Introducing Multilingualism A social approach JEAN-JACQUES WEBER KRISTINE HORNER 2 PoutesgeCHAPTER 1 Introduction One may as well begin with Blommaes’s (2010: 102) defision of rmletingulisn Malaingualism should not be tena collection of"anguags dat 2 speaker contol, but eather a2 complex of spec smo enue, tome of which belong tos conveaconlly defined language, whe cert, telong ro another language’ The esures ae concrete aces langue varies eters gees modalities such as wing ~ ways of using {ngs in parlor communiaie stings and sphere of ify nelaing the ideas people have abou such ways of wing, hi language ieologes ‘The following cates (especially caper 3) will ake clear why Bomnset ser cae quotes with the erm language He wget thar we ll have lige ‘numberof lings xourer at ou apoel ade docs ot ely make i. Terence whether they belong o only ome ‘conventionally defined “enguap”™ corset of them Hence mallingualinm sa mae of degree 2 continuum, nd since weal we feet Linguistic varie, egies, syle, genes snd cents, we at al to ageatero esr degree mulling th this book, we swlaay thatthe vases, that we tse consti ut linguist repre. Moreover, then repertoire not Sate but dynamism he rrouce i tha change ove te 'A he end ofthe abore quotation, Blommaet ato mentions ‘language ‘ideologies Le. our eli about what a anguage [nd what mung ‘how language works, how iis we. Ths book takes up Blomus pint bout the encaliry of language ideologies and offers a langge ideologies "spproach othe ry of mlelingunliom. The concep of langage iol ‘be fly explained inthe following chaps. or instanes, we will pe hat sexing “Language ab well-defined, bounded ents the product of am ‘deological proces. hast ook issituated within here amework which prbless aes even such asicconep as ‘anguage’ As we wil sein del throughout the fllowing chapters procnts an alerotve view of mlilingulom not ‘terms of angunge but in tems of inguin resources and pert, nd Advocates ths asa more succesfl way of capeuring wha often am evend itractabl inguin ely takes 2 broad definition af mllingualien verbal repro consting of more than ane variety (whether language oe dislec. Hence also, es suchas bilinguals wiingalism, ete are subsured under he erm ‘mulingualim’ we avo such terms a8 bectae they are based on he problema des ha language ‘fale and can be counted. In ft, however, the question of which ears tn people's sepertoizes count language’ and witch donot a soc palt ‘athr that linguistic one ~as we explain moce flyin chapecr 3. Bem ‘mualinguaisn’ felis a rather peoblemacc teem Because of hs undedy ing assumption of lnguage a bounded eaiy which s countable. However, ther terme which have been proposed ae not unproblematic: they to, ‘ould be undentood a being based onthe sare srumpion of they are aot ge) widely accep. The former include puringualm (Counc of Earepe 2005), poyingal’(Jrgeaes 2008), erlingualisn? (Widdowson 2010) ‘ocevenmuloplriingualsn (Ehehat 2010), whale the lave inleds Oca {nd Peanyeook’s 2010) ‘merolingulsn, which briefly discussed i hap ter 3 Wl ll here term fer othe tame comple linc phenomena, tre wil continu this Book to ue the mone widely seeped tery namely Pliage, FOR DISCUSSION: Describing and comparing linguistic eperoires A ropetoie ithe set flings sources wheter “languages ole") Sich are at ap individuals disposal Can you dsc as fall as possible Your own Linguistic repetoe: what variety does consist i? when, where fd with whom do you use these vacetes? how does you ange of ling resources compare with hos of your assmats? A socal approach to mulilinglism “Tie book can be used for any introductory couse in Mlingulisn,Soco- linguists, Applied Linguistics o Linguistic Antcopoogy ean ao be wed focindependene tay = though you wl fin it ep to cuss che aces swith other people "The book provides am introduction to the key social usin the sy of rulings Atte seme, we ab hope to change the way many eo- Pe thiak about thse topes. We question depy held assumptions about ka ‘guage and mulelingulism (whac sociolingusts and linguist anthopologs fefer was ou language Wolo, and encourage readers chink eriely ‘Shout iporeant roi and edeetonl sue uch a he lowing 1+ How do languages es’ int each oter eather than Being les defied ens), and what implications does this have for our understanding of trae langage i and what mings? + Twhac sense can a language be sid ro be endangered, and what ae te ‘efits aod the pial attempting to cvelae“+ Whit isthe best way of onzaizing 2 multingual system of educason vhich ie erly open to gi diversity? 4+ What ae the advantages and dindvantges of mother tongue education and hentage language education? ‘+ How ean we criaclyanlye muilingual signs, media cepretetatons of rmullingunism and oficial policy discourses, and how can we ent the (ofen restrictive} assimpcions and ideologies undedying these dicores snd represents? By tackling these and many other questions, we wlimatly sim at reening the wadionslpaadigm by normalizing mulngulism, Ln other words, we See mullingvalism athe than monolingual a5 the nal sae of fas. ‘Aer all far more people inthe world ace mufiingal rather than mono. lingual and if we apply the above defintson of mlelingulm interme of fexources and rpetore then hard wo apie that tere are some pple \etin be wold wo are ata lent to some extent manga ‘We ad we fer porns herein eatin o the social sppecach to ml tingatis hat we ae taking. Fis, we hk ha hee eed vo unpack tnd move beyond some of the case and often Lnitedconeps of sutras ‘Sociolinguistics. To ie jst one example inthis ook we move away fromthe teaditonaleoezp of iglosia,whict has ben wed to dcribe 3 commuaty where one ‘dale or Tangupe eg Standard German in Germanspeaing Stactand) isthe fama ot high variety wedi edueaton and govern, ‘nee he eter one (Swiss Geman) ithe informal or ow” vary ued in reryday tlk: Diloess presoppoes a stable Language sation sere pings ean be comparimenlized and in parca, where 3 pat epaaton fa be rade between high and slow vary However, the high wera ee istoeion has bern ecized, and ihas ben poited out hat the Low vasety “am enjoy mote resigethan the igh one (as she cas in Switeand~seethe Sitouion ofthe Swe ngage station inchapter 4). Moreover, ich a inary Dpponcon fequenty spies and hence at capeare the fll complet of ‘Belg ely, pelt ou ltemodern age of loblzaton and ger ‘vest (Vertovee 2007; sesso section blow on “Coping with change’ ‘Secondly thisbook desl with he oi uc the dy of langue, not the cognitive oes Thus for insane ceades wl nd engin this book bout the question of whether mulling people have a nied Ings ce tence ors comparmentalaed one (wth Knowledge ofeach of ho anges ‘ove separately i he bain), We might js add here shat, a with mot sch ‘tes, the anewer poly hes sornebere nthe rad eae hat ul ‘gang competence eee wholly uted nc whelly separate Rees ingested ining ou more about the copie aspects of tuliingli are tefeted 0 Chin and Wizgleewort (2007 or Akar and Here (2008). A note on terminology OF couse, what we ve sai above about euch concep at angusge’ end “mullingalisn doesnot mean that we cannot ue these teeny Ton.le simply means that, inthe case of languages’, we ned to be aware hat we ae desing with soi poicaly aber than ngusically defined wis. Apart feom ‘language, we ao somesnes usin his book othe tex which te 5 ‘han optimal sch afr instance migrant children oe stants. The prab- lem with this term that perpeantes an wr a hem iin, which in ‘ac neds tobe overcome. What parla worrying ithe only erin thildren or student tend to be perceived and extegorzed 3b gran. For instance, n 2 French schoo, «child with one French and one Began patent wil probably nt be peeved as migea whereas acid with one Fetch {nd one Nigerian pate most likly wl bee Moreover, the later child maybe Perceived at 3 migrant’ eventhough she or he olde French cizenship snd tear bon in Pance and hence never migrated) Aas the cue with ll fore of ‘octal estgorzation, the Ibe migrant eat east 0 some extent 2 mater of perception and thu socalyconsucted ‘Many other ems (eg ‘aonstandaed’ also have negative consoratins (non-standard varices mph be loked upon as inferot to standard vate tes However, inl of thee caes, feat think of (widely accepted) tltermatve tre which aoid the negative connotations Thur, frien, ‘emaculac verte? doc ot fae ch Beer than ‘anestadard vat inthis respece ‘Another problematic dsinction i the one Berween minoty and aj ity groups aswell as inoriry and majority languages. Note, fst of al at ‘opmrsed minories can sometimes be mney the majocty Bren ‘ack people im apurtheid South Alia. Note also that one and the same Lx ‘pgs can be the major language in on social context fg Spanish in Spi anda minocry language manoher eg Spanshin che US) Flowing Pavenko Sind Blackledge (20044) ehe tems "minosty” and msjny are therfore wed inthis bok "nor to daw atenton fo numerical ie of particle groups, fut to elertostuatonal dilferences in power right, and prvlges Coping with change “The main coon why sciolingiis needs to change and adap it ote on pest thatthe whe world sround ws changing stam ever ater ete We ine in he age of glotlration and late moderiy ad these changes alles people all over the world, As Blommsect (201013) putt “The term globalization is most commonly used as shorthand for he ite ‘ified flows of expt, goods, people, images and course aound te lobe deven by echnaogial innovations mainly the Geldof mea and |Blormation ad eormunation wchnolgy, and reslang new patens of slobal actvsy, community onganastion and cule (Call 196 ‘ppadual 1996) For resons of space, we jst include here few comments on sled spect of globalisation fom the perspective of what aresomeries conden ‘he'eenre! countries, pecially Earope and the USA.In Europ, the combined process of globalisation and Europeans tion have shied boundaries t's certnin degree from nation sate boundaries (ez: Dutch vs other) to European Union boundaries (EU cient voter) “Moreover, there has Been a repeated redeintion ofthe eategory of aon EU oer a the boundaries of the EU were progresivelyeedenwn. The elt 1 seveal layers of otherness ~ of what Delany and Rumford (2008: 188) refer to a5 ‘the inerpenetation of ini ecerior,slf and other — which ome many? people may fa inereasngy efi olive ith Indeds hey Find themselves ng on 2 beterogeneous and muliingual cular whieh at toe with both the ofl andthe atonal cutare of monolingual ed ‘monoculturalisn Inthe United Sates, to, both the mainaream group and te imaigant minority groups could be said to potentially experience what Pores and Rambaue (2001) eer to a8"resctive ethnicity”. Poees and Rumba the term primarily co ele fora reaction of esince onthe pat of min rion groups agsns what i perceived a an oppeenive and dine tory maestecam, butt applies equally tothe majorty prow they, 00, may experience social conditions as icteasingly hose ad aieatng. Ther ‘threfore an urgent need to find a way ou of the viious cule of eeaeive ‘thing engendered by xenophobic atiudes and weolgis “Tragically, the ideologies that hold away among broad segments of the white males letra yield exactly the oppose resus, mpc ing the fare of today's inmigrne second generation and perpen {ng the condition af he exiting minority undereles.Rerle of thi say point tothe urgent need to elighten the domainare majry a 0 were 4 eal seiner ein the long run apd thus bud» coneeency for ah alternative se of policies. The future ofthe rnetopolian ares were immigrants concentate and of American soit a4 whole may wel ang inthe balance (Pores and Rumbase 2001-256) Many nintseam group members find the changes wrought hy sobtization ‘ncreasingly hard wo cope with, Salman Rushdie (2003: 416-17] writes about JIM. Costar’ vel Wang fr te Barbarians i the following way ‘hose who pend thei time on guard wating forthe barbarians to arr, {nthe end don' need any barbarians come they themselves bce the barbarian whovecosng they so Kaed In our late modern word its no longs jst a question of Beng on guid spsne the “arbariane ut of how to deal wth tei increasingly ible nd Sidley presence nour midst. The cognitive and behavioural pater hee ter remain the ue we outclve atm dango of becoming the barbarians nose presence we’ aes afaid f