Transnational Sri Lankan Sinhalese Family Language Policy: Challenges and Contradictions at Play in Two Families in the U.S.

Autor/in	Fuentes, Ronald
Titel	Transnational Sri Lankan Sinhalese Family Language Policy: Challenges and Contradictions at Play in Two Families in the U.S.
Quelle	In: Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 39 (2020) 4, S.475-498 (24 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0167-8507
DOI	10.1515/multi-2019-0077
Schlagwörter	Language Usage; Family Relationship; Rural Areas; Indo European Languages; Ethnography; Language Attitudes; Social Capital; Socioeconomic Status; Bilingualism; Futures (of Society); Native Language; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Social Status; Self Concept; Mobility; Foreign Countries; Decision Making; Citizenship; Global Approach; Family Characteristics; Language Skill Attrition; Language Maintenance; Foreign Nationals; Sri Lanka; United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sprachgebrauch; Rural area; Ländlicher Raum; Indoeuropäisch; Ethnografie; Sprachverhalten; Sozialkapital; Socio-economic status; Sozioökonomischer Status; Bilingualismus; Future; Society; Zukunft; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Sozialer Status; Selbstkonzept; Mobilität; Mobilitätsförderung; Ausland; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; Staatsbürgerschaft; Globales Denken; Sprachverfall; Sprachpflege; Ausländer; Ausländerin; Ceylon; USA
Abstract	This study examines how the transnational lives of two Sinhalese-speaking Sri Lankan families in the rural U.S. influenced family language policy (FLP) and how they (re)positioned themselves in response to their transnational lives. Employing an ethnographic design, including interviews and observations, this study explores the families' language ideologies and management strategies and the factors that shaped their policies. Both families held similar language ideologies but contrasting management strategies that were informed by a differing socioeconomic status and eventual home country return, and which in turn led to different ways of FLP formation and implementation. FLPs were aimed at accruing capital and social prestige to facilitate the navigation of spaces in family members' present and (imagined) future lives in Sri Lanka and the U.S., and possibly beyond; yet, these same policies created a sense of ambivalence in regards to transnationals' cultural and linguistic identities and attachments. The findings show the competing and contradictory forces at play in transnational bilingual children's heritage language development. This study draws attention to how transnationals navigate global citizenry and how they make decisions about language as they reimagine and refashion their membership into multiple communities in an interconnected world. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01