Language and Identity Studies Research Papers (original) (raw)

Language has traditionally been an important marker of Ukrainian identity which, due to a lack of independent statehood, has been ethnic rather than civic. The contradictory policies of the Soviet regime produced a large discrepancy between ethnocultural identity and language use. In independent Ukraine this discrepancy persisted, as increased identification with the Ukrainian nation was not accompanied by a commensurate increase in the use of the Ukrainian language, even though the latter was predominantly valued as a symbol of nationhood. The Euromaidan and the subsequent Russian aggression further detached language use from national identity, as many Russian speakers came to identify strongly with the inclusive Ukrainian nation without abandoning their accustomed language or even adding Ukrainian as an active part of their communicative repertoire. The post-Maidan leadership refrained from an active promotion of Ukrainian for fear of provoking alienation among Russian speakers, but this policy exacerbates the disadvantaged position of the titular language in various domains and causes discontent among those viewing it as a crucial component of national identity. This article examines a change in the relation between language and identity in Ukraine in the wake of the Euromaidan protests and the subsequent Russian intervention in the Crimea and the Donbas. Although the Ukrainian language has traditionally been an important marker of Ukrainian identity, its symbolic valorization has not been matched by its predominant use in various social domains. Since the times of its promotion by the

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- Ukrainian Studies, Language Policy, Language and Identity Studies, Post-EuroMaidan Ukraine

The appropriation of place and language is a key strategy by which post-colonial writers represent the identity of the individual. These two tasks go hand-in-hand because, in order to establish one’s bond with the land and re-write it from one’s perspective, language must also be stripped of its British connotations and adapted to the individual’s consciousness. Because of Singapore’s unique experience of post-colonialism and nation-building, various other presences besides the British coloniser also influence the way that language and place are conceived. These include the homelands of China and India and the government of Singapore, among others. Examining the works of poets from three different periods of the nation's history, I discuss how each practices appropriation through different means and to different ends as they respond to their specific historical circumstances. The three poets I will focus on are Wang Gungwu (pre-independence), Edwin Thumboo (early independence) and Alfian Sa’at (late independence). Each articulates an identity that is a hybrid of its various influences and unique to its moment of utterance.

Intercultural communication is aided by the use of a common language. Being a language teacher, researcher and human being, I always remain perplexed about my identity and role. Language teachers' identity is an issue which is highlighted by Barkhuizen in his book entitled "Language Teacher Educator Identity". It is inspiring and interesting because it investigates language teachers' identities, professional learning, and teaching, and the writer's approach is more practical, empirical, and he presents research-based solutions. Yazan & Lindahl (2020) provides insight into teacher educators' experiences in global TESOL settings. Varghese (2016) discusses the nature of a language teacher's identity, future possibilities in applied linguistics and bilingual education topics. Gary Barkhuizen, in Language Teacher Educator Identity, continual professional development focuses on building the base of knowledge in the teaching and learning of languages. This study describes the many sorts of language instructors and educators working in a variety of professional and institutional settings. The book also examined the comments of a group of experienced English teachers working in Colombia who are enrolled in a PhD program to carry on their professional growth. This book also serves as a showcase for the work that language instructors and educators accomplish, notably in the areas of teaching, research, service, and leadership (institutional & community). To understand the language teacher and educator identities that they negotiate and are assigned to in their working environments. The author makes the point that instructors and educators should use research to better serve the needs of students and learners, and proposes forty research questions as a guide for prospective future investigations. At the beginning of the book, Barkhuizen asks some questions focusing on three domains: 1) learning to teach and professional development, 2) pedagogical content of language teacher education (LTE), 3) teacher 'educators' significant components to address identity issues of experienced educators. In personal narratives of teachers and educators, he pointed out that it is very problematic to differentiate educators due to different variables such as educational systems, socio-cultural practices and language policies in the world. He describes fourteen different categories of language teachers and educators, ranging from academic leaders to English for particular purposes instructors. He also distinguishes between intervention-based teacher training and continual professional development, which focuses on building a knowledge basis. A single observational remark from an experienced teacher's trainer may lead to suitable adjustments in the teaching approach. Of course, many instructors ultimately find out many things independently, but good teacher training may help speed up the process significantly. The book's primary focus is on research conducted by seven teacher educators enrolled in a PhD program at a Colombian university. The purpose of the study was to examine how they developed their teacher and educator identities within the institutional frameworks of the PhD program and, more broadly, throughout their professional experience in Colombia's education system. In his second personal tale, he depicts a tentative start to becoming a language instructor, emphasizing that the journey is unpredictable. Colombian teacher educators are enrolled in an inter-institutional program with a concentration in English language teaching education, and they are all experienced school and university instructors. Barkhuizen conducted two interviews with them, and the book contains biographical information and notable quotes from the interviews. In the first interview, the teaching educators respond to a direct question by reflecting on their identities as language teachers and briefly explaining their comments to highlight some aspects of published definitions relating to their personal experiences. Language Teacher Educator Identity is concerned with the identity of teachers, what they do, and how they feel about their roles as teachers and educators. Former language teachers' identities collide with their new, evolving identities, resulting in new pedagogical approaches. It is crucial to keep the teacher identity alive because many starting teacher educators regard teacher educator professional credibility with pre-service teachers and mentor teachers in schools. Because teaching students is not the same as training teachers, Barkhuizen points out that transitioning from being a language teacher to working as a teacher's educator might produce identity conflicts. The true identity of language educators appears due to conflict of interest among language teachers and the language teaching institutions that arise building a teacher educator identity seriously. Identities that are negotiated and formed through social interaction with others, as well as their primary interactional emphasis.

- by Muhammad Younas
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- Language and Identity Studies

Cet article propose de contribuer à une réflexion théorique sur le « parler jeune » en tant que construction idéologique et modèle réflexif d'utilisation de la langue, dans une perspective d’anthropologie sémiotique, à partir de l’exemple du francanglais (ou camfranglais) au Cameroun. La réflexion est basée sur la théorie de la mise en registre (enregisterment) d’A. Agha (2007), selon laquelle un registre ou un style langagier est un modèle culturel d'action qui résulte de processus socio-historiques de « mise en registre », processus par lesquels ses formes et ses valeurs sont reconnues comme distinctes de celles attribuées à d'autres registres, et sont associées à des types spécifiques de pratiques sociales, de personae (locuteurs et interlocuteurs) et d'activités (Agha 2007 : 168). Il s'agit donc de décrire les processus de mise en frontière à l’œuvre dans les discours métapragmatiques de migrants camerounais résidant en région parisienne, âgés de 25 à 30 ans. À travers l’opposition entre langue et argot, qui recoupe celle entre français et francanglais, les sujets réactualisent les idéologies associées à l'argot qui le définissent comme une sous-variété de la langue standard, associée à des interactions informelles et à des valeurs sociales ambivalentes (Agha 2015). Ainsi, ils tracent des frontières non seulement entre des locuteurs types, mais aussi entre deux types de relations sociales : la relation de proximité affective ou de solidarité, basée sur le partage de caractéristiques sociales communes, et la relation de distance ou de pouvoir. Cette analyse nous amène, en conclusion, à problématiser la relation entre langage et jeunesse pour le francanglais : comme pour les autres « parlers jeunes », les formes langagières associées au francanglais indexeraient d'abord, au niveau de l'interaction, des positionnements tels que la familiarité et la proximité affective, ainsi que des caractéristiques personnelles du locuteur et des activités sociales spécifiques, avant d’indexer, de façon indirecte, l’appartenance à une classe d’âge. La relation entre le francanglais et la catégorie « jeune » n'est donc pas directe et exclusive, mais elle dépend surtout du sens que les locuteurs (qu'ils soient ou non perçus comme
« jeunes ») veulent construire en interaction.

Since the mid-twentieth century, treatments of code switching and associated practices have converged toward understanding social and linguistic hybridity amid accelerating globalization of peoples, media, markets, and languages. This chapter reviews four traditions of code switching research that suggest divergent theoretical perspectives on language and identity. The first, established in the 1960s within the ethnography of communication, situates code switching as a product of local speech community identities. Research on language and political economy in the 1980s initiated a second tradition, which analyzes language alternation with reference to the contrastive nation-state identities constituted through processes of nationalism. A third tradition, influenced by the discursive turn in the 1990s, views code switching as a resource in urban minority communities for the performance of multicultural and interethnic identities. A fourth tradition, developed since the millennium, focuses on hybrid identities as the social corollary to the language mixing brought about through accelerated globalization.

- by Chad Nilep and +1
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- Discourse Analysis, Globalization, Social Identity, Identity (Culture)

This paper revisits the unresolved issue regarding the linguistic unity vis-à-vis ethnic identities of two prominent tribal communities in west-central India, the Bhils and the Pawras. Linguistic and socio-cultural evidence, including kinship terminology and marriage preferences, are cited to make a case for the ethnic distinctness of the Bhils and Pawras as well as the greater affinity of the latter with the Munda stock. Evidence in the form of toponyms from the vicinity of the Narmada and Tapi rivers suggests the possibility of an early Munda substratum in this region. Key words: Munda, substratum, toponym, taboo, tree worship, tiger god, kinship

No português brasileiro, pode-se assumir que as desinências -o e -a representam as regras gerais de marcação de gênero para masculino e feminino, respectivamente. Porém, tem-se notado a emergência de novas estratégias de marcação gramatical de gênero, entre as quais se observam estratégias desinenciais, como -x (‘alunx’), -@ (‘professor@s’) e -e (‘todes’), e formas pronominais como ‘elu’, ‘ilu’ e ‘ile’, a fim de não se especificar, na estrutura linguística, uma distinção binária de gênero social. O uso dessas estratégias decorre do fato de que há pessoas que não se sentem representadas pelo masculino ou pelo feminino; decorre também da percepção de que as formas de masculino, no português, são comumente empregadas com referência genérica, o que marca como ‘diferentes’ todas as manifestações de gênero não-masculinas, entre as quais se encontram as femininas e as não-binárias. Entretanto, o emprego dessas estratégias de neutralização (ou não especificação) de gênero esbarra em algumas restrições apresentadas pelo sistema linguístico. Portanto, neste ensaio teórico, descrevemos, em linhas gerais, o tratamento do gênero gramatical nos estudos linguísticos e algumas estratégias de não especificação de gênero na gramática do português; identificamos algumas restrições ao seu emprego do ponto de vista estrutural da língua; e visamos a compreender as questões sociais que levam à implementação dos novos usos linguísticos. Entendemos que, como linguistas, precisamos descrever a língua tal como efetivamente é usada e, por meio da reflexão sobre as estratégias de neutralização de gênero, contribuir para os diálogos acerca de um tema tão polêmico e necessário.

This ethnographic study investigated a 40-hour workplace English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classroom in Thailand as a community of practice consisting of a language instructor and engineering professionals. Based on the notion of situated learning, the key elements of legitimacy, power relations and social structures of the practice emerged as interrelated concepts in the participants' identity negotiation and construction. Being an ESP classroom located in the participants' workplace, as well as needing to address the cultural context of Thailand, the research setting presents legitimation conflicts resolved through the process of identity negotiation and construction. Classroom members needed to negotiate their identities amongst the tensions of English language proficiency, engineering and workplace knowledge, seniority and social roles. The research emphasises the significance of both micro and macro cultures in communities of practice. Through the analysis of language employed in the studied ESP classroom, it is clear that language use is an important aspect of identity negotiation and construction in the community of practice.

Recent sociolinguistic research adds new economic sectors, such as the
service economy, to the list of key forces that shape unequal, dynamic and complex diglossia (e.g., Spanish in the United States). However, little detailed work has been done on the linguistic characteristics of specific labor sectors in the wider contexts of “debordering” and “rebordering”. In this article we develop in
depth the market mechanisms and institutional constraints that shape the valuation and social expansion of Spanish in El Paso, Texas. The study finds that in sectors with low skills and low linguistic intensity, linguistic management policies are effectively “Spanish-only”. However, as skills increase and there is a
greater need for regulated communication in the occupational role, more constraints are observed on how Spanish functions in work use and professional careers.

- by Josiah Heyman
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- Latino/A Studies, Sociolinguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Border Studies

Focusing on online interactions among young adults in Bangladesh and Mongolia – two countries located politically, culturally and economically on the Asian periphery – this paper looks at how young adults use linguistic and cultural resources in their online interactions as part of a complex and emergent stylization of place. On the one hand, they appropriate the cultural and linguistic flows according to their locations and engage in a playful stylization and reconfiguration of what the local means. On the other hand, they engage in stylization and reflexive language use, often involving exaggerated linguistic variation, mixing, and other semiotic resources in order to produce and perform a range of social and cultural identities. The paper hence shows how the circulation and takeup of popular cultural flows around Asia can involve diverse processes of linguistic and cultural stylization.

- by Shaila Sultana and +1
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- Discourse Analysis, Semiotics, Languages and Linguistics, Globalization

Les Philippines présentent un cas radical de mixité langagière. La configuration archipélagique du pays et une histoire coloniale complexe ont façonné une société plurilingue. Confronté au défi de l'unification linguistique, l'Etat tente d'imposer le filipino comme langue nationale tandis que la rémanence de l'anglais trahit l'incomplétude du processus d'indépendance. Cette étude analyse les représentations de ces langues dans le discours d'étudiants philippins habitant les îles Batanes en déterminant leur « charge d'altérité » (Hartog, 1980) respective et en interrogeant cette notion dans le contexte spécifique d'un Etat-archipel. On proposera enfin l'étude d'un cas de double appropriation linguistique avec le taglish, parlure hybride perçue comme une langue autonome émancipée de ses deux langues sources, le tagalog et l'anglais, et qui est devenu le symbole de l'identité plurielle et métissée des Philippins.

Interlanguage pragmatic learning strategies (IPLS) as particularly tailored language learning strategies for acquiring L2 pragmatic knowledge have been recently paid paramount attention in the pragmatics literature. These strategies are, therefore, related to some other social variables which are central to pragmatic development such as L2 social identity. Because of the importance of the IPLS and the rarity of research about the relationship between IPLS and with L2 social identity as a highly pragmatic-oriented variable, the current study tried to investigate the contribution of various forms of IPLS to L2 social identity among a randomly selected sample of 125 upper-intermediate to advanced EFL learners at a state university in Iran. During the two-phased data collection procedure, first, the participants filled out Locastro's (2001) L2 social identity questionnaire, and then Malmir and Tajeddin's (2015) IPLS inventory in two subsequent sessions. Data analysis using multiple regression revealed that all types of IPLS were significant contributors to L2 social identity except for the memory IPLS. Among the other five types of IPLS, social IPLS was a significant and strong contributor to L2 social identity. Affective and compensatory IPLS were significant moderate contributors to L2 social identity; however, metacognitive and cognitive interlanguage pragmatic learning strategies were weak albeit significant predictors of Iranian EFL learners' social identity in English as an L2. The results of this study imply that L2 teachers can enhance social identity among the learners by fostering the knowledge of various forms of IPLS.

instructions for citation: Filipović, Jelena. 2014. Identity construction through discursive practices and code-switching in autobiographic fictional narratives by Rosa Nissán and Gordana Kuić, In: S. Gudurić, (ed.), Jezici i kulture u... more

- by Jelena Filipovic
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- Sociolinguistics, Sephardic Studies, Language and Identity Studies

A pdf of this article is available by request to jmheyman@utep.edu . Bilingual call centers in El Paso, Texas, an extensively bilingual US-Mexico border setting, provide a valuable opportunity to examine empirically what occurs with respect to language shift reversal of Spanish in the context of new information economy. Interviews were conducted with thirty-nine call center operators and managers, and twelve translators and interpreters. Call centers provide an important occupational performance of and recognition to the Spanish language. Nevertheless, bilingual call centers mainly rely on uncompensated, socially provided language skills in Spanish, a freely available “heritage language” in the border setting. Spanish is not valued as a technical competency, worth specific attention to training, management of language features, and extra compensation. Bilingualism is used in the labor market as a sign of cheap and flexible labor, rather than as economically and socially valued “skill,” even though in the new information workplace it serves the latter role. (Call centers, new economy, language and workplace, bilingualism, Spanish, borders)

- by Josiah Heyman and +1
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- Multi- & Bilingualism & Biliteracy, Sociolinguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Border Studies

This chapter seeks to expand an understanding of ‘expatriate’ by examining the defining choice to live elsewhere as one guided not only by aesthetic concerns but also by an ethical impulse to remake one’s life in accordance with a particular vision of ‘the good life’; in other words, expatriation as a deliberate act of displacement and a long-term process of self-transformation centred on the question ‘How should I live?’ Susanna Moodie’s mid-nineteenth-century memoir and Frances Mayes’s late-twentieth century account illuminate common issues of identity transformation and belonging which characterise the expatriate life as it is reshaped through intercultural confrontation, negotiation and accommodation over time. The central theme of identity reformation emerges in multipart memoirs which chart the quest for a meaningful existence through discursive and life practices that displace cultural certainties and produce new textualities of self and place through the experience of transnational relocation.

- by Lynn Mastellotto
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- Travel Writing, Cultural Identity, Travel Literature, Expatriate Literature

We propose in this article to analyze the linguistic representations associated with the two official languages of the Philippines: Filipino and English –both at the heart of the educational system. Referring to the systems of values and affects attached to languages, the concept of linguistic representation – or social representations of languages – has been adopted by sociolinguists and educational specialists in so far as it plays a key role in the process of identity construction as well as in the transmission of language. A collective interview organized in one of the most prominent university in Manila has allowed us to bring forward the social representations of Filipino and English among students before measuring their respective importance through the administration of a questionnaire. The study of these representations among socially privileged Filipino will bring us to question the language configuration and more specifically the place of English in the social structure of this former US colony marked by the permanency of extreme social inequalities. We will see that the medium of instruction and its representations are a tool to analyze neocolonial issues.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a young aristocratic Dutch teenager is writing his diary in French, the language of his education. He reflects on his young life as child who lost his mother at an early age, before describing his daily life, learning from his father through travelling in both his homeland and also abroad throughout Europe. Writing such a diary is a (language/linguistic) exercise, a reflection on his education and a way of constructing his identity as a subject who knows, is able to act and has a will. A memory book with a heart, which symbolises the relationship this young man has with the French language in which he is writing.

- by jala garibova
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- Language and Identity Studies

Following the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, Croatian was declared officially to be a separate language, distinct from Serbian, and linguistic issues became highly politicized. This book examines the changing status and norms of the Croatian language and its relationship to Croatian national identity. It focuses on the period following the creation of an independent Croatian state in 1991, but encompasses broader historical developments to provide a context for understanding the contemporary linguistic situation. The complex history of language standardization in the Yugoslav lands and the emphasis on language planning in Croatia make this an especially interesting case study that offers insight into wider debates about linguistic identity, language policy, and language planning issues in general. 1. The Croatian Language Question in Context 1.1. The Croatian Language Question and Croatian Identity 1.2. Language and Identity: Theoretical and Conceptual Framework 1.3. Language, D...

This article analyses the representation of Ecuadorians in Spain during the first decade of the twenty-first century as reflected in the novel La utopía de Madrid (‘The utopia of Madrid’) by Carlos Carrión. Following the theories developed by Erik Erikson about identity and the psychosocial stages, and Stuart Hall and Paul Du Gay about the construction of identities, this work explores the representation of Ecuadorians using the voice of Lucy, the main character of the novel. Her experience, based on a true story, exposes a troubled reality that highlights the several cases of discrimination against this population in which they were (and still are) verbally and physically attacked1 based on their ethnicity. Additionally, it shows how the Ecuadorian identity changes and evolves, congruent with Erikson’s stages of development.

- by Francesco Masala-Martínez
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- Latin American Studies, Race and Racism, Migration, Identity (Culture)