scholarly journals Language practices of the Romani community in Serbia: Inclusion or response to the stigma?

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-221
Author(s):  
J Petrović

The results of the research presented in the article are part of the findings of the study conducted in 2014 within the project Social and Cultural Potential of the Romani Ethnic Community in Serbia. The survey was based on the stratified sample of 1,212 respondents and conducted by a team of researchers representing four universities of Serbia. One of the aims of the research was to identify the prevailing language practices of the Romani community in Serbia. The paper presents the results of the study of the attitudes of the Romani to the use of language and their language practices focusing on such issues as the assessment of the importance of the Romani language in expressing their identity, the use of the Romani language in everyday communication in various social contexts, and the estimates of the significance of this symbolic capital in education as expressed in the parents ideas and attempts to ensure that their children are educated in their mother tongue. The results of the survey proved that the Romani community’s attitudes to language and language practice are an expression of the general social position of this group, i.e. a minority ethnic group in the Serbian society. Therefore, its language practices are determined by the need to preserve the Romani community’s identity and by uneven distribution of social power between majority and minority communities. Thus, social power (or powerlessness) ensures legitimacy for the use of a specific language in certain social situations. Considering the Romani ethnic community, the use of the mother tongue is reduced to the domain of private communication with some of the Romani people renouncing the use of their native language and hiding their ethical identity. The study proves that linguistic mimicry serves as a way to avoid social stigmatization.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Hill ◽  
Sarah Jones ◽  
Lisa Williams ◽  
Jayne Morriss

Cross-situational emotionality is a well-established dimension of personality, however the ability to modulate emotional expression by social domain is also a key aspect of personality functioning. We describe a self-report measure, the Domain Emotional Expression Profile (DEEP), designed to assess 5 emotions and behaviours in relation to 5 social domains, and report 2 studies. Study 1 (N = 166 students) assessed construct validity based on predictions from attachment theory regarding distress expression, and explored other emotions and domains. Study 2 (N = 279 students) tested hypotheses based on findings from Study 1 and explored the status of friendship interactions. In Study 1, mean distress-expression comfort-seeking scores in family and partner interactions were substantially higher than in work and in a social (e.g. party) situation consistent with the attachment based prediction (p < .001). In exploratory analyses mean anger expression scores were similarly higher in family and partner relationships than in work and social situations. However distress expression was higher in partner than family interactions (p = .008) which was not the case for anger expression. Study 2 replicated these findings from Study 1, and indicated an intermediate position for friendships between family and partner, and work and social interactions. We report support for the construct validity of the DEEP and replicated evidence regarding the partitioning of anger expression across domains, together with new indications of friendship processes. This method of profiling emotional expression and behaviours across social contexts offers a way of characterising individual differences, including those associated with psychopathology.


Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Beth Rottmann ◽  
Maissam Nimer

AbstractThis paper sheds light on Syrian refugee women’s negotiation strategies in language learning classrooms and in their broader social contexts from an intersectional perspective. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus groups complemented by participatory observation in language classes, we use a post-structuralist approach to examine gendered language socialization. Our research combines an intersectional framework and a Bourdieusian perspective on symbolic capital to show how women perform gender and negotiate their roles in classrooms, within families and vis-à-vis the host society. The findings demonstrate that being a woman and a migrant presents particular challenges in learning language. At the same time, learning language allows for the re-negotiation of gender relations and power dynamics. We find that gender structures women’s access to linguistic resources and interactional opportunities as they perform language under social pressure to conform to prescribed roles as mothers, wives and virtuous, and shy women. Yet, these roles are not static: gender roles are also reconstituted in the process of language learning and gaining symbolic capital.


Author(s):  
Anna de Fina

AbstractThis article focuses on the inter-relations between storytelling and micro and macro contexts. It explores how narrative activity is shaped by and shapes in unique ways the local context of interaction in a community of practice, an Italian American card-playing club, but also illustrates how the storytelling events that take place within this local community relate to wider social processes. The analysis centers on a number of topically linked narratives to argue that these texts have a variety of functions linked to the roles and relationships negotiated by individuals within the club and to the construction of a collective identity for the community. However, the narrative activities that occur within the club also articulate aspects of the wider social context. It is argued that, in the case analyzed here, local meaning-making activities connect with macro social processes through the negotiation, within the constraints of local practices, of the position and roles of the ethnic group in the wider social space. In this sense, narrative activity can be seen as one of the many symbolic practices (Bourdieu 2002 [1977]) in which social groups engage to carry out struggles for legitimation and recognition in order to accumulate symbolic capital and greater social power.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Amr Abdullatif Yassin ◽  
Norizan Abdul Razak

The aim of this study was to investigate the types of request strategies employed by Yemeni and Malay secondary school students in English language. It also aimed at investigating the influence of social power and social distance on the students’ choice of request strategies. The data was collected through a discourse completion test (DCT) and the analysis used both Blum-Kulk’s et al. (1989) Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP), and Scollon and Scollon’s (1995) politeness system. The findings of the study showed that both groups often use non-conventionally indirect request strategies by means of query preparatory. The analysis revealed that both groups do not take into consideration the social power and the social distance between the interlocutors because they always use the same strategies with any person. The students have this sociopragmatic knowledge in their mother tongue; however, both groups are not sensitive to the social power and social distance existing between the interlocutors as they lack the sociopragmatic knowledge in the target language. Moreover, the students almost use the same strategies even though they have different cultural backgrounds, and this might be attributed to their assimilation in the school learning environment which is a positive indicator for conductive learning environment.


Author(s):  
Yvonne Tran ◽  
Elaine Blumgart ◽  
Ashley Craig

Purpose Adults who stutter (AWS) have increased risk of comorbid social anxiety about speaking in social contexts. AWS also report experiencing embarrassment in different social situations; however, research has rarely been conducted on embarrassment and its relationship to social anxiety in AWS. Method AWS ( N = 200) reported their level of embarrassment on four 10-point Likert items when speaking in four situational contexts: at home, to an individual important to them, in social groups, and at work. Participants were also assessed for sociodemographic, stuttering, and anxiety variables. Construct validity for the four embarrassment items was examined, the extent of embarrassment established in the four contexts as a function of age and sex, and the relationship of embarrassment to social anxiety evaluated. Results Evidence of acceptable construct validity and reliability is presented for the four embarrassment Likert items. Sixty-five percent of the sample experienced high levels of embarrassment when speaking in groups or at work, while 35.5% experienced high levels when speaking at home or to an individual important to them. Participants were significantly more embarrassed ( p < .01) when speaking at work or when socializing in groups. Embarrassment was lowest when speaking in the home. Younger females were significantly more embarrassed when speaking at work or when socializing in groups. Those with high embarrassment scores on all four items were more likely to have elevated social anxiety scores ( p < .001). Conclusion These preliminary results suggest that the assessment of situational embarrassment could be an important clinical measure that may help improve stuttering treatment outcomes that also target social anxiety.


Author(s):  
Sonal Kulkarni-Joshi ◽  
S. Imtiaz Hasnain

This chapter describes Northern attempts to fathom the relation between language and society in India / south Asia and Northern representations of it. We examine the nature of two such interventions: British colonial scholarship and American scholarship in the early years of Indian independence. We demonstrate that the methods and tools (including philology and ethnology) used by both these institutions to approach language and society relied on assumptions of homogeneity and unitarianism. We critique conceptual categories such as language, language family, dialect, vernacular, mother tongue, and speech community, which emerged from these interventions, and suggest that these were at variance with the indigenous social and language practices in India. In conclusion, we gauge the long-lasting impact of northern scholarship on present-day sociolinguistic research and practice in India.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1718-1740
Author(s):  
Lisa Marchinkoski

Nonverbal learning disability (NLD) is often a highly misunderstood diagnosis. Challenges with the understanding and use of language in social contexts can have significant negative impacts on individuals with this diagnosis, in that they struggle to interpret both nonverbal communication and nonliteral language. Understanding these challenges is critical in order to provide effective intervention. Assessment in these domains provides information about the areas to target for intervention. While individuals with NLD rely heavily on their auditory skills, it is imperative to provide means for them to learn social pragmatic and language skills in order to function in dynamically changing social exchanges. It is often indicated that teaching must occur only through verbal scripting. However, relying solely on this modality will limit students' abilities to effectively learn to apply targets in real life social situations. Therefore, a balanced approach that strives toward generalization is necessary. This chapter will provide information regarding assessment and intervention practices related to social interactions for individuals with NLD.


Author(s):  
Lisa Marchinkoski

Nonverbal learning disability (NLD) is often a highly misunderstood diagnosis. Challenges with the understanding and use of language in social contexts can have significant negative impacts on individuals with this diagnosis, in that they struggle to interpret both nonverbal communication and nonliteral language. Understanding these challenges is critical in order to provide effective intervention. Assessment in these domains provides information about the areas to target for intervention. While individuals with NLD rely heavily on their auditory skills, it is imperative to provide means for them to learn social pragmatic and language skills in order to function in dynamically changing social exchanges. It is often indicated that teaching must occur only through verbal scripting. However, relying solely on this modality will limit students' abilities to effectively learn to apply targets in real life social situations. Therefore, a balanced approach that strives toward generalization is necessary. This chapter will provide information regarding assessment and intervention practices related to social interactions for individuals with NLD.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da Eun Suh ◽  
Kyung-Ah Chang ◽  
Ji Un Hwang ◽  
Jung-Hye Kwon

AbstractBackground:Previous studies have indicated that people with social anxiety disorder (SAD) often experience spontaneous, recurrent images (SRI). It was assumed that Koreans with interdependent self-views may contain more features related to social contexts in their self-images than those reported in Western cultures.Aims:In the present study, we aimed to explore the prevalence and content of SRIs in individuals with SAD in Korea. Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between features of SRIs and variables of SAD.Method:Sixty-four individuals with SAD (27.00 ± 7.42 years, 64.1% female), diagnosed with SAD, completed self-report questionnaires related to social anxiety. Afterwards, a semi-structured interview was used to assess features and content of the individuals’ SRI.Results:Thirty (47%) of the participants reported experiencing SRIs in social situations. The content of the SRIs were classified under three themes: negative self-images, negative images of others, and abstract images. The distress level of SRIs was positively associated with social phobia scales (r = .385, p < .05) and physical anxiety symptoms (r = .478, p < .05). Frequency of SRIs was positively associated with avoidance scores (r = .402, p < .05).Conclusions:The results demonstrated differences in the prevalence and content of the SRIs between Western and non-Western cultures. Fewer individuals with SAD in Korea reported having SRIs, and the content of these SRIs involved people other than the self. Some features of SRIs were associated with variables of SAD.


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