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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1324

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

Multilingualism and immigrants in US cities: a depiction of language use in fictional movies.

Authors: Tharani, Soraya Sultan; Juopperi, Jani Miika
Submitted by: Tharani, Soraya Sultan (Högskolan Dalarna (Dalarna University), Sweden)

Language choice may be considered as marked or unmarked in multilingual environments. The former refers to uncooperative or unfamiliar linguistic behaviour and the latter to cooperative (Coulmas 2005) expected and ideological language use. The choice of one language, or elements of one language, over another carries relations of power that are linked to wider social meanings (Coulmas 2005) that exist beyond the immediate context of language use. This paper analyses the language choice patterns of immigrants in different cities in the US as portrayed in fictional movies.

In his study of American ethnic groups in the United States, Fishman states that bilingualism and language shift takes place long before the processes of de-ethnisation or biculturalism are evident. Furthermore, the phenomenon of language maintenance is described as less stable than the maintenance of ethnicity and culture (Fishman 1966). Bearing this in mind, this paper investigates the different situations in which multilingual choices are made by fictional characters depicting immigrant individuals. For this purpose, Coupland’s (2001, 2007) perspective of the concept of ‘stylization’ as influencing perspectives of authenticity is used. Furthermore, Bleichenbacher’s (2008) categories for the study of language choice in multilingual movies serve as points of departure for the analysis, i.e. firstly, as regards typical settings, social activities and narrative moods; secondly, how the content expressed in the immigrant language is made available to the viewer; and thirdly, the availability of code-switching. More particularly, this study investigates the usage of different languages as a narrative tool for constructing social identities including the relation between immigrant/non-immigrant languages in different social settings, as well as the positioning of language in scene construction.

The movies indicate that characters reflect hybridity within private/familial exchanges. Characters depicting first generation immigrants use code-switching in the public and private environments to reflect hybrid identities. Immigrant languages dominate in kinship terms such as father, mother, brother, aunty, etc. The narrative climax and other moments of emotion are made prominent by the use of the immigrant language. Internal and external conflicts are expressed in the immigrant languages and in English. The use of English increases as the narrative enters the stage of resolution. We suggest that due to the use of the ethnic language in emotional contexts in movies, the maintenance of the immigrant language is depicted as disassociating from its instrumental use and instead gains mainly an intrinsic quality linked to an authentic ethnic identity.

References

Bleichenbacher, L. (2008) Multilingualism in the Movies. Hollywood Characters and their linguistic choices. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto

Coulmas, F. (2005) Sociolinguistics. The Study of Speaker’s Choices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Coupland, N. (2001) “Dialect stylization in radio talk” In Language in Society. No. 30. pp.345-375.

Coupland, N. (2007) Style. Language Variation and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fishman, J.A. (1966) Language Loyalty in the United States. The Maintenance and Perpetuation of Non-English Mother Tongues by American Ethnic and Religious Groups. The Hague: Mouton & Co.