4. Researching Chinese speakers’ language ideologies

ABSTRACT Objectives: This study describes the performance of the Multilingual Naming Test (MINT) by Chinese American older adults who are monolingual Chinese speakers. An attempt was also made to identify items that could introduce bias and warrant attention in future investigation. Methods: The MINT was administered to 67 monolingual Chinese older adults as part of the standard dementia evaluation at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), New York, USA. A diagnosis of normal cognition (n = 38), mild cognitive impairment (n = 12), and dementia (n = 17) was assigned to all participants at clinical consensus conferences using criterion sheets developed at the ADRC at ISMMS. Results: MINT scores were negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with education, showing sensitivity to demographic factors. One item, butterfly, showed no variations in responses across diagnostic groups. Inclusion of responses from different regions of China changed the answers from “incorrect” to “correct” on 20 items. The last five items, porthole, anvil, mortar, pestle, and axle, yielded a high nonresponse rate, with more than 70% of participants responding with “I don’t know.” Four items, funnel, witch, seesaw, and wig, were not ordered with respect to item difficulty in the Chinese language. Two items, gauge and witch, were identified as culturally biased for the monolingual group. Conclusions: Our study highlights the cultural and linguistic differences that might influence the test performance. Future studies are needed to revise the MINT using more universally recognized items of similar word frequency across different cultural and linguistic groups.

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Family multilingualism from a southern perspective: Language ideologies and practices of Brazilian parents in Norway

Multilingua ◽

10.1515/multi-2019-0080 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Rafael Lomeu Gomes

Keyword(s):

Social Class ◽

Knowledge Production ◽

Language Ideologies ◽

Global South ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Interview Data ◽

Language Practices ◽

Epistemic Justice ◽

Intercultural Encounters ◽

Race Ethnicity

AbstractThis article derives from a three-year ethnographic project carried out in Norway focusing on language practices of Brazilian families raising their children multilingually. Analyses of interview data with two Brazilian parents demonstrate the relevance of examining intersectionally the participants’ orientation to categorisations such as social class, gender, and race/ethnicity. Additionally, I explore how parents make sense of their transnational, multilingual experiences, and the extent to which these experiences inform the language-related decisions they make in the home. Advancing family multilingualism research in a novel direction, I employ a southern perspective as an analytical position that: (i) assumes the situatedness of knowledge production; (ii) aims at increasing social and epistemic justice; (iii) opposes the dominance of Western-centric epistemologies; and (iv) sees the global South as a political location, not necessarily geographic, but with many overlaps. Finally, I draw on the notions of intercultural translation and equivocation to discuss the intercultural encounters parents reported. The overarching argument of this article is that forging a southern perspective from which to analyse parental language practices and beliefs offers a theoretical framework that can better address the issues engendered by parents engaged in South–North transnational, multilingual practices.

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“English is the best way to communicate” - South African Indian students’ blind spot towards the relevance of Zulu

Sociolinguistica - International Yearbook of European Sociolinguistics / Internationales Jahrbuch für europäische Soziolinguistik ◽

10.1515/soci-2020-0010 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 155-171

Author(s):

Sana Jeewa ◽

Stephanie Rudwick

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

South African ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Language Ideologies ◽

Policy Decision ◽

Blind Spot ◽

Language Management ◽

Kwazulu Natal ◽

The Status ◽

Indian Students

AbstractThe South African University of KwaZulu-Natal has developed an ambitious language policy aiming “to achieve for isiZulu the institutional and academic status of English” (UKZN LP 2006/2014). Part of this ambition is a mandatory Zulu language module that all undergraduate students have to pass if they cannot prove knowledge of the language. In this article, we examine attitudes of South African Indian students towards this compulsory module against the strained history and relationship between Zulu and Indian people in the province. Situated within the approach of Language Management Theory (LMT), our focus is on students as micro level actors who are affected by a macro level policy decision. Methodologically combining quantitative and qualitative tools, we attempt to find answers to the following broad question: What attitudes do South African Indian students have towards Zulu more generally and the UKZN module more specifically? The empirical findings show that students’ motivations to learn Zulu are more instrumental than integrative as the primary goal is to ‘pass’ the module. South African Indian students have developed a blind spot for the prevalence and significance of Zulu in the country which impacts negatively on the general attitudes towards the language more general and the module more specifically. Language ideologies that elevate the status of English in the country further hamper the success of Zulu language learning.

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Transfer and unlearning of topic prominence by Chinese learners of English

IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching ◽

10.1515/iral-2018-0205 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Hui Chang ◽

Lilong Xu

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Universal Grammar ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

L1 Transfer ◽

Chinese Speakers ◽

English Only ◽

Cognitive States ◽

Chinese Learners ◽

Topic Constructions ◽

Chinese Learners Of English

Abstract Chinese allows both gapped and gapless topic constructions without their usage being restricted to specific contexts, while English only allows gapped topic constructions which are used in certain contexts. In other words, Chinese uses ‘topic prominence’, whereas English does not. The contrast between English and Chinese topic constructions poses a learnability problem for Chinese learners of English. This paper uses an empirical study investigating first language (L1) transfer in the case of Chinese learners of English and the extent to which they are able to unlearn topic prominence as they progress in second language (L2) English. Results of an acceptability judgment test indicate that Chinese learners of English initially transfer Chinese topic prominence into their English, then gradually unlearn Chinese topic prominence as their English proficiency improves, and finally unlearn Chinese topic prominence successfully. The results support the Full Transfer Theory (Schwartz, Bonnie & Rex Sprouse. 1996. L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research 12. 40–72) and the Variational Learning Model (Yang, Charles. 2004. Universal Grammar, statistics or both? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8. 451–456), but contradict the proposal that the topic prominence can never be transferred but may be unlearned from the beginning in Chinese speakers’ acquisition of English (Zheng, Chao. 2001. Nominal Constructions Beyond IP and Their Initial Restructuring in L2 Acquisition. Guangzhou: Guangdong University of Foreign Studies Ph.D. dissertation). In addition, the type of topic constructions that is used and whether or not a comma is added after the topic have an effect on learners’ transfer and unlearning of topic prominence. It is proposed that the specification of Agr(eement) and T(ense) as well as the presence of expletive subjects in English input can trigger the unlearning of topic prominence for Chinese learners of English.

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Language Ideologies and Transnational Migration: A Study of Cape Verdeans in Galicia

Languages ◽

10.3390/languages6020099 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 99

Author(s):

Nicola Bermingham

Keyword(s):

Language Ideologies ◽

Linguistic Diversity ◽

Transnational Migration ◽

Peripheral Region ◽

Cape Verde ◽

Minority Languages ◽

Cape Verdean ◽

Language Identity ◽

Language Varieties ◽

Symbolic Resource

Changes to the global infrastructure have contributed to the growing (linguistic) diversity of large metropolises. However, there have been calls from scholars to explore “emerging superdiversity” (DePalma and Pérez-Caramés 2018) in peripheral regions in order to fully understand the complexities and nuances of the sociolinguistics of globalisation (Wang et al. 2014; Pietikäinen et al. 2016). This article, therefore, explores language ideologies among a purposive sample of five young adults of Cape Verdean origin living in the peripheral region of Galicia, Spain, and draws on interview data to examine the ways in which multilingual migrants engage with the language varieties in their linguistic repertoire. In studying immigration from a former African colony to a bilingual European context, we can see how language ideologies from the migrant community are reflected in local ones. The sociolinguistic dynamics of Cape Verde and Galicia share many similarities: both contexts are officially bilingual (Galician and Spanish in Galicia, Kriolu and Portuguese in Cape Verde), and questions regarding the hierarchisation of languages remain pertinent in both cases. The ideologies about the value and prestige of (minority) languages that Cape Verdean migrants arrive with are thus accommodated by local linguistic ideologies in Galicia, a region which has a history of linguistic minoritisation. This has important implications for the ways in which language, as a symbolic resource, is mobilised by migrants in contexts of transnational migration. The findings of this study show how migrants are key actors in (re)shaping the linguistic dynamics of their host society and how, through their practices and discourses, they challenge long-standing assumptions about language, identity and linguistic legitimacy, and call into question ethno-linguistic boundaries.

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An Innovative Mental Health Model for Treating Culturally Diverse Older Adults

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.306 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 93-93

Author(s):

Tobi Abramson ◽

Jacquelin Berman ◽

Madison Gates

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Older Adults ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Older Adult ◽

Culturally Diverse ◽

Spanish Speakers ◽

English Speakers ◽

Chinese Speakers

Abstract The mental health needs of older adults are largely unmet, a finding even more prevalent within culturally diverse older adult populations. Added to this is the high rate of social isolation. Research has indicated increased connection to mental health services when services are embedded within physical health care settings. For those attending community centers, 85% indicate that they are socially isolated, 68% indicate they are lonely, and 53% have a mental health need (compared to 20% nationally). The need for innovative programming is evident. When examining the needs of diverse older adults, it is increasingly important that new and innovative approaches address social isolation, loneliness, and mental health problems experienced by this cohort. Utilizing this knowledge an innovative model of embedding and integrating mental health services, provided by bilingual and bicultural clinicians, into congregate sites (older adult centers) was implemented. Those that participated were mainly female (72.1%), 68.5% English-speaking, 14.5% Spanish-speaking, 13.6% Chinese-speaking and 3.4% other. Spanish-speakers had more depression than English-speakers and both had more depression than Chinese-speakers. English and Spanish-speakers reported more social isolation and Chinese-speakers compared were more likely to participate in engagement. Chinese-speakers were less likely to be in clinical services with a positive screen compared to English-speakers. Overall, 75% engaged in treatment; 37.3% and 41% showed a 3-month improvement of depression and anxiety, respectively. This presentation focuses on the innovative components of this model, how to engage diverse older adults to utilize treatment, steps needed for replication, and policy implications around integrated mental health treatment.

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Indigenization in a downgraded continuum: Ideologies behind phonetic variation in Namibian Afrikaans

International Journal of the Sociology of Language ◽

10.1515/ijsl-2020-2109 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Gerald Stell

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Power Relations ◽

African Country ◽

Language Ideologies ◽

Ethnically Diverse ◽

Official Language ◽

Phonetic Variation ◽

Variation Patterns ◽

Standard Models

AbstractThis study generally looks at indigenization in languages historically introduced and promoted by colonial regimes. The case study that it presents involves Namibia, a Subsaharan African country formerly administered by South Africa, where Afrikaans was the dominant official language before being replaced by English upon independence. Afrikaans in Namibia still functions as an informal urban lingua franca while being spoken as a native language by substantial White and Coloured minorities. To what extent does the downranking of Afrikaans in Namibia co-occur with divergence from standard models historically located in South Africa? To answer this question, the study identifies variation patterns in Namibian Afrikaans phonetic data elicited from ethnically diverse young urban informants and links these patterns with perceptions and language ideologies. The phonetic data reveal divergence between Whites and Non-Whites and some convergence among Black L2 Afrikaans-speakers with Coloured varieties, while suggesting that a distinctive Black variety is emerging. The observed trends generally reflect perceived ethnoracial distinctions and segregation. They must be read against the background of shifting inter-group power relations and sociolinguistic prestige norms in independent Namibia, as well as of emergent ethnically inclusive Black urban identities.

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