Towards an integrated approach: A sociolinguistic analysis of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia E. Hammoud
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Hybrid Identity ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
Switching Strategies

AbstractIn diasporic communities, switching among languages is a common practice and London is no exception. This paper examines the use of code-switching in Monica Ali’s novel Brick Lane from three different perspectives. It argues that Ali uses code switching (CS) as a sign of hybrid identity. Meanwhile, it contends that the main characters employ CS both as social power and as a tool of ‘emotional expression’. To achieve this aim, a new integrated approach is proposed drawing upon the concepts of ‘orders of indexicality’ and ‘polycentricity’, being sociolinguistic techniques designed to monitor different types of linguistic and cultural manifestations that signify diasporic ways of life. This approach complements an established taxonomy. The findings show that Ali makes significant use of code-switching strategies by balancing the two different cultures, thus reflecting her desire not to lose her hybrid identity. When it concerns her characters, the shifts in codes and/or varieties trigger shifts in the kind of relationships among them and their own identities. Finally, the findings reveal that ‘emotionality’ is a factor that influences code-switching and language choice.

scholarly journals Language choice, language alternation and code-switching in the Mercator-Hondius Atlas

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45
Author(s):  
Aleksi Mäkilähde
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Switching Patterns ◽  
Language Alternation ◽  
Different Types ◽  
First Editions ◽  
Linguistic Approach ◽  
First Time ◽  
Different Parts

The atlas of Gerardus Mercator (Gerard de Cremer), or the Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura, is one of first modern atlases and one of the most famous of those compiled in the Netherlands. The first (unfinished) edition was published in 1595, but the copperplates were later acquired by Jodocus Hondius (Joost de Hondt) and his business associates. The revised Mercator-Hondius Atlas was published for the first time in 1606 with added maps and texts. The texts printed on verso of the maps were written by Petrus Montanus (Pieter van den Berg), who was a brother-in-law of Hondius and a Latin teacher. Many subsequent editions of the atlas were produced in the years that followed. The first editions were in Latin, but versions in European vernaculars such as French, German and Italian were produced later as well. The present article focuses on the multilingual nature of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas (1613, editio quarta) by discussing language choice, language alternation and code-switching patterns in different parts of the atlas. The dominant language of the descriptive texts is Latin, but there are also switches into many other languages, including Greek (written in Greek script) and several vernaculars. Furthermore, the map pages tend to indicate the names of different types of area (e.g. cities, seas, and oceans) in different languages. The aim of the present article is to provide a preliminary exploration of the possibilities of approaching the atlas with the aid of concepts and ideas derived from modern code-switching studies. I demonstrate how these concepts can be used to describe the language choice patterns in the text and discuss some of the challenges the data poses for a linguistic approach.

A case-study in historical sociolinguistics beyond Europe: Reconstructing patterns of multilingualism in a linguistic community in Siberia

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-251
Author(s):  
Olesya Khanina ◽  
Miriam Meyerhoff
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
Oral Histories ◽  
Northern Siberia ◽  
Historical Sociolinguistics

AbstractA collection of traditional and ‘old life’ stories recorded in the late 1940s is used to reconstruct the sociolinguistic situation of the Enets community in Northern Siberia from the 1850s until the 1930s. The Enets had regular contacts with a number of neighbouring indigenous peoples (Nganasans, Tundra Nenets, Selkups, Evenkis, Dolgans) and later with Russian newcomers. The oral histories often comment on language use, and as a result we can reconstruct not only the languages that the Enets people used in this period, but also the contexts in which they used them. The Enets community’s multilingualism was typically characterized by command of key neighbouring languages, with the occasional command of other more (geographically and socially) remote ones. With close neighbours, language choice seems to have had limited social load, while in cases of trade or agonistic contact, the choice of language in interethnic communication seems to have followed a principle of asymmetric convergence towards the language of the party with the greatest contextual social power. The analysis is founded on a database of dozens of communicative events mentioned in the oral stories (over 50 are analyzed). Ongoing fieldwork on the modern sociolinguistic situation suggests that until quite recently there was considerable stability in the sociolinguistic norms governing multilingual interaction among the Enets.

The Heterogeneous Nature of Urban Poor Families

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Salcedo ◽  
Alejandra Rasse
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poor Families ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Different Cultures

This paper addresses the scholarly debate on cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity of urban poor families. While authors such as Lewis (1959) or Wacquant (2000 ; 2001) claim that structural disadvantages are linked to a particular type of identity or culture, others such as Hannerz (1969) , Anderson (1999 ; 2002) , or Portes ( Portes and Manning, 1986 ; Portes and Jensen, 1989 ) believe that it is possible to find different behaviors, expectations, decision–making processes, and outcomes among people living in seemingly identical structural conditions ( Small et al., 2010 ). Using Santiago, Chile, as a case study, we differentiate five different cultures or identities among the poor. Those identities seem to be the product of different historical and political circumstances, as well as of different types of public policies. The paper ends with a discussion of the need for poverty reduction policies to consider these differences among the poor.

scholarly journals Polish-English Code-Switching in the Language of Polish Facebook Users

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-120
Author(s):  
Daria Pańka
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
L1 And L2

Social networking services, such as Facebook, are important channels of communication both for monolingual users and for those having various degrees of proficiency in L2, with the latter deploying expression both from L1 and L2. It can, therefore, be presumed that communication on FB plays a role in practicing the use of L2. One of the phenomena that can be examined in relation to that are various forms of code-switching. There is animmense research gap related to Polish-English code-switching appearing on this SNS. To obtain a full picture of the issue, the paper identifies and discusses types, strategies, and functions of Polish-English code-switches found in posts and comments published by Poles on Facebook in 2014–2019. It also indicates possible applications of FB tools and materials including CS in foreign language teaching and learning and shows how Facebook enables “social learning” (Mallia, 2013). The research is based on a corpus constructed by the author of this article. An integrated approach with both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis is used in the paper. Three main CS types (intrasentential, intersentential, and tag-switching) and strategies (alternation, insertion, and congruent lexicalisation) have been attested in the material. The code-switches mostly indicate in-group membership but also, for example, introduce humor, quotes, and signal a lack of L1 equivalents. The study points out that there are certain relations between the types, strategies and functions. The resultsof the research are collated with the recent studies on Polish-English and Indonesian-English CS on Facebook.

scholarly journals The Code-Switching on Facebook Profiles of Different Genders: The Case of Šalčininkai District

2020 ◽  
pp. 99-115
Author(s):  
Violeta Miliun
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Specific Domain ◽  
Electronic Discourse ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Single Sentence ◽  
Research Material

 This study investigates functions of code-switching based on the model proposed by René Appel and Pieter Muysken. Code-switching is an interesting sociolinguistic phenomenon characteristic to bilingual and multilingual communities. It involves the use of different languages within the boundaries of a single sentence or between sentences in one specific domain or discourse. It is an individual language choice determined by such factors as the topic, the situation, the participants of a conversation, their interrelationship, emotions, and demonstration of one or more identities. On this basis, Appel and Muysken (2005) identified six functions of code-switching: referential, directive, expressive (related to identity), phatic (metaphorical), metalinguistic and poetic. This paper sets out to achieve several goals: (a) to find out which of these functions appear in the Facebook discourse of young people originated from Šalčininkai district, (b) to identify the main types of functions in girls’ and boys’ profiles, and (c) to study the frequency of the functions with regard to the variable of gender. The research material consists of 1 048 posts and comments published in 2017–2018 and obtained from 30 Facebook profiles. The dataset represents young people aged between 20 and 30 years, with Polish as their school language. Facebook posts and comments are investigated from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. The research results show that functionally code-switching is similar in both girls’ and boys’ Facebook discourse. On the profiles of both genders, the number of functions is identical, but the frequency of these functions varies. In the datasets of both genders, the most predominant function is directive, which appears when languages change depending on the language chosen by the interlocutor. This research could be informative for sociolinguists who investigate electronic discourse of young people from South East Lithuania and for those who focus on how environment influences the emergence of different linguistic codes on Facebook. The research could also stimulate greater interest of sociolinguists in the conversational features of residents in Šalčininkai district.

Language choice and appositive structures in written texts in Rwanda

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Practical Issue ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Language Alternation ◽  
Practical Level

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. It describes the language choice practice of translinguistic apposition as observed in written texts in Rwanda. In Rwanda, authors often construct appositive structures in two languages. In turn, this possibility raises a theoretical as well as a practical issue. At the theoretical level language alternation is observed in “highly regulated texts” and, at the practical level, readers are assumed to be competent in all the languages involved. The chapter argues that the first issue does not actually arise as language alternation is oriented to as deviance and the second is resolved by reference to notion of ascribed linguistic competence in context.

Language choice and conversational repair in bilingual interaction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Additional Resource ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Language Alternation ◽  
Conversational Repair ◽  
Research Questions

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. The chapter describes the interactional practice of conversational repair in bilingual interaction. Two research questions are raised: (a) where in the repair sequence can language alternation occur and (b) what does language alternation do when it occurs in repair sequences. It is shown that language alternation interacts with repair organisation in two ways. Either language alternation is the focus of conversational repair or it is an additional resource for the organisation of conversational repair.

Love

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha C. Nussbaum
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Romantic Love ◽  
Western Tradition ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Active Interest ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Different Levels

Love is usually understood to be a powerful emotion involving an intense attachment to an object and a high evaluation of it. On some understandings, however, love does not involve emotion at all, but only an active interest in the wellbeing of the object. On other accounts, love is essentially a relationship involving mutuality and reciprocity, rather than an emotion. Moreover, there are many varieties of love, including erotic/romantic love, friendly love, and love of humanity. Different cultures also recognize different types of love. Love has, as well, a complicated archaeology: because it has strong links with early experiences of attachment, it can exist in the personality at different levels of depth and articulateness, posing special problems for self-knowledge. It is mistake to try to give too unified an account of such a complex set of phenomena. Love has been understood by many philosophers to be a source of great richness and energy in human life. But even those who praise its contribution have seen it as a potential threat to virtuous living. Philosophers in the Western tradition have therefore been preoccupied with proposing accounts of the reform or ‘ascent’ of love, in order to demonstrate that there are ways of retaining the energy and beauty of this passion while removing its bad consequences.

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