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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 691

Part of Session 181: Folk linguistics and society (Other abstracts in this session)

Journeys of belonging: Canadian youth navigating Official discourses in urban spaces and hyper-diverse times

Authors: Lamoureux, Sylvie Anna (1); Byrd Clark, Julie (2)
Submitted by: Lamoureux, Sylvie Anna (Université d'Ottawa, Canada)

Canada represents a complex linguistic landscape that its citizens must navigate daily.  Whether negotiating the urban realities of multilingualism within a federal official languages framework, or negotiating official languages in a minority context within a monolingual provincial framework, research has documented the linguistic awareness of its bilingual citizens (Haque 2005; Heller, 1999; Heller & Labrie, 2003; Labrie, 2010; Labrie & Forlot, 1999).

This paper will explore non-linguists’ beliefs and evaluations of language in a context of both official bilingualism and the multilingualism of metropoles.  Drawing on discursive data collected from 4 studies on the linguistic identity/ies of Canadian youth, we explore how their notions of francité, italianità (Giampapa, 2012), bilingualism and multilingualism are negotiated and constructed through language use. Participants’ discourses reveal the impact of the evaluation of language varieties by others (monolingual speakers or speakers in a majority context) on their own perceptions of their language practices (Niedzielski & Preston, 1999) and their identity construction. We will present participants’ perceptions of the relationship between characteristics of language and speaker legitimacy as well as their classifications of languages, linguistic varieties and accents in their journeys to belong. Participant discourses reveal a heightened sense of language awareness as they cross spaces (discursive and geopolitical), moving within, into or out of “the city” for the purposes of postsecondary education.

The data presented were collected through four different critical ethnographic studies of multilingual university students from Central and Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Two studies focused on the engagement in French and linguistic identities of future teachers of FSL.  The other two studies looked at the transition to university and student experience of graduates of a French first-language secondary school, with a focus on their academic and social integration.

References

Giampapa, F. (2012). Authenticity, legitimacy and power: Critical ethnography and identity politics, in S.F. Gardner and M. Martin-Jones (Eds.), Multilingualism, discourse and ethnography, (pp. 95-110), Routledge.

Haque, E. (2005). Multiculturalism within a bilingual framework: language and the racial ordering of difference and belonging in Canada. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,  Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.

Heller, M. (2006). Linguistic minorities and modernity: a sociolinguistic ethnography (2^nd edition). London: Continuum.

Heller, M. & Labrie, N. (Eds.) (2003). Discours et identités : la francité canadienne entre modernité et mondialisation. Cortil-Wodon : Éditions modulaires européennes.

Labrie, Normand (2010), « La construction identitaire en milieu francophone à l'épreuve de l'analyse du discours », in N. Bélanger, et al. (Eds.), Produire et reproduire la francophonie en la nommant (p21-34), Sudbury: Prise de Parole..

Labrie, N. & Forlot, G. (1999). L’enjeu de la langue en Ontario français. Sudbury: Prise de parole.

Niedzielski, N.A. &  Preston, D.R.(1999) Folk Linguistics. Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 122, Berlin Mouton de Gruyter.