch people to decode written Danish words when they do not know any Danish. We instructed 32 participants with Dutch as a native language (L1) and different levels of proficiency in German as an L2 to translate 42 written Danish words into Dutch. The results showed that participants with a higher level of German performed better on this translation task. Furthermore, our data provides evidence for the existence of a ‘foreign language mode’, i.e. the knowledge of German as an L2 seems to take over from the knowledge of the L1 if the participants’ proficiency in German is high.

Factoren bij het herkennen van cognaten in onbekende talen: algemeen of taalspecifiek?

The correct recognition of cognate relationships is a precondition for receptive multilingualism within language families. Several item- and participant-related factors have been identified that affect the probability with which readers and listeners correctly recognise and translate cognates in an unknown but genealogically related foreign language. Most of the relevant findings, however, are based on tasks featuring cognates in only one unknown language, leaving open the possibility that these factors play a (somewhat) different role depending on the specific stimulus language. To address this issue, 98 German-speaking participants were asked to translate 181 written cognates from four Germanic languages (Danish, Dutch, Frisian and Swedish). The effects of stimulus similarity to known (L1, L2, …, Ln) cognates, cognate frequency and the participants’ foreign language skills on translation accuracy were assessed and found not to vary substantially between stimulus languages. This indicates that the validity of studies on cognate recognition extends beyond the language from which the stimuli were sampled. Secondary findings are discussed as well.

Receptive multilingualism in the Swiss Army

In this paper a particular context where receptive multilingualism at work can be observed is discussed. The Swiss armed forces underwent a series of quite dramatic downsizing measures, which lead to a situation with increased amount of mixed groups and linguistically mixed situations regarding the first/native language of officers and the first/native languages of the recruits. Although there are some minimal dispositions in the official documents regarding the right of recruits to benefit from instruction in their first language, the actual practices diverge in significant ways from these dispositions. In particular, members of the national minorities are increasingly instructed (partially or fully) in German, which generates feelings of minorization and enlivens the deeply entrenched fears of Germanization in the minority groups. The paper presents questionnaire data from three military training camps that aim to shed new light on the actual practice, the languages chosen both by instructors and recruits, and the perception and attitudes of these practices by the members of the army. Receptive multilingualism turns out to be one of different strategies applied in mixed groups, and its acceptance correlates positively with exposure. The paper also discusses the participants’ views of advantages and disadvantages of the regime, and some general conclusions will be drawn regarding the potential of this particular language regime for multilingual high-stake institutional contexts such as the one in the scope of the paper.

Communication based on receptive multilingualism: advantages and disadvantages

This paper tries to give answers for successful receptive multilingualism (RM) but also for its failure. It is mainly based on the results of two projects, one on inter-dialectal communication in the Baltic area during the era of the Hanseatic League and the other analyses inter-Scandinavian communication today. The main purpose of this survey is to outline the essential preconditions for successful RM, from a linguistic, social and environmental perspective. The historical project about communication in the Baltic focuses on long-term language contact based on common mutual trading interests whilst the contemporary project highlights the cultural factors (among others Pan-Scandinavism) as a common basis for using one's own mother tongue in transnational communication. Moreover, other relevant issues belonging to successful RM are touched upon, such as diglossia (i.e. the functional distribution of different languages/varieties in various settings), oral face-to-face communication, the absence of written norms and the non-existence of standardised forms, which result not only in a greater flexibility in communication but also support openness for divergent varieties. Disfavouring factors for RM are, however, taken into consideration as well, such as nationalism and the suppression of minorities (and thus indirectly multilingualism), the enforcement of strict linguistic norms by the society and finally the use of a lingua franca such as Latin in the Middle Ages or English today.