Bi-multilingualism, globalization and super-diversity – toward sociolinguistic repertoires (original) (raw)
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Multilingual repertoires and the consequences for linguistic theory 1
In cultural studies, the idea of monolithical 'Cultures' was replaced long ago by a more dynamic and constructivist. Cultures are thus conceived as sets of norms and behaviours that are constructed and deconstructed in interaction with relevant others. In modern societies, this happens in the compass of open social networks; each individual participates in several groups, assimilates norms, behaviours and values of different origins and combines them forming a more or less coherent whole. It is, however, sometimes difficult to make these processes manifest inside a society (see for an interesting example of cultural differences among speakers of the same dialect in a district of Berne).
Multilingual repertoires and the consequences for linguistic theory
In cultural studies, the idea of monolithical 'Cultures' was replaced long ago by a more dynamic and constructivist. Cultures are thus conceived as sets of norms and behaviours that are constructed and deconstructed in interaction with relevant others. In modern societies, this happens in the compass of open social networks; each individual participates in several groups, assimilates norms, behaviours and values of different origins and combines them forming a more or less coherent whole. It is, however, sometimes difficult to make these processes manifest inside a society (see for an interesting example of cultural differences among speakers of the same dialect in a district of Berne).
Towards a sociolinguistics of superdiversity
Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 2010
The notion of 'superdiversity' has engaged scholars beyond the field of sociolinguistics. In this paper we propose to shift the gaze to the linguistic, focusing on the ways in which the new diversity becomes the site of negotiations over linguistic resources, and to widen the scope of debate. the ways in which people negotiate access to resources in increasingly diverse societies are changing. Looking at these phenomena through a sociolinguistic lens is key to a developed understanding of superdiverse societies. García proposes the term 'translanguaging' to refer to the multiple discursive practices in which multilingual speakers engage in order to make sense of their worlds. translanguaging goes beyond code-switching, but incorporates it. García points out that multilinguals translanguage to include and facilitate communication with others, but also to construct deeper understandings. translanguaging includes but extends what others have called language use and language contact among multilinguals. rather than focusing on the language itself, translanguaging makes it apparent that there are no clear-cut boundaries between the languages of bilinguals. this paper draws on sociolinguistic ethnographic research projects which investigate the linguistic practices of children and young people in and around complementary (community-language) schools, to argue that multilingual young people in english cities access a wide range of semiotic resources in ways which are not bounded as 'languages'. In developing a sociolinguistics of superdiversity we should look closely at practices of translanguaging, and consider the histories, geographies, and discourses which shape them.
Zanoni, Natalia, 2018
introduce the article "Bilingualism, Multilingualism, Globalization, and Superdiversity: Toward Sociolinguistic Repertoires" (2017) by presenting the importance of considering the concept of "transnational mobility" in the study of language, arguing that there is relation between the individual trajectories of language and "digitally-mediated communication". They point out that subjects are becoming "transnational mobile subjects" due to digital connectivity since the advent of the Internet.
Language and superdiversity part 1 (Diversities 13/2)
this paper explores the scope for research on language and superdiversity. 1 Following a protracted process of paradigm shift, sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology are well placed to engage with the contemporary social changes associated with superdiversity. After a brief introductory discussion of what superdiversity entails, the paper outlines key theoretical and methodological developments in language study: named languages have now been denaturalized, the linguistic is treated as just one semiotic among many, inequality and innovation are positioned together in a dynamics of pervasive normativity, and the contexts in which people orient their interactions reach far beyond the communicative event itself. From here, this paper moves to a research agenda on superdiversity and language that is strongly embedded in ethnography. The combination of linguistics and ethnography produces an exceptionally powerful and differentiated view of both activity and ideology. After a characterization of what linguistic ethnography offers social science in general, this paper sketches some priorities for research on language and communication in particular, emphasizing the need for cumulative comparison, both as an objective in theory and description and as a resource for practical intervention.
Language and Superdiversity part 2 (Diversities 14/2)
this paper is an attempt to reflect upon diversity in contemporary globalising society from within the disciplinary frontier of anthropology and sociolinguistics. like the paper of David Parkin (infra) Arnaut's is an attempt to device new frames of reference for the sociolinguistic study of super-diversity. here Arnaut explores the potential of 'super-diversity' as a perspective or lens for looking at diversity as discourse and as social practice. the paper first looks into the notion of super-diversity, which marks a sea-change in the global design of transnationalism. moreover, super-diversity seems to indicate that a new approach is needed to replace the model of orderly multiculturalism by taking into account the fluidities and complexities of diversity in the age of heightened mobility and digital communication. Second, this paper recognises that over the last two decades a hegemonic 'diversity' discourse has emerged in a 'post-panoptical' configuration of governmentality that manages these complex forms of diversity. the challenge of the super-diversity perspective is to relate to this hegemonic discourse while not losing track of the exciting dynamics of messy and creative commonplace diversity in every-day interaction and low-key cultural production. in order to perform this task, the paper proposes a 'critical sociolinguistics of diversity' that is presented as part of a new moment in the post-colonial history of the human and social sciences, almost half a century after the earlier decolonising moves by scholars such as Johannes Fabian and Dell hymes.
Abstracts: Strategies of Language Variation: Transcultural Perspectives
As Johnstone (1999: 519) remarks, " e idea that linguistic choices can serve rhetorical purposes has a history of several centuries. " She then adds somewhat wryly, " e idea has been rediscovered by sociolinguists several times. " e purpose of this contribution is to review how sociolinguists currently deal with this idea, particularly within the realm of contemporary synchronic variation study. Speci cally, I discuss the 'Speaker Design' approach to sociolinguistic variation (Schilling-Estes 2002, 2014, which largely centers on spoken language use, and outline the kind of work and theorizing it has produced so far. en, I show how this approach can be transposed to investigations of conceptually written language use -as ' Author Design' -particularly in the analysis of historical texts. In this line, my goal is both to outline and assess the current status quo in the study of strategic language choice, as well as to expound on how it can be used to integrate variationist with historical sociolinguistics, for the bene t and gain of both elds of research.
From Truncated to Sociopolitical Emergence: A Critique of Super-diversity in Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguists have always been leaders in advocating for the legitimacy of all language practices. Recently, sociolinguists have begun to question whether frameworks that have historically been used as part of this advocacy are adequate for describing the language practices that have emerged as part of contemporary globalization. Some scholars have proposed super-diversity as an umbrella term to unite the project of developing a new sociolinguistics of globalization. Though we are sympathetic to the goals of developing new tools for sociolinguistic inquiry, we point to three limitations of the super-diversity literature: (a) its ahistorical outlook; (b) its lack of attention to neoliberalism; and (c) its inadvertent reification of normative assumptions about language. We suggest the concept of sociopolitical emergence as an approach to sociolinguistic research that adopts insights offered by the super-diversity literature while explicitly addressing these limitations. To illustrate this approach, we consider the case of a hypersegregated Spanish/English dual-language charter school in Philadelphia. This case study begins by situating the school within the history of Latinos in the United States and Philadelphia as well as within the contemporary neoliberal political economy. We then analyze emergent linguistic practices and emergent linguistic categories that have been produced within this historical and contemporary context in ways that resist the reification of normative assumptions about language.
Linguistic repertoires under the condition of super-diversity
2012
This article argues for the relevance of poststructuralist approaches to the notion of a linguistic repertoire and introduces the notion of language portraits as a basis for empirical study of the way in which speakers conceive and represent their heteroglossic repertoires. The first part of the article revisits Gumperz’s notion of a linguistic repertoire, and then considers the challenge to the concept represented by the conditions of super-diversity. It then argues that poststructuralist approaches, exemplified in the work of Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler, add an exploration of previously neglected factors such as the power of categories or the significance of desire in language. In the second part, this article considers a novel methodological approach to studying linguistic repertoires: a multimodal, biographical approach using a language portrait, which involves a close reading of the visual and verbal representation of linguistic experience and linguistic resources. The fi...