Understanding Communication in a Globalised World

Multilingual societies: Language and Identity

This session introduces you to: Multi-lingual individuals

Multi-lingual societies:

Language choice in multilingual societies

Code-switching

Language and identity

Multi-lingual individuals TOPIC 1

Bi-/multi-lingual individuals: What does it mean to be bilingual or multilingual?

The ability to use more than one language to communicate

But to what level of competence? Basic/minimal Advanced

Balanced bilingualism is rare Very few bilinguals have equal competence or use their languages equally.

• Typically, each person has a different mix of the four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

• ‘Passive’ BL = stronger comprehension (listening) than speaking competence

• Others may have advanced competence in more than 1 language but have degrees of competence in different domains (e.g. work vs home)

What about you?

When, where, with whom do you use each

language?

For each one, rate your ability

in listening, speaking,

reading and writing

List the languages in which you have

a degree of competency

Multi-lingual individuals First language (L1)

mother-tongue(s), native language(s), that we hear spoken from birth

Second language (L2) language(s) learned later in childhood or adulthood

Different learning processes are involved:

acquisition (of L1) vs learning (of L2)

How do we become bilingual/multilingual?

Simultaneous bilingualism 2 or more languages are acquired simultaneously in early childhood.

Successive bilingualism a person who already has competence in a L1 learns a L2 (or L3, L4 …)

How long does it take to acquire a L1? Humans are biologically equipped to learn language in infancy:

We are born with brains that are ‘wired’ for language - the capacity to figure out the grammar and words of the specific language(s) we hear spoken around us

Most of that learning is complete by 5 years of age for children in all cultures

How long does it take to learn a L2? After puberty, deliberate effort or study is needed to master a language

Up to 10 or more years for full control of oral and written language.

◦ Basic interpersonal communication skills within 2 years. ◦ Academic language proficiency up to 8 years

(Cummins 1984)

To be effective, L2 learning requires üFrequent input data

üMeaningful and authentic opportunities for using the language

üPerceived value and/or need for the language

üWillingness & motivation

Bilingual education in schools Typically the L2 is taught in a ‘foreign language class’.

Much less often it is the medium of instruction

Foreign language class teaching in countries where one language is dominant often fails: ◦ too little exposure ◦ not often enough ◦ started too late ◦ too few opportunities to use the language actively and authentically.

How did you learn your L2, L3, L4…? qForeign language class in school/university?

qAs the medium of instruction in school/university?

qImmersion in the language by living in a country where it is spoken?

qWhat were the limitations of the methods by which you learned the language?

Multilingual societies TOPIC 2

Multilingual societies Is individual multilingualism ‘normal’?

Is societal multilingualism ‘normal’?

The ‘myth of monolingualism’:

Multilingual societies are the norm in a great majority of countries & speech communities around the world

i.e. Most people in the world are bilingual to some degree

Can you name some highly multilingual countries?

Can you name some largely monolingual countries?

Link between linguistic and biological diversity?

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012 /05/03/1117511109.full.pdf+html

The role of English in a multi-lingual world

Kachru (1985)

Mass global migration contributes to multilingualism

In multi-lingual, multi-cultural cities we distinguish:

Home language ◦ Language used most frequently in the home

Heritage / Community language ◦ Language used in a local community

◦ e.g. Gujarati and Punjabi are widely used community languages in Leicester

Host country language ◦ Official language of the country

Language Choice in Multilingual Societies TOPIC 3

Language choice in multi-lingual societies ML speakers make choices about which language to use where, when, with whom

Language choice is tied to identity: personal and cultural

Other factors influencing language choice: ◦ Participants ◦ Setting ◦ Topic of conversation

Domains of language choice Domain = a particular context in which one language variety is likely to be more appropriate than another

A set of factors including participants, setting, topic of conversation that results in a typical interaction

e.g. family, school, workplace, friendship group

Typically, people in multi-lingual societies use different languages in different domains

Case study: Singapore Oi Lin Tan, a 20-year-old Chinese Singaporean, uses three languages regularly. At home she uses Cantonese to her mother and to her grandfather who lives with them.

With her friends she generally uses Singapore English. She learned to understand Hokkien, another Chinese language, in the smaller shops and market-place but in large department stores she again uses Singapore English.

At primary school she was taught for just over half the time in Mandarin Chinese, and so she often watches Channel 8, the Mandarin television station, and she regularly reads a Chinese newspaper, Liánhé Zaobáo, which is written in Mandarin Chinese.

During the other part of the time at primary school she was taught in a formal variety of Singapore English. This is the code she uses when she has to deal with government officials, or when she applies for an office job during the university holidays. She went to an English-medium secondary school and she is now studying geography and economics at an English-medium university. Her text books are all in Standard English.

Although Oi Lin Tan uses Cantonese to her mother, she uses Singapore English to her sisters. On the other hand, she uses Cantonese at the market to elderly Cantonese vegetable sellers. (from Holmes 2001)

Code- switching TOPIC 4

Code-switching

Alternating between 2 languages in one conversation

by speakers competent in both languages

Occurs in multilingual communities all over the world

A communicative strategy, it has social meanings

Note the difference from language choice:

Language choice: use Language X in certain contexts/domains, and Language Y in other contexts

Code-switching: in one domain, in a single conversation, speakers switch from language X to Y – sometimes even within one utterance

Examples of code-switching and code-mixing Within a sentence word Ana free hari ini (Ana is free today)

Malaysian/English

phrase Imela une femme de chambre (She had a chambermaid) Russian/French

clause Papa, wenn du das Licht ausmachst, then I’ll be so lonely (Daddy, if you put out the light, I’ll be so lonely)

German/English

Between sentences Es que no quiere hablar. Manam munanchu

(He doesn’t want to speak. He doesn’t want to) Spanish/Quechuan

Code-switching in Nairobi, Kenya

L: Mbona hawa workers wa East African Power and Lighting wakenda strike, ata wengine nasikia washawekwa cell

[and why on earth did those East African Power and Lighting workers strike, even I’ve heard some have been already put in cells (in jail)]

K: Ujue watu wengine ni funny sana. Wa-na-claim ati mishahara yao iko low sana. Tena wanasema eti hawapewi housing allowance.

[You know, some people are very funny. They are claiming that their salaries are very low. They also say eh they are not given housing allowances]

M: Mimi huwa nawafikiria lakini wao huwa na reasonable salary.

[As for me, I used to think, but they have a reasonable salary]

K: Hujajua watu wengi on this world hawawezi kutoesheka. Anasema anataka hiki akipewa a-na demand kingine.

[Don't you know yet that some people on this world can’t be satisfied. He says he wants this and when he is given [it] he demands another [thing]]

L: Kwani ni ngumu sana ku- train wengine? Si ni kupata lessons kidogo tu halafu waanze kazi?

[Why is it so difficult to train others? Isn’t it just to get a few lessons and then they should start work?]

from Myers-Scotton (1993)

Code-switching and identity Code-switching is: Øa communicative strategy: it carries social meanings Ønot random or meaningless: different languages have different values for speakers Øan act of identity Akhi, I was raased. I just couldn’t get up this morning (British Pakistani, native-English speaker, 20s, lives in East London, to similar friends) No, man, he’s mexicano de allá. Me, I’m mexicano de acá. (Mexican-American man, Los Angeles)

Code-switching between languages allows speakers simultaneous access to more than one cultural identity

Language and Identity TOPIC 5

Is being bilingual the same as being bicultural?

In our globalised, mobile world, more and more people have multiple or hybrid identities.

Migrants simultaneously engage with two cultures or more.

For migrants, being bilingual means being competent in heritage and host country languages.

Being bicultural means something deeper and more complex, beyond modifying behaviour to ‘acceptable’ ways of behaving in the host culture.

True biculturalism/multiculturalism involves identification and values: “synthesizing the heritage and host cultures into a unique and personal blend” (Schwartz & Unger 2010:27)

Unpacking ‘identity’

Our identities are multiple and complex Includes our personal identities character, personality, qualities

social identities role in family, workplace, education cultural identities shared communities

Cultural identity can exist on various levels, depending whether we identify with

nation, ethnic group, region social status, religious faith, sexual orientation, disability, medical condition ……

Why is the understanding of identity important for intercultural communication? We carry our identities into our interactions with other people.

We have all learned to ‘read’ the identities of people we are familiar with.

But reading identity across cultures is often confusing and challenging. We easily misinterpret social markers and identity clues we’re not familiar with

Our preference for being with people ‘like us’ may unconsciously block us from exploring and valuing difference in others

‘In-groups’ serve a basic human need for security and belonging

‘Out-groups’ can exclude, make us feel more different than we actually are, and encourage stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination

“The danger of a single story” 2009 TED Talk by the writer Chimamanda Adichie

Reading for this topic Wardhaugh, R. (2010) An introduction to sociolinguistics (6th ed.) Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 1: Introduction

Wardhaugh, R. (2010) An introduction to sociolinguistics (6th ed.) Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 2: Languages, dialects and varieties

Liu, S., Volcic, Z. & Gallois, C. (2011) Introducing Intercultural Communication: Global Cultures and Contexts. Chapter 1: Challenges of living in a global society, pp. 11-30. London: Sage.

Bauer, L., Holmes, J. & Warren, P. (2006) Language Matters. Chapter 13: What Shall I Call You? Pp. 135-145. New York: Macmillan.

Edwards, J. (1994) Multilingualism. Chapter 2: The Rise and Acknowledgement of Multilingualism p. 33-39. London: Penguin Books.

Mesthrie, R., Swann, J., Deumert, A. & Leap, W. (2009) Introducing Sociolinguistics (2nd ed.) Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chapter 1: Clearing the ground: basic issues, concepts and approaches.

Mesthrie, R., Swann, J., Deumert, A. & Leap, W. (2009) Introducing Sociolinguistics (2nd ed.) Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chapter 5: Language choice and code-switching.