The majority of bilingual speech research has focused on simultaneous bilinguals. Yet, in immigrant communities, children are often initially exposed to their heritage language (L1) before becoming gradually immersed in the host country’s language (L2) when they start full-time education. This is typically referred to as sequential bilingualism. These children are often exposed to differing amounts of the L1 and L2, as well as accented variants. To date, little is known about the developmental trajectories of such children. This thesis investigates the influence of this highly variable language environment on the acquisition of L2 phonemes. Specifically this thesis focuses on Sylheti-English speaking children from the London-Bengali community. To provide a baseline of the children’s speech environment, Study 1 investigated the speech production of Sylheti (L1) and English (L2) by adult speakers from the London-Bengali community. The results show differences in production of both the L1 and L2 depending on the speaker’s language background. Studies 2 and 3 tracked the acquisition of English vowel and plosive contrasts, both perception and production, by Sylheti-English bilingual children and their monolingual peers. Using a longitudinal design, children were tested at two time points: after seven months of English language experience in nursery (Time 1) and approximately one year later, when the children were in the first year of Primary school (Time 2). At Time 1 the bilingual children displayed difficulties with phonemic contrasts that do not exist in Sylheti. However, by Time 2, the bilingual children had rapidly changed to match that of their monolingual peers. Studies 4 and 5 explored the influence of language exposure and caregiver speech on the bilingual children’s English phoneme acquisition. The results suggest that sequential bilingual children are particularly sensitive to the amount of language exposure to each language as well as fine-grained phonetic differences in caregiver speech.

This thesis examines the inter-relationship between face, face work, and cultural values, as they apply to strategic politeness in Korean institutional settings, specifically university contexts. This study also seeks to explore issues of methodology for culture-specific politeness research, given that previous researchers either neglected cultural values, which operate sometimes outside of linguistic presentations, or used methods that prevented them from noticing the role of cultural values, which can function as another means of face redress in the construction of culture-specific politeness. The interactional aspects of language use demonstrate that the socio-pragmatics of cultural values/norms are essential elements in the construction of strategic politeness. However, previous researchers on politeness have never really looked into how culture-specific frameworks can function as both methodological and theoretical tools in the investigation of culture-specific politeness. Most politeness researchers have been mainly concerned with linguistic systems, and have paid less attention to cultural values that directly influence polite linguistic behavior. In this study, a Confucian framework was employed to explore both the linguistic forms and cultural values that are the core elements of Korean linguistic politeness. Korean politeness shows that a Confucian frame is needed as an interactional supplement to politeness research, because the cultural frame that Korean speakers use plays a decisive role in their choice of politeness forms. A Confucian framework allows analysis of how socio-cultural values interact with culture-specific cognitive dimensions. The intent in using a Confucian framework is to analyze how Confucian values can be realized through culture-specific discursive modes. Because Brown and Levinson's R variable cannot explain value oriented linguistic behavior, a Confucian cultural framework is required to interpret culture-specific linguistic behavior. In Korean contexts, social interaction would be impossible without attending to both Confucian values and sociological variables (power, distance, familiarity, gender etc.) in the negotiation of relational work. In order for a Confucian framework to become a functional and comprehensive tool, the frameworks of many researchers have also been integrated (e.g. Pan's use of a spoken discourse approach to find situationspecific usages, Locher's marked politeness, and Holmes' locally specific discursive approach) to analyze micro-level interactions that are regulated by the speaker's intentional control of cultural knowledge. An integrated Confucian framework is then used to examine how politeness is manifested in Korean institutional contexts where power and distance variables are relatively great. Korean institutional face is grounded in the intentions of participants rather than regulated by the existent social conventions and the problems this causes for Matsumo and Ide's culture-specific discernment view is also analyzed. The linguistic practices that are examined concentrate on marked linguistic behaviors such as non-conventional greetings and closings, and under polite/over polite linguistic forms. The conclusion reached is that participants employ marked linguistic forms when their goals deviate from the existent situational norms. These marked forms reveal intention, because marked linguistic forms are all inconsistent with social conventions. Most of the Korean marked forms in this study utilize Confucian values that exploit honorific usage. In Korean, culturally shared thinking heavily influences the way Korean speakers use politeness. Cultural values are functional and as such can be used pragmatically to be either face threatening or face enhancing. Moreover, when linguistic forms are not sufficient, cultural values play a critical role in acting as a verbal redress mechanism. This is particularly effective when negotiating a difficult request because cultural values are often able to provide a link between linguistic presentation and social practice. A movement away from studies of linguistic presentation alone will help researchers better understand the multi-functional aspects of linguistic politeness. Cultural knowledge can be used to influence the exercise of informal power in Korean contexts. The implications of the findings of this study reach far beyond the traditional bounds of linguistic politeness, and thus the case for a move towards the study of culture-specific values in cross-cultural or inter-cultural politeness research is clear. Korean politeness cannot be interpreted without understanding Confucian values because Confucianism is the 'common sense' that permeates all kinds of Korean social interactions.

Through a comparison between Catalan and Basque nationalism, this thesis describes two patterns of nationalism: inclusive and exclusive, cohesive and fragmented. These are related to the core values of national identity chosen by nationalist elites. However, this choice cannot be arbitrary, but is based on pre-existing cultural material. As language is the key value of most European nationalisms, the degree of language maintenance has a direct influence on the patterns of nationalist mobilization. These two patterns are tested against the different attitudes towards immigrants: early Basque nationalism was isolationist and exclusive, early Catalan nationalism was more integrationist and inclusive. However, during Francoism, Basque nationalism changed its focus from race/religion to language and action, although nationalists never agreed on which one of these was crucial. The result was a more inclusive form of nationalism. Finally, the thesis relates the two models to the rise and spread of political violence. It is argued that ideological infighting and fragmented constituencies are potentially more conducive to violent forms of nationalism. In turn, such ideological frictions are related to cultural discontinuities, including partial assimilation into the dominant culture. However, for this violent potential to fully emerge, there must intervene a second variable, namely state repression. It is argued that the effects of state repression have been different in the two cases: in Catalonia, it encouraged people to mobilize around language and related cultural endeavours; in the Basque Country it provided a powerful catalyst for further violent confrontation and for the 'militarization' of nationalism.

No description available.

With the onset of globalisation has come mass mobility of people which has led to an increase in individuals living outside their home communities and an increase in bilingual marriages. This investigation looks into the negotiation of languages and identities within such bilingual marriages. In this study, using a variety of sources of data, including a chronological approach, I sketch a picture of what it means to be a member of a bilingual family with the aim of better understanding the issues these families face. I approach this by listening to what nine individuals in Turkish-English bilingual marriages say about language use in their families, seeing which issues arise and observing what the individuals are saying about these issues. Their stories were collected through interviews and field-notes from 2007 until 2012 in Istanbul, an urban city which, like many other urban cities, has a high proportion of multilingual speakers and mixed marriages. From the collected data, it appears that many factors, both micro- and macro-, have led to English being the dominant language in these marriages and have led to British cultural norms being preferred within these relationships. These emerging factors include issues of linguistic investment, gain, capital, power, and English being seen as a class indicator in the local community, all of which I believe may spring from the current global positioning and power of English. I present the outcome of this research as an understanding of the complexities affecting these individuals’ daily lives; complexities which I believe are rooted in the dynamics of the globalised society we live in today.

In recent years, the word ‘multiculturalism’ has become a central preoccupation for scholars and the public alike. The term is inconsistently, yet increasingly, used as experts and lay people attempt to make sense of the national, ethnic and religious diversity that surrounds them in everyday life. Multiculturalism movements seek to achieve diversity, allowing different lifestyles, traditions and world-views to be recognized as legitimate. However, assimilation movements oppose such diversification, and foster the emergence of a ‘global village’. It is within this binary context that individuals and groups oscillate between moving closer together and protecting the space of the self. Using Social Representation Theory as the central framework, this thesis aims to investigate the manifest and latent symbolic underpinnings of British and American public engagement with multiculturalism. Furthermore, the interplay between these representations and people’s identity work is examined. Based on a rigorous, cross-cultural, qualitative design including 96 interviews with members of the general public in London and New York, major thematic tropes of public engagement with multiculturalism are extrapolated, and the meanings people attach to multiculturalism are explored. Results from this investigation show that social representations of multiculturalism are built upon the similarity/difference ‘thema’. This ‘thema’ becomes evident in pragmatic manifestations such as food, geographical spaces (e.g. the city/outside the city), or symbolic spaces (e.g. comfort zone/moving outside the comfort zone). Furthermore, pragmatic manifestations are underscored by normative evaluations of multiculturalism, including issues of openmindedness/ narrow-mindedness and familiarity/strangeness. Taken together, pragmatic manifestations and evaluations of multiculturalism are entwined with identity processes. Two systematic ‘othering’ processes are discussed accounting for the projection of unwanted, and the introjection of wanted elements of multiculturalism. People are found to avail themselves of ‘cosmopolitan identity projects’ in London and New York, where multiculturalism allows them to become more knowledgeable, open-minded and global.

No description available.

This thesis provides an assessment of language policy (Spolsky, 2004) in Alicante, one of three provinces in the Valencian Community in the south east of Spain. The Valencian Community was founded in 1982 during Spain’s transition to democracy. Its Statute of Autonomy (Corts Valencianes, 1982), which was created in the same year, declares Castilian (the language of the state) and Valencian (a geographic variety of Catalan) as co-official in the autonomous community. Prior to this, Franco’s regime (1939-1975) had prohibited the public use of regional varieties such as Valencian. Yet, whilst the two languages now share equal official status, there is disparity between official language statements and de facto language policy (Shohamy, 2006). This project contributes to the growing research areas of language policy and language revitalisation. The findings of this study are positioned in the context of Catalan-speaking territories, Spain, and the wider European setting. This thesis provides a localised view of language policy in Alicante and uncovers the complexity of the current sociolinguistic setting. In order to present such a nuanced view of local language policy, this project draws upon qualitative and quantitative data collected during the administration of fieldwork questionnaires in 2014 in the towns of Sant Vicent del Raspeig and La Vila Joiosa. Both towns are in the province of Alicante; Sant Vicent del Raspeig is in the comarca (county) of L’Alacantí whilst La Vila Joiosa is in La Marina Baixa. This thesis examines a number of themes that emerged from the data, including the evolution of the composition of linguistic repertoires and the perception and construction of Valencian identities. This project also discusses the closure of the Valencian public broadcaster Ràdio Televisió Valenciana (RTVV) and examines how external factors, in addition to internal components, contribute to language policy. Data revealed that there is not one clearly identifiable language policy in Alicante; rather multiple layers of language practices, language management and language beliefs operate and intersect at various levels to contribute to a complex local language policy. This complexity is due in part to the social, linguistic, cultural and historical change experienced since the transition to democracy. Of particular significance is the increased access to Valencian which has resulted from the introduction of language legislation and the inclusion of Valencian in the education system (Blas Arroyo, 2002). As such, more language users are able to acquire standard Valencian, and its surrounding ideologies (Milroy, 2001; 2007), and also literacy. Consequently, language policy continues to evolve to reflect such changes as more language users are exposed to Valencian. However, data suggest that previous conditions and consolidated ideologies inherited from the past also continue to be influential and contribute to current language policy. This range of language practices, management and beliefs informs a complex and dynamic language policy. This project presents the case of language policy in Alicante and contributes to current research in Hispanic Studies and Sociolinguistics. The findings of this study further our understanding of language policy and its development in response to changing sociolinguistic conditions, such as increased access to minority languages in the present European context as a result of language revitalisation efforts. The findings presented here should encourage further research and debate, not only in the context of Spain, but also in other European contexts where a minority language has undergone language revitalisation, which has resulted in a change to traditional sociolinguistic order.

This is a sociolinguistic study of the diffusion of Cairo Arabic (CA) in Egypt as exemplified by its spread in Minya Governorate. Focus has been placed on how and why Minya Arabic (MA) speakers converge on CA as regards five linguistic variables: (q), (KaLLiM), (XaLLiF), (WaSSaL) and (stress). The respective CA and MA variants are exemplified as follows: [ʔaːl] and [ɡaːl] ‘he said’; [kallɪm] and [kɪllɪm]/[kallam] ‘he spoke to’; [xallɪf] and [xallaf] ‘he begot’; [jɪ-wɑsˤsˤɑl] and [jɪ-wɑsˤsˤɪl] ‘he gives a lift to someone’; and [madˈɾasa] and [ˈmadɾasa] ‘school’. The data on which the study is based is quantitative (recorded sociolinguistic interviews with 62 MA participants sampled according to age, gender, education and place of residence) and qualitative (an online perception questionnaire answered by 61 participants and detailing why MA speakers converge on CA along with the associations with both CA and MA in Minya). The quantitative data was statistically analysed via mixed-effects logistic regression in R. Results show that age and gender are hardly significant or altogether non-significant, while education and place of residence are almost always significant. This refers to two positive correlations: the higher the educational level of speakers and the more time they have spent living in town, the higher the convergence on CA. Results of the perception questionnaire are in harmony with those statistically-obtained. They confirm the significance of education and place of residence in inducing convergence on CA in Minya and associate CA with education and urbaneness. They also suggest that MA speakers converge on CA not only because of the dialect prestige but also for economic reasons and that their linguistic behaviour is affected by their marital status and exposure to CA on TV.

Prif amcan y ddoethuriaeth yw archwilio rôl awdurdodau isranbarthol i ganfod a ydynt yn actorion o bwys wrth gynllunio’n ieithyddol yn y system ranbarthol rynglywodraethol. Mae’n cyflawni’r nod yma drwy ddau brif amcan. Yn gyntaf, dangosir bod bwlch yn y llenyddiaeth ar CI a pholisi iaith o safbwynt gweithgarwch gan lywodraeth isranbarthol. Yn y llenyddiaeth yma, tueddir o hyd i ragdybio y bydd yr haen yma o lywodraeth yn gweithredu polisïau iaith sy’n deillio o haenau eraill llywodraeth, fel arfer gan y llywodraeth ranbarthol yn achos ieithoedd anwladwriaethol tiriogaethol. Yna, mewn tair pennod empirig, dadansoddir ymdrechion gan lywodraeth isranbarthol yng Ngwlad y Basg, Catalwnia a Chymru i lunio a llywio polisïau iaith. Dangosir yn glir bod yr haen yma o lywodraeth yn ganolog i’n hymdrechion i weld yn eglurach y mannau hynny lle y bydd polisïau iaith yn cael eu creu a’u rhoi ar waith. Yn ychwanegol at wneud cyfraniad o safbwynt creu gwybodaeth newydd am weithgarwch penodol haen o lywodraeth, defnyddir y data empirig i astudio’r ymwneud rhynglywodraethol rhwng yr haen isranbarthol a’r llywodraeth ranbarthol er mwyn canfod rhagor am y berthynas rym a lefelau’r cydweithredu rhwng y ddwy haen. Dadansoddaf sut mae graddau cefnogaeth y llywodraeth ranbarthol i amcanion cyffredinol cynllunio ieithdyddol (CI) yn dylanwadu, yn cyfyngu neu’n ysbarduno gweithgarwch llywodraeth isranbarthol. Mae’r rôl y bydd pleidiau gwleidyddol rhanbarthol yn eu chwarae fel ysgogwyr a chyfryngwyr polisïau iaith ar draws y maes rhynglywodraethol yn hanfodol i deall yn well y berthynas rhwng gweithgarwch CI a wneir ar y lefel isranbarthol a rhanbarthol.