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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 296

Part of Session 130: Language in Multilingual Cities (Other abstracts in this session)

Implications of linguistic super-diversity in the urban workplace for social cohesion and language policy: a study of the City of Southampton

Authors: Mar-Molinero, Clare; Cadier, Linda; Vigers, Dick; Wilczynska, Sylvia
Submitted by: Mar-Molinero, Clare (University of Southampton, United Kingdom)

This paper will explore the impact of linguistic super-diversity in the City of Southampton (UK), and seek to highlight policy implications particularly for languages in the workplace in a non-global city context.  This will build on well-established work on transnationalism (Portes et al 1999; Vertovec , 2009), ‘place’ and translocality (Kearney 1995; Vertovec, 1999),  and urban transnationalism and glocalization (Smith, 2001). Recent theoretical debates have developed the concept of ‘super-diversity’ as a way of describing the complexity of relationships and interactions found in modern urban societies (Vertovec, 2006; Blommaert & Backus, 2011) and especially that of ‘metrolingualism’ (Otsuji & Pennycook 2010).  Our findings show that language as a tool of control and authority is undergoing negotiation, reconfiguration, hybridity and fusion.

Southampton is characterized by 21st century social mobilities typical of a port city and gateway to the UK.  Its economy of light industry, service industries, tourism and two large universities attracts a workforce from all over the world, some of whom have settled here for decades, whereas others are part of the European ‘new’ migration or the many international university students.

Our findings arise from a series of linked ethnographic studies exploring social and linguistic cohesion in Southampton. These include work with Southampton Airport to analyse the language repertoires and attitudes of its staff and customers; a case study of a smaller service sector workforce looking specifically at local restaurants: the practices of their staff (frequently migrant workers of diverse ethnic backgrounds) and as a site of public consumption; research examining linguistic super-diversity and translocality in the public sector through a case study of medical interpreters in the maternity hospital; an exploration of transnational musicians and the venues where they play; a study of the interaction of the City’s (multilingual) local football team with the wider community.  These and related studies are providing us with data on language practices in Southampton, and their relationship to existing policies from the perspective of large and small private enterprise and the public sector.  We explore the workforce of these sites, comprising a range of nationalities, ethnicities and languages, and representing microcosms of complex, interacting social hierarchies.

Our main Research Questions are:

-       How is super-diversity experienced in the language practices of these kinds of workforces and their customers, and whether it is valued and evaluated?

-       What implications does this have for planning for social cohesion within the workplace and in the City as a whole, in particular in a time when so many city residents are likely to be foreign-born?