Conversations about code-switching: contrasting ideologies of purity and authenticity in Basque bilinguals’ reactions to bilingual speech

Lantto, Hanna

doi:10.1515/multi-2015-0040

Cited by 10 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…about their 'learner' speech. Many new speakers of Basque feel ambivalent about their status as legitimate speakers because of a perceived lack of authenticity in their speech (Urla 2012;Ortega et al 2014;Lantto 2016). Galician 'neofalantes' , as they are called, also assign greater authenticity to native speakers (O'Rourke and Ramallo 2013).…”

Section: New Speakers Of European Minority Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theorizing the speaker and speakerness in applied linguistics

Pujolar¹,

O’Rourke²

2022

JALPP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this Forum Discussion paper, we put forward the concept of ‘speakerness’ and discuss how this notion can be of relevance to the professions associated with language teaching and learning. By ‘speakerness’ we understand the processes through which social actors get defined by their language practices. We connect this concept with the ongoing debates around so-called ‘non-native’ speakers of English, which have clear implications for ‘non-native teachers’. We revisit these debates by widening the scope; that is, by making connections with another controversy around speakerness, namely that around the so-called ‘new speakers’ of European minority languages. By aligning the two strands of debate, we argue that they respond to common trajectories of nation-building and colonial expansion articulated through the ways in which nationalist and colonialist discourses have constructed languages and deployed them as means of state and colonial rule. After tracing the historical origins of the notion of ‘native speaker’ and summarizing the debates on ‘non-native speakers’ and ‘new speakers’, we point to the ways in which a critical engagement with the concept of speakerness can throw light on other sociolinguistic areas in which the issue of speaker legitimacy is often recruited to naturalize inequalities of race, class or gender.

show abstract

Section: New Speakers Of European Minority Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theorizing the speaker and speakerness in applied linguistics

Pujolar¹,

O’Rourke²

2022

JALPP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They use Spanish discourse markers, as colloquial Basque discourse markers are not learned in Basque education; they use Spanish swear words, tags, and colloquial expressions, as the equivalent Basque resources are not easily available. Code-switching to Spanish is an important element in colloquial styles of Basque (Lantto, 2016). Spanish resources add an expressive colloquial element to the standard variety and help the speakers to convey a relaxed, more informal Basque-speaking persona.…”

Section: Analogy and Similarity As Resources In Register Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analogy and similarity as a resource in new speaker styles of Basque

Lantto

2022

International Journal of Bilingualism

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: The study examines contact between the Basque standard variety, Spanish, and Basque dialects in the speech of new speakers of Basque, euskaldun berriak, who have Spanish as their language of primary socialization and who have learned standard Basque in classroom contexts. The overall goal of the study is to determine what linguistic features new speakers draw from in the construction of a colloquial style of Basque. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study combines third-wave approaches of sociolinguistic variation with cognitive, usage-based approaches to language contact. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the city of Bilbao between 2016 and 2017. Data and Analysis: Forty-seven new speakers of Basque participated in metalinguistic interviews. Many others were observed in the larger context of the ethnographic fieldwork. The data consist of field notes and more than 30 hours of recordings. The analysis combines the metalinguistic commentary of the participants with observation of their linguistic practices. Findings/Conclusions: New speakers’ morphosyntactic and stylistic variation in constructing a colloquial style is explained through analogy and similarity, as they draw from interlingual and intralingual analogies and similarities in the process of register construction. The variation can be largely explained by the speakers’ social networks and their involvement in the Basque-speaking cultural sphere. Originality: This study examines the role of new speakers in linguistic change. The study presents a novel approach by combining analyses of common cognitive processes with an understanding of shared social language practices that are influenced by language ideologies. Significance/Implications: An integrated approach of cognitive processes and the social meaning of language change allow the examination of the interplay of social competence and human faculty. Variationist studies can benefit from studies conducted at the sites of language revitalization with complex indexical fields and rapidly changing social dynamics.

show abstract

“…They receive continuous input with the Basque canonical word order. When L2 Basque speakers code-switch, it is seen as proof of a low competence in Basque (Lantto, 2016). Due to the classroom environment and the pressure to prove their linguistic competence, they are used to keeping the languages separate and striving to speak 'pure' Basque.…”

Section: Why the Choice Of Spanish Word Order Pattern?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the L1 Basque speakers' language competence in Basque goes unquestioned by the surrounding society. The language authority granted by the native-speaker status allows the native speakers to cross the demarcation boundaries in a way that is not permitted to non-native language speakers (Smith-Christmas and Armstrong, 2014;Lantto, 2016). In this case, the more tolerant attitude towards the hybrid constructions and a richer experience with them manifests in the more frequent use of the Spanish word order patterns in their speech.…”

Section: Why the Choice Of Spanish Word Order Pattern?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of a Bilingual Grammar: Word Order Differences in Monolingual Basque vs. Bilingual Basque-Spanish Predicative Constructions

Lantto

2021

J. Lang. Contact

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article compares the monolingual Basque predicative constructions with bilingual Basque-Spanish predicative constructions. The speech data for the study were collected in the Greater Bilbao area of the Basque Country between 2005 and 2012. The results suggest that code-switching may trigger the convergence of predicative constructions and have a significant impact on the general word order patterns. The monolingual predicative constructions in the data mostly follow the canonical Basque sxv word order (~81%), but the bilingual predicative constructions diverge from this word order in that the predicative element is located in a post-verbal position, as in Spanish (~80%). The Spanish lexical elements seem to be strongly associated with the corresponding Spanish construction, the word order of which is then applied to otherwise Basque predicative constructions. I explain the predominance of the Spanish word order in the bilingual constructions by a combination of processing-related factors and sociolinguistic factors.

show abstract

Conversations about code-switching: contrasting ideologies of purity and authenticity in Basque bilinguals’ reactions to bilingual speech

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

Theorizing the speaker and speakerness in applied linguistics

Theorizing the speaker and speakerness in applied linguistics

Analogy and similarity as a resource in new speaker styles of Basque

Emergence of a Bilingual Grammar: Word Order Differences in Monolingual Basque vs. Bilingual Basque-Spanish Predicative Constructions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About