Hybrid Language Use Research Articles

Antecedents and consequences of host nationals’ attitudes towards hybrid language in MNCs: the case of MNC-tone

Multiple language use in multinational corporations (MNCs) crossing linguistic boundaries can lead to code-switching and the creation of hybrid languages. Hybrid languages in MNCs can facilitate or impede organizational processes. The source of such ambiguous findings may lie in individuals’ attitudes toward hybrid languages. The sociolinguistics literature suggests that language attitudes impact individuals’ in- and out-group behavior and may explain mixed findings of hybrid language use. We conduct research in the context of MNC-tone—a hybrid English-Chinese language popular in MNCs in China, which has also spilled into Chinese society among non-MNC workers. We examine the attitudes of Chinese nationals toward MNC-tone, the geo-social antecedents that contribute to attitude formation, and the consequences of such attitudes on perceived organizational attractiveness and interpersonal guanxi (informal and positive relationship between individuals facilitating processes in organizations). With survey data collected from Chinese employees in two interconnected studies (N = 342 and 502), we find that individuals from a multilingual landscape with access to foreign media and a multilingual social network have positive attitudes toward the hybrid language. Individuals with positive attitudes are likely to be attracted to work in MNCs that use the language and exercise interpersonal guanxi with others that use the hybrid language.

Hybridity in Japanese Advertising Discourse

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to reveal the impact of cultural exchange on Japanese advertising discourse construction perpetuated through the idea of prestige. This phenomenon can be explained through the concept ofmukokuseki(Jap. 無国籍) ‘lack of nationality’, a term which encompasses the idea of transculturality in Asia. In the context of globalization, erasing the identity or any sort of national mark enhances the absorption and integration of foreign elements and leads to reconsidering aesthetic communication. Japanese advertising discourse is based more on emotional reactions rather than cognitive ones, and this can be noticed through the extensive use ofkawaii‘cute’ symbolism. Considering that the idea encompassed by the concept of “cute” is present in any culture, and its effects are more or less the same, by freeing it from any cultural or societal restraints (mukokuseki), it becomes an intermediary space where traditional, national elements can overlap foreign ones without damaging the essence of the discourse, but on the contrary. Interculturality and inbetweenness manifests not only at the visual level but also at the linguistic level through hybrid language use: the coexistence ofgairaigo(loan words) alongwago(words deriving from Japanese) andkango(words deriving from Chinese). According to several studies,gairaigoandwasei-eigo(Japanglish, English words coined in Japan) create a special effect and often serve as euphemisms. Thus, we have selected three Japanese print adverts (displayed between 2000 and 2012) in order to explain the phenomenon by focusing on their sociolinguistic function and their impact on discourse construction. Advertising discourse has surpassed its primary economic function and has come to be a statement of the global world.

The linguistic situation in Orkesumet, an urban area in Simanjiro District of Tanzania

An investigation of the linguistic landscape in urban Africa is a welcome contribution to make in that multilingualism presents fascinating results. To satisfy this demand, the current paper investigates the patterns of language use in billboards in a small township of Orkesumet in northern Tanzania. Data demonstrates that the state of Kiswahili and English bilingualism is apparently open for religiously, privately and publicly owned institutions such as schools, churches, public offices, and accommodation facilities. Such bilingual billboards do not make use of hybrid language because there were no tokens of Kiswahili-English, Maasai-English and Kiswahili-Maasai recorded in the area. The main mechanism used to attract customers is through the selection of font-colour and font-size. The large font in black colour is preferred for names of firms, while red colour is opted for items sold and/or services rendered.Keywords: Bilingualism, Billboards, Language Use, Simanjiro, Tanzania

Meaning-Making in Science from the Perspective of Students\u2019 Hybrid Language Use

In this article, we assume that discursive language aspects of science education are highly intertwined with students’ knowledge-building and meaning-making in science. In an empirical case study, we investigate secondary students’ (ages 15 to 16) discursive language use during group interactions. The focus is on how students define and explain the content within everyday or scientific discourses and how their negotiations may influence discussion outcomes. The results suggest that students who can move between everyday and scientific languages benefit from this exchange, while students who only use colloquial language or relate the content to everyday experiences become disadvantaged. Furthermore, important general success factors are students’ abilities to establish solid relationships between words, expressions, and scientific terms to discuss, explain, and evaluate the scientific content. The results show important differences in discursive use of language within various school environments.

Teachers’ misunderstandings about hybrid language use: Insights into teacher education

Teachers’ misunderstandings about hybrid language use: Insights into teacher education

Supporting ELLs’ Use of Hybrid Language and Argumentation During Science Instruction

ABSTRACTTo bridge the gap for English language learners (ELLs) in science, hybrid language affords the opportunity for students to communicate through various modes, including natural language, visual representations, mathematical expressions, and manual-technical operations. The purpose of this study was to investigate how ELLs use hybrid language (a) to demonstrate their knowledge of science and (b) to engage in argumentation. ELLs participated in a summer enrichment program that integrated language, inquiry-based investigations on erosion, and mathematics. The research team qualitatively assessed 15 student notebooks to trace students’ growth in science content as demonstrated by the integration of all 4 modes and the presence of argumentation with embeddedness. The results revealed that 8th-grade ELLs increased their use of each mode of hybrid language over time to communicate their understanding of erosion. As expected, some students integrated all modes of hybrid language more frequently than other students. In addition, argumentation became more evident toward the end of the experience as students used claims and evidence. Students who connected their written claims with visual representations (embeddedness) tended to construct stronger arguments than those who did not make connections between text and visuals. Implications for classroom practices and teacher preparation are discussed.

A tradução como um espaço alternativo para ação política

Este artigo examina a gênese, a dinâmica e o posicionamento de grupos ativistas de tradutores e intérpretes envolvidos em diversas formas de ação coletiva.O ativismo desses grupos é distinto pelo fato de eles usarem suas habilidades linguísticas para ampliar o espaço narrativo e dar poder às vozes invisibilizadas pelo poder global do inglês e da política das línguas. Eles ainda reconhecem que a língua e a tradução constituem um espaço de resistência, um meio de inverter a ordem simbólica.O uso de linguagem híbrida, a depreciação deliberada do inglês, o constante rearranjo da ordem e do espaço atribuídos às diferentes línguas em seus websites ˗ todas essas atividades fazem parte tanto de pautas políticas quanto da mediação linguística de textos e enunciados produzidos por terceiros, na qualidade de tradutores e intérpretes.O artigo analisa o posicionamento desses grupos em face do que Tarrow (2006, p.16) denomina “a nova geração de ativistas pela justiça mundial”, por um lado, e tradutores e intérpretes profissionais, por outro, e argumenta que eles ocupam um espaço "intermediário" entre o mundo do ativismo e a economia de serviços.

'It crosses all the boundaries': hybrid language use as empowering resource

This study contributes to language-sensitive International Business research by examining forms of language use other than monolingual conversations in national languages. It focuses on hybrid languages that are derived from heterogeneous language sources. Based on modern linguistic research, the study conceptualises multilingualism as joint mobilisation of linguistic resources. Adopting a discursive approach, it empirically investigates the positive and negative effects of hybrid language use for individuals and teams in two companies in Switzerland. The findings show that users of hybrid language are positioned as being able to exchange information more effectively, feeling more comfortable in interactions as well as having more possibilities to express voice and participate. At the same time, hybrid language use is described as having limiting effects in certain contexts. The study therefore suggests to integrate hybrid languages in definitions of individual and organisational language capital, and to strategically address it on the top management and human resources management level.

'It crosses all the boundaries': hybrid language use as empowering resource

This study contributes to language-sensitive International Business research by examining forms of language use other than monolingual conversations in national languages. It focuses on hybrid languages that are derived from heterogeneous language sources. Based on modern linguistic research, the study conceptualises multilingualism as joint mobilisation of linguistic resources. Adopting a discursive approach, it empirically investigates the positive and negative effects of hybrid language use for individuals and teams in two companies in Switzerland. The findings show that users of hybrid language are positioned as being able to exchange information more effectively, feeling more comfortable in interactions as well as having more possibilities to express voice and participate. At the same time, hybrid language use is described as having limiting effects in certain contexts. The study therefore suggests to integrate hybrid languages in definitions of individual and organisational language capital, and to strategically address it on the top management and human resources management level.

“Nobody Told Me They Didn’t Speak English!”: Teacher Language Views and Student Linguistic Repertoires in Hutterite Colony Schools in Canada

ABSTRACTThis article presents a qualitative study of five monolingual teachers’ understandings of the linguistic repertoires of their multilingual students. These teachers deliver the Saskatchewan provincial curricula in English to Hutterite colony students who are users of three languages: (a) spoken Hutterisch as a home and community language, (b) written High German as a language for religious worship, and (c) spoken and written English for school and for communication outside the colony. Findings from this study demonstrate that the teachers report having had limited or inaccurate understandings of their students’ linguistic repertoires prior to beginning their teaching positions. Secondly, the teacher participants’ awareness of the students’ language resources was, and is, an ongoing process. Finally, the willingness and ability to cultivate hybrid language use of Hutterisch and English varies from teacher to teacher. The article concludes with discussion of considerations for teacher education and in-service teachers working in Hutterite communities.

Language learning, polylanguaging and speaker perspectives

AbstractSociolinguists have recently suggested a range of new terms to re-conceptualise language and language use. Most of these are based on the empirical documentation of speakers using linguistically hybrid constructions which are understood as reflecting speakers’ orientation to norms of linguistic hybridity. In this article we bring data typical of SLA research and sociolinguistic theorisation together by discussing data collected among Swiss German university students learning Danish in the light of such sociolinguistic concepts. We show how in some cases, the students signal investment in and alignment with hybrid language use, but in others the students “polylanguage” from a form-analytic point of view, while the co- and context suggest they orient strongly to an idea of “pure” Danish. In these cases their hybrid linguistic productions are more likely to be explained by their status as language learners. We argue that these observations point to the need for a closer consideration of speaker stances towards language forms as well as a need for considering repertoire restrictions and learner ambitions in current sociolinguistic conceptualisations of linguistic hybridity.

El multilingüismo en la lírica trovadoresca gallegoportuguesa, entre la barbarolexis y la clerecía

Article El multilingüismo en la lírica trovadoresca gallegoportuguesa, entre la barbarolexis y la clerecía was published on September 1, 2015 in the journal Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie (volume 131, issue 3).

Faithful imitator, legitimate speaker, playful creator and dialogical communicator: shift in English learners' identity prototypes

This paper attempts to conceptualize identity prototypes regarding model L2 learners/users of English over the past 50 years, as embedded in research discourses. For a long time, the ideal learner was a faithful imitator whose L2 use and cultural conduct were strictly modeled on the native speaker (NS). With postcolonial changes around the world, a legitimate speaker was born, claiming equal language standards and rights with NSs. Growing under the increased influence of globalization and postmodernism is a playful creator, who constructs unconventional hybrid language use for distinct self-expression. A Bakhtinian dialogical communicator is also emerging, who converses on the basis of respect and reflection. These prototypes are discussed with their respective characteristics, L2 research discourse, contexts, and constraints.

From opposition to transcendence: the language practices and ideologies of students in a multilingual university

This article explores language ideologies and language uses in a multilingual university in Hong Kong by exploring the voices and experiences of both mainland Chinese and Hong Kong students. Drawing on the notions of language ideologies, separate multilingualism, and translanguaging, the research illustrates how students' linguistic ideologies are shaped by multilingual encounters in the educational setting and index broader institutional and ideological frameworks and examines the identity positions they construct and present and the social spaces they jointly establish. It also demonstrates that the multilingual university context provides students a site to establish a translanguaging space with hybrid language use in which linguistic resources are employed to perform a range of subject positions and to play a number of roles.

Translation as an Alternative Space for Political Action

This article examines the genesis, dynamics and positioning of activist groups of translators and interpreters who engage in various forms of collective action. The activism of these groups is distinctive in that they use their linguistic skills to extend narrative space and empower voices made invisible by the global power of English and the politics of language. They further recognise that language and translation themselves constitute a space of resistance, a means of reversing the symbolic order. Their use of hybrid language, their deliberate downgrading of English, the constant shuffling of the order and space allocated to different languages on their websites—all this is as much part of their political agenda as their linguistic mediation of texts and utterances produced by others, in their capacity as translators and interpreters. The article examines the positioning of these groups vis-à-vis what Tarrow (2006, p. 16) terms ‘the new generation of global justice activists’ on the one hand, and professional translators and interpreters on the other, and argues that they occupy a ‘liminal’ space between the world of activism and the service economy.

Mixed Language Varieties of Migrant Adolescents and the Discourse of Hybridity

This paper is a study of mixed language use within the frame of interactional sociolinguistics. Adolescents of Turkish background in Germany have developed their own patterns of bilingualism, in particular mixed varieties of German and Turkish. By the analysis of some transcribed examples of Turkish–German mixed speech (code-switching, code-mixing, code-oscillation, stylised forms of 'Immigrant German') it is shown that the switching and mixing oscillates between local sequential functions and a more global 'We-group'-function. The particular role assigned to 'speaking mixed' can only be appreciated against the specific background of the German migratory discourse. The adolescents' use of hybrid language is an attempt at appropriating semantic space where their language is no longer the object of the migratory discourse as defined by majority society but constitutes an autonomous and exclusive form of (counter-) discourse in its own right.

Wittgenstein on language: toward a theory (and the study) of language in organizations

What has emerged in large organizations is the use of hybrid language of abstractions, jargon, euphemisms, and complex syntax known as bureacratease. Often this misuse of language is done with the purpose of deceiving and misinforming. Whether or not this was the intent, however, the result of bureaucratees is often just that along with the breakdown of communication between the organization and the clientele it serves. Moreover, there is insufficient research devoted to this phenomenon. Borrowing from Wittgenstein, this article offers a model for understanding bureaucratese and attempts to move the field of public administration toward a theory of this misuse of language in organization.