Transnational Sri Lankan Sinhalese family language policy: Challenges and contradictions at play in two families in the U.S.

Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-498
Author(s):  
Ronald Fuentes
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Family Language Policy ◽  
Social Prestige ◽  
Family Language ◽  
Global Citizenry ◽  
Heritage Language Development ◽  
The U.S

AbstractThis study examines how the transnational lives of two Sinhalese-speaking Sri Lankan families in the rural U.S. influenced family language policy (FLP) and how they (re)positioned themselves in response to their transnational lives. Employing an ethnographic design, including interviews and observations, this study explores the families’ language ideologies and management strategies and the factors that shaped their policies. Both families held similar language ideologies but contrasting management strategies that were informed by a differing socioeconomic status and eventual home country return, and which in turn led to different ways of FLP formation and implementation. FLPs were aimed at accruing capital and social prestige to facilitate the navigation of spaces in family members’ present and (imagined) future lives in Sri Lanka and the U.S., and possibly beyond; yet, these same policies created a sense of ambivalence in regards to transnationals’ cultural and linguistic identities and attachments. The findings show the competing and contradictory forces at play in transnational bilingual children’s heritage language development. This study draws attention to how transnationals navigate global citizenry and how they make decisions about language as they reimagine and refashion their membership into multiple communities in an interconnected world.

scholarly journals Investigating Ideological Factors in Family Language Policy

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
Rani Septi Sapriati ◽  
Soni Mirizon ◽  
Sary Silvhiany
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Family Language Policy ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
Ethnographic Interviews ◽  
Family Language ◽  
Considerable Support

A family has a role in supporting bilingual or multilingual children. In acquiring English for instance, family language policy is likely to shape the development of children bilingualism or multilingualism. Through a qualitative study in a case study design, the language ideologies of two bi-/multilingual families in Palembang were investigated and explored. The participants of this study were the Zahra and the Najwa families who brought up their children in more than one language including English. The data were collected through ethnographic interviews with the parents, grandmother, and children. Thematic analysis was used in analyzing the data of this study. The raw data were coded and classified into categories to derive big major themes regarding ideological factors that shaped language policy. The derived themes were then interpreted descriptively. The results indicated that there were some ideological factors found that contributed to the shaping of the language policy of those two families, such as social values, economical values, political values, cultural values, parents' knowledge toward language acquisition, and bi-/multilingualism. The findings of this study suggest that families need to provide support for their children in their bilingual or multilingual journey. Furthermore, stakeholders and professionals should play a role in the choice of language used in education as well as provide considerable support and assistance for language policy in family domain

scholarly journals Family Language Policy and Childhood Bilingualism: A Multidimensional Theoretical Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Maria Andritsou ◽  
Konstantinos Chatzidimou
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Language Management ◽  
Family Language Policy ◽  
Core Components ◽  
Family Language ◽  
Dynamic Relationships

This paper focuses on the micro-level of language policy and aims to point out the critical role of family language policy (FLP) in language maintenance/shift of minority/heritage home language(s) and childhood bilingualism. FLP could resist broader language ideologies by transforming parents’ language ideologies and attitudes into language practices and language management that support the development of active or additional childhood bilingualism. Through a research into the interdisciplinary components of FLP, this paper aims to illustrate aspects of multilevel and dynamic relationships between each of these core components. An introduction to FLP as a research field is included as well as some of the studies that spotlighted the way parental agency in regard to each of the three FLP components could shape, explicitly or implicitly, language use and planning for the minority/heritage home language(s).

New spaces of new speaker profiles: Exploring language ideologies in transnational multilingual families

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Soler ◽  
Anastassia Zabrodskaja
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Family Language Policy ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Language ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The One ◽  
Family Setting

AbstractThis article looks at Spanish-Estonian speaking families and their language ideologies in relation to language use in the family setting—how parents decide to use languages among themselves and with their children. Family members choose different languages for different purposes when they talk to one another. In our study, parents draw on their knowledge of the ‘one parent–one language’ strategy but also translanguage for different reasons, constructing new patterns of bilingual modes. In the article, we examine parents’ attitudes towards language maintenance, transmission, and use with their children. We incorporate the lens of ‘new speaker’ research to analyse the empirical data collected in Tallinn households among Spanish-Estonian speaking families so as to contribute to a better understanding of family language policy, planning, and management, highlighting how macro-level sociolinguistic expectations and norms might be elaborated on the micro level in everyday social interactions. (Family language policy, language ideology, new speakers, Estonian, Spanish)*

scholarly journals Language Ideologies, Practices, and Kindergarteners’ Narrative Macrostructure Development: Crucial Factors for Sustainable Development of Early Language Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 6985
Author(s):  
Jing Yin ◽  
Yan Ding ◽  
Lin Fan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Family Language Policy ◽  
Family Language ◽  
The Relationship

This paper explored crucial factors to achieve sustainable development of early language education by examining the relationship between two dimensions of family language policy—language ideologies and language practices—as well as the relationship between family language policy and the development of children’s narrative macrostructure. Data were collected via a language performance test and a questionnaire survey of 131 kindergartners from 10 kindergartens in a Chinese city. Structural equation modeling corroborated the relationship between family language ideologies and family language practices proposed by family language policy theorists. Results showed that family language policy significantly predicted kindergarteners’ development of narrative macrostructure. In addition, age was shown to be a significant predictor of narrative macrostructure development, whereas gender was not. Implications for early intervention of children’s narrative macrostructure development were discussed.

scholarly journals Transnational experiences, language competences and worldviews: contrasting language policies in two recently migrated Greek families in Luxembourg

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudine Kirsch ◽  
Nikolaos Gogonas
Keyword(s):  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Language Resources ◽  
Family Language Policy ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Migrant Families ◽  
Trilingual Education ◽  
Family Language

AbstractAgainst the backdrop of the ongoing crisis-led migration from Southern to Northwestern Europe, the present paper reports on a case study of two families who have recently migrated from Greece to Luxembourg. Luxembourg has a trilingual education system and many pupils of migrant background face difficulties on this account. Drawing on the framework of Family Language Policy, this paper explores the language ideologies and management strategies of two families as well as factors influencing their policies. This qualitative study was based on interviews, observations, and videos recorded by one of the families. The findings show that the families have contrasting language ideologies and management strategies that are informed by their differing transnational experiences, competences and worldviews. This study can contribute to a better understanding of the ways in which migrant families use their language resources in their new country.

scholarly journals Intersections of official and family language policy in Quebec

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Ballinger ◽  
Melanie Brouillard ◽  
Alexa Ahooja ◽  
Ruth Kircher ◽  
Linda Polka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Institutional Support ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Family Language Policy ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Public Language ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Family Language

The current paper describes a study that sought to determine the beliefs, practices, and needs of parents living in Montreal, Quebec, who were raising their children bi/multilingually. The parents (N = 27) participated in a total of nine focus group and individual interviews in which they discussed their family language policies (language ideologies, practices, and actions taken to maintain a language). Through rounds of deductive and inductive coding and analysis, family language policies regarding English and/or French were compared with policies regarding heritage languages. The participants’ family language policies were further examined in light of Quebec’s official language policy of interculturalism. Findings indicate a complex co-existence of family and official language policy in which parents both support Quebec’s official language policy by converging towards French as a common public language and questioning the policy’s stance on official institutional support for heritage languages.

scholarly journals Family language policy in Russian-Estonian and Russian-Spanish multilingual settings

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1047-1070
Author(s):  
Olga Ivanova ◽  
Anastassia Zabrodskaja
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Family Language Policy ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Language

This paper primarily focuses on the family language policy of bilingual Russian-Estonian and Russian-Spanish families in relation to the maintenance of Russian as a heritage language. Its main objective is to identify social factors that either help or hinder this process. In doing so, this paper searches for commonalities and specificities of the mainstream attitudes towards Russian as a heritage language in Estonia and Spain, by analysing the sociolinguistic situation of Russian in both countries and by examining the factors conditioning the maintenance of Russian as a heritage language in family settings. Our research is based on an in-depth analysis of a variety of sources, mainly quantitative statistical and demographic data on self-reported language behaviour and language ideologies in mixed families from Estonia (n = 40) and Spain (n = 40). The main results of our comparative study confirm the general positive attitude towards Russian as a heritage language, but they also highlight an important variability of these attitudes both between countries and within each community. We show that these attitudes directly determine the principles of family language policy, the parents strategies to transmit Russian as a heritage language, and the level of proficiency in Russian as a heritage language in the second generation. These results allow us to conclude that, as a heritage language, Russian relies on strong attitudinal support in even small communities, like Estonian or Spanish, but also that its confident transmission should rely on external subsidy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document