Negotiating multiple identities in educational contexts: Stories of Tamil Heritage Language Users as Multilingual Malaysians

<p>Malaysia is a multilingual and multicultural society comprising of ethnic Malays (dominant group) followed by ethnic Chinese, Indians and other indigenous groups. The national language is Malay and English is the second language. Heritage languages such as Mandarin and Tamil are used as the language of instruction in some primary schools. This study explores how a group of Tamil Heritage Language Users from Tamil primary schools (THLU-Ts) at a private university recounted maneuvering through their multilingual world during their early lives at Tamil primary school, at state secondary school (Malay) and then at a private university (English). Nine first year undergraduate participants were selected from a private university in Malaysia where English is the medium of instruction. They were selected as THLU-Ts based on two criteria. Firstly, they were ethnic Tamils and secondly, they had completed six years of primary education at Tamil primary school. I used photovoice interviews to construct their narratives. The participants, prompted by photographs they brought as artefacts, described their language experiences in a multilingual setting. The participants’ voices were storied into narratives based on three narrative inquiry strategies of broadening, burrowing and restorying. Two in-depth interviews were conducted over a six month period and these were video-taped and transcribed. The interview transcript from each first interview contributed to a narrative summary or story. This was a general description of the participant and events (broadening stage). The second interview was held towards the end of the semester. During the second interview, participants were asked to reflect on their narrative summaries (which had been distributed earlier) and comment on them. I sought data to reexamine the existing data (burrowing stage) before rewriting a complete and coherent story (restorying) for each participant. This story was also individually reviewed by each participant. Data analysis was an iterative process that included storying and coding. I identified three broad themes and then examined them in the light of relevant literature. This analysis allowed me to understand how the THLU-Ts shaped their identities during social interactions with different linguistic communities in Malaysia, including THLU-Ms (ethnic Tamils from national primary schools) and non-Tamils (Malays and Chinese). Initially, THLU-Ts faced challenges as they transitioned to secondary school coming from a Tamil- medium primary school. At secondary school, they had to adjust to a Malay linguistic environment for the first time. As their proficiency in Malay grew, they felt they were accepted as authentic members of the academic community. When they entered the English-medium university, there was pressure to develop proficiency in English. They repositioned themselves once again and made deliberate language choices during social interaction with other linguistic communities. When the findings were viewed through Blommaert’s sociolinguistic scales, it was apparent that participants scaled languages depending on the value assigned to each one (Malay, English and Tamil). This reflected the way language was used in society. As powerful multilinguals who invested in a multilingual repertoire, participants displayed linguistic accommodation. These findings suggest a need for educators and policy makers to reassess the role and importance of HL education. Currently, the Malaysian education policy is silent on its commitment to HL education in Malaysia. Yet, this research supports the One Malaysia concept which stresses unity in diversity and encourages educational policies to take a pro-multilingual stance.</p>

Negotiating multiple identities in educational contexts: Stories of Tamil Heritage Language Users as Multilingual Malaysians

<p>Malaysia is a multilingual and multicultural society comprising of ethnic Malays (dominant group) followed by ethnic Chinese, Indians and other indigenous groups. The national language is Malay and English is the second language. Heritage languages such as Mandarin and Tamil are used as the language of instruction in some primary schools. This study explores how a group of Tamil Heritage Language Users from Tamil primary schools (THLU-Ts) at a private university recounted maneuvering through their multilingual world during their early lives at Tamil primary school, at state secondary school (Malay) and then at a private university (English). Nine first year undergraduate participants were selected from a private university in Malaysia where English is the medium of instruction. They were selected as THLU-Ts based on two criteria. Firstly, they were ethnic Tamils and secondly, they had completed six years of primary education at Tamil primary school. I used photovoice interviews to construct their narratives. The participants, prompted by photographs they brought as artefacts, described their language experiences in a multilingual setting. The participants’ voices were storied into narratives based on three narrative inquiry strategies of broadening, burrowing and restorying. Two in-depth interviews were conducted over a six month period and these were video-taped and transcribed. The interview transcript from each first interview contributed to a narrative summary or story. This was a general description of the participant and events (broadening stage). The second interview was held towards the end of the semester. During the second interview, participants were asked to reflect on their narrative summaries (which had been distributed earlier) and comment on them. I sought data to reexamine the existing data (burrowing stage) before rewriting a complete and coherent story (restorying) for each participant. This story was also individually reviewed by each participant. Data analysis was an iterative process that included storying and coding. I identified three broad themes and then examined them in the light of relevant literature. This analysis allowed me to understand how the THLU-Ts shaped their identities during social interactions with different linguistic communities in Malaysia, including THLU-Ms (ethnic Tamils from national primary schools) and non-Tamils (Malays and Chinese). Initially, THLU-Ts faced challenges as they transitioned to secondary school coming from a Tamil- medium primary school. At secondary school, they had to adjust to a Malay linguistic environment for the first time. As their proficiency in Malay grew, they felt they were accepted as authentic members of the academic community. When they entered the English-medium university, there was pressure to develop proficiency in English. They repositioned themselves once again and made deliberate language choices during social interaction with other linguistic communities. When the findings were viewed through Blommaert’s sociolinguistic scales, it was apparent that participants scaled languages depending on the value assigned to each one (Malay, English and Tamil). This reflected the way language was used in society. As powerful multilinguals who invested in a multilingual repertoire, participants displayed linguistic accommodation. These findings suggest a need for educators and policy makers to reassess the role and importance of HL education. Currently, the Malaysian education policy is silent on its commitment to HL education in Malaysia. Yet, this research supports the One Malaysia concept which stresses unity in diversity and encourages educational policies to take a pro-multilingual stance.</p>

Language Politics in the Comparative Media Crucible

This chapter recounts the language politics of north India, with particular stress upon the heydays of Hindi nationalism, which wrested control of literary production from Urdu on behalf of the ‘Hindis’ of northern plains. Bhojpuri among other ‘tongues’ were therefore side-lined by the nationalist fervour. Tracing the trajectory of women’s folksongs, popular chapbooks and theatre troupes, the chapter reconstructs the resurgence of the vernaculars via audiocassettes, VCDs/DVDs and microSD cards. Electronic media thus absorbed the energies pushed out of the literate public sphere. The chapter also highlights the role played by a lateral-ness of address to unspool Bhojpuri from its ‘folk’ bearings and mount a mass address upon it. At the end, the chapter places the language politics of north India in relation to the Trojan horse of English, and the attendant struggle for the political existence of the vernacular linguistic communities.

Differences in Fluidity in Franco-Canadian BD and Anglo-Canadian Comics Through the Influence of Manga

The Canadian comics world has been split along linguistic and cultural lines since its beginning. Although the boundary between both has been a bit less rigid in the last 30 years, movement across the linguistic border is still not fluid. Until recently, BDQ mostly continued the Franco-Belgian tradition while the Canadian comics were influenced by the American tradition. In the last three decades, more transfer could be seen among all traditions mostly as a result of globalization, which includes the globalized graphic narrative. However, there is still a difference in fluidity in the two Canadian comics worlds. For several reasons, the Anglo-Canadian comics world has been quite receptive to the manga while the French-Canadian one has been much less so. I argue that this Quebecer cool welcoming is reflected in the use of a more rigid grid than in Anglo-Canadian comics. Using Brenna Clarke Gray’s parallel between territorial border and comics gutter, I explain these differences using some concrete examples from both Canadian linguistic communities.

Modernism—Borders and Crises

This article discusses the concept of modernism, as reflected for instance in attempts to find a manageable narrative frame for the history of literary modernism. The article argues that this attempt is complicated by modernism as an unruly and complex trend that manifests itself in different ways, and at different moments, as it enters into a complex dialogue with other trends within various linguistic communities. These different times and places of modernism also turn out to interact with one another through translations and other forms of reception that sometimes entail renewed modernist creativity. Discussing these significant aspects of modernism, the article also considers the problems critics of modernism face as they attempt to come up with a narrative framework for the history of modernism and its ongoing relationship with realism. A key point argued in the article is that to come to terms with both these trends we need to appreciate the ways in which modernism is linked to historical crises and traumas of our time, including the first and the second world wars. Paying particular attention to the interplay of Nordic and European modernisms, the article discusses how aspects of modernism have manifested themselves in Iceland, a Nordic island which may seem doubly removed from the European centres of modernism in cities such as London and Paris.

Analyzing the Role of English ‘Loan Lexis’ in the Process of Language Change in Contemporary Bodo Linguistic Community

Language grows, evolves and develops over a period of time. Reading through old English writings even the native speakers of today would struggle understanding them. No language (including Bodo) is exempt from this fact. According to Edward Sapir an American Linguist, Language contact is one of the main reasons behind such change in a particular linguistic community. Darwin says that ‘languages tended to change in the direction of having shorter easier forms, and that it could be explained by natural selection.’ My close observation lead me to discover that there are numerous English ‘loan words that the ‘Bodos’ use in their conversations. This is a case not only of one linguistic community but of most North East Indian linguistic communities; we can’t deny the fact that English Loan words have found great usage in our conversations, TV shows, songs, films and functions. This practice has to a certain extent ushered in some changes in contemporary Bodo linguistic community. Edward Sapir talks about how one linguistic community borrows vocabulary from another in the process of cultural and social interaction; this he says has been a common phenomenon among linguistic communities in the history and continues to prevail as a common practice till today. In my paper I discuss the causes of such a practice and their possible pros and cons with special reference to Contemporary Bodo linguistic community.

PECULIARITIES OF GREETING IN KOREAN AND UZBEK LINGUOCULTURE

This article examines the peculiarities of greeting etiquette in Korean and Uzbek culture. Factors such as age, circumstances, position, gender, and ceremony that are common to greeting Koreans and Uzbeks are analyzed. The peculiarities and differences of the linguistic landscape of the Uzbek and Korean linguistic communities are also highlighted.

A Historical Account of Linguistic Imperialism and Educational Policy in Tunisia: From the independence to the ‘Jasmine Revolution’

This article is about foreign languages hegemony in Tunisia. It describes the linguistic situation at the macro and micro levels, the Tunisian and the international linguistic communities, the status of English and French languages throughout the world, and their effects on the Tunisian educational policy. The prevalence of French in Tunisia as the language of science and technology between 1956 and 1987, the way the value of English is promoted in the Tunisian educational system between 1987 and 2011 though Tunisia is a French colonized country, and the tendency to linguistic isolationism since 2011, prove the intrinsic link between language and politics. Political changes at international and local levels shape the local linguistic communities.

Słownik psychologiczno-lingwistyczny "Zmysły, emocje i przymiotniki języka rosyjskiego" – nowe narzędzie w pracy tłumacza

This article presents a new type of dictionary – a linguistic-psychological dictionary reflecting structures of language, similar to dictionaries based on associations, but also reconstructing the mental and emotional states of an average user of the Russian language. It was compiled as a result of analyzing 15918 Russian adjectives from the perspective of their relationship with emotions originating in reference to various senses. The dictionary contains information on “the emotional load” of these adjectives, that is how pleasant or how unpleasant emotions a given adjective evokes. The analyzed lexemes were assessed by respondents on the scale of emotions: slightly (un)pleasant – moderately (un)pleasant – very (un)pleasant, which was marked with an appropriate number of pluses or minuses. It cannot be overestimated how useful such a dictionary and the information it contains are. Although it is believed that representatives of different cultures experience universal emotions, their quality and intensity hidden behind particular linguistic units can diverge between different cultural-linguistic communities. Emotions are conditioned socially, culturally, and historically; they play an important role in international communication. Thus when they are incompetently and mistakenly interpreted, this can disturb dialogue between various cultures and even lead to conflicts. In the article, considering equivalents cygarowy/сигарный, differences in the evaluation of these adjectives in Polish and Russian are presented, illustrating the need to look for emotionally adequate translation equivalents when rendering them.

Alcune considerazioni sulla situazione attuale della lingua svana

This paper features the current situation of the Svan-speaking linguistic communities in Georgia, the Georgian language policies and the attempts made to make Svan a literary language. In 2013, Richard Bærug published Svan Youth Literature, a book containing short stories written by young Svans; this and other recent publications seem to bear witness to the vitality of this endangered language. Anyway, language policy in Georgia still looks far from accepting the Kartvelian languages different from Georgian as separate languages, although other minority languages are earning evident privileges. Recent studies have shed light on some of these problems, which however take on greater meaning when viewed from the diachronic perspective hereby presented.