‘OneCas, TwoCas’: Exploring the affective dimensions of family language policy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to illustrate the fluid nature of family language policy (FLP) and how the realities of any one FLP are re-negotiated by caregivers and children in tandem. In particular, the paper will focus on the affective dimensions of FLP and will demonstrate how the same reality – in this case, a grandmother’s use of a child-centred discourse style as a means to encouraging her grandchildren to use their minority language, Scottish Gaelic – can play out differently among siblings. Using a longitudinal perspective, the paper begins by examining a recorded interaction between a grandmother, Nana,All names are pseudonyms.and her granddaughter Maggie (3;4) and will discuss how Nana’s high use of questions andlaissez-faireattitude to Maggie’s use of English contribute to the child-centred nature of the interaction, and in turn, to Maggie’s playful use of Gaelic. The paper then examines an interaction recorded five years later in which Nana interacts with Maggie’s brother Jacob (4;0) in the same affective style; however, unlike Maggie, Jacob evidences overtly negative affective stances towards his minority language. The paper concludes by discussing these observations in light of the reflexive nature of FLP in terms of emotional affect, linguistic input, and language shift.

Talking multilingual families into being: language practices and ideologies of a Brazilian-Norwegian family in Norway

“…Coetzee 2018; da Costa Cabral 2018; Hua and Wei 2016;Kendrick and Namazzi 2017), and child agency has been foregrounded (e.g. Fogle 2012; Said and Hua 2019;Smith-Christmas 2018;Wilson 2019). In fact, the central position of child agency in recent studies has a longer tradition in different disciplines (e.g.…”

Towards a parental muda for new Basque speakers: Assessing emotional factors and language ideologies

“…Recent studies on language transmission underscore the role of affective factors in language transmission. These factors range from the effectiveness of positive, child‐centred interactional strategies to promote language use (Chevalier, ; Döpke, ; Ruby, ) to how affect and bonding mediate interactional strategies (King & Logan‐Terry, ; Pavlenko, ) and the role of children in these processes (Fogle, ; Smith‐Christmas, ). Overall, the literature addressing the affective dimensions of family code choices illuminates how promoting positive attitudes does not always grant a unidirectional link to the child's language use.…”

“…Smith‐Christmas (, ) explores the dynamic nature of family language policy in language maintenance contexts by documenting how interactions are actively negotiated by both caregivers and children. In her case study of a Gaelic‐speaking grandmother and granddaughter, the author observes how, in order to maintain positive attitudes towards Gaelic, the grandmother oriented herself to interactions that leaned more towards the “English” side of the continuum than to the “Gaelic” monolingual side.…”

“…While Eman Giltza prioritizes the role of parents in transmitting positive attachments to the minority language to their children, research on language socialization underscores how children are able to defy, maintain, and even shift family language practices from a very young age (Fogle, ; Gafaranga, ; Rindstedt & Aronsson, ; Smith‐Christmas, ). In her study on transnational adoptive families, Fogle () finds that a child's negative reaction to parental language practice can ultimately influence parents to move away from the desired family language policy.…”

“…The efforts of both parents parallel the OPOL approach outlined by Eman Giltza : the mother, a low Basque‐proficient speaker, uses child‐directed speech, while the father, a proficient new speaker, speaks only in Basque with their child. In this study, conversations with both parents and observations of parent–child interactions are analysed in terms of the affective dimensions of language use (Chevalier, ; Döpke, ; King & Logan‐Terry, ; Ruby, ; Smith‐Christmas, ). I use the concept of muda (Pujolar & Gonzàlez, ) (i.e.…”