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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 416

Part of Session 129: Multilingualism and emotions in urban settings (Other abstracts in this session)

Material ethnography as a methodological approach to migrant heritage language speakers’ affective repertoires in an urban context

Authors: Karjalainen, Anu
Submitted by: Karjalainen, Anu (University of Jyväskylä, Switzerland)

In recent years material ethnography has been increasingly applied in multilingualism research to study the affective dimensions of language users’ linguistic repertoires (cf. Pahl & Pollard 2010, Pahl 2004). This contribution focuses on methodological aspects of studying multilingualism, emotions (e.g. Dewaele 2010, Pavlenko 2005) and the identity performance in urban settings. Drawing on examples of empirical data collected in the context of adult Finnish heritage speakers in the Seattle metropolitan area, I will argue that understanding language as a set of multimodal resources (Bezemer & Kress 2008) is a key in analyzing the role of emotions in the heritage speakers’ linguistic repertoires.

In my presentation I rely on a methodological approach that conceptualizes material objects as representations of language related emotions, exemplified by multilingual 2^nd and 3^rd generation Finnish-Americans that possess minimal Finnish language skills. Rather than actually learning the language, they utilize material objects (e.g. music notebooks, photo albums, cookbooks) to perform their heritage identity as well as to represent their affection and desire to the Finnish language in various visible ways. Thus, despite their lack of Finnish skills, material objects provide the Finnish-Americans a strong emotional connection to their roots and a possibility to relive trans-generational memories and experiences related to their heritage language. I will present result of my studies of the informants’ narratives about the objects using ethnographical and language biographical (Pavlenko 2007) tools. The key finding of this contribution is to take an opposing perspective to the negative discourses that often circle around the migration related language loss. The empirical results point out that even though linguistic skills might not move from generation to generation in a desired form, the language may still continue being important for its new users in the level of emotions.

This study is part of the Peripheral Multilingualism project funded by the Finnish Academy (www.peripheralmultilingualism.fi).

Bezemer, J. & Kress, G. 2008. Writing multimodal texts: A social semiotic account of designs for learning. Written Communication. Special Issue on Writing and New Media 25(2): 166-195.

Dewaele, J. –M. 2010. Emotions in multiple languages. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

Pahl, K. 2004. Narratives, artifacts and cultural identities: An ethnographic study of communicative practices in homes. Linguistics and Education 15, 339-358.

Pahl, K. & Pollard, A. 2010. The case of the disappearing object: narratives and artefacts in homes and a museum exhibition from Pakistani heritage families in South Yorkshire. Museum and Society 8(1), 1-17.

Pavlenko, A. 2007. Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics 28 (2), 161-188.

Pavlenko, A. 2005. Emotions and multilingualism. Cambridge: Cambrigde University Press.