This thesis explores the family language policies (FLP) of two Somali-Swedish families living in Rinkeby, Stockholm. It focuses on the relationships between FLP and identity construction in different social spaces. It aims to address three main gaps in the FLP research in Sweden: in representation, methodology, and epistemological understandings of family, language, and policy. Most studies focus on families originating in the global North, which renders invisible the practices of families representing minoritized indigenous or immigrants – the South in the North. Moreover, few studies investigate FLP in interaction, resulting in a knowledge gap of FLP as practiced. In general, issues of power in relation to languages, social inequalities and status in society are barely present, yet, understanding relationships between linguistic practices and social structures at different scales seems crucial for understanding how language ideologies emerge and inform FLP. This study thus contributes to the field of FLP by investigating the language practices of two Somali-Swedish families, the language ideologies shaping these practices, as well as the everyday challenges they face in raising children multilingually. It uses an ethnographic design, drawing on interviews and fieldnotes, with attention to researcher positionality. Throughout, the thesis takes a decolonial stance, discussing how North-South entanglements are present in the interactions of marginalized populations and illuminating their experiences of struggle and oppression. Findings suggest that, for these families, FLP is an intentional act of maintaining the Somali language, although practices do not always align with this policy. Participants use in fact a broad linguistic repertoire in their interactions, constructing multiple identities in different spaces through their discursive practices, which are connected to their FLP. These practices are informed by ideologies on the importance of Somali in identity-building and in connecting people within the Somali diaspora, and by the supposed benefits of multilingualism. Participants report challenges in maintaining their FLP, such as the main role attributed to mothers in language maintenance, facing negative reactions to FLP from peers and society, and lack of institutional support. Results from this thesis contribute to redressing the identified gaps by researching participants’ own views on what is important for them and what challenges they face, an essential element for a decolonial approach. They also offer a critical perspective on multilingualism in FLP, locating language within southern perspectives. Results could also aid state actors working with Somali-Swedish families, enabling them to offer more focused support regarding raising multilingual children.

This thesis explores the family language policies (FLP) of two Somali-Swedish families living in Rinkeby, Stockholm. It focuses on the relationships between FLP and identity construction in different social spaces. It aims to address three main gaps in the FLPresearch in Sweden: in representation, methodology, and epistemological understandings of family, language, and policy. Most studies focus on families originating in the global North, which renders invisible the practices of families representing minoritized indigenous or immigrants – the South in the North. Moreover, few studies investigate FLP in interaction, resulting in a knowledge gap of FLP as practiced. In general, issues of power in relation to languages, social inequalities and status in society are barely present, yet, understanding relationships between linguistic practices and social structures at different scales seems crucial for understanding how language ideologies emerge and inform FLP. This study thus contributes to the field of FLP by investigating the language practices of two Somali-Swedish families, the language ideologies shaping these practices, as well as the everyday challenges they face in raising children multilingually. It uses an ethnographic design, drawing on interviews and fieldnotes, with attention to researcher positionality. Throughout, the thesis takes a decolonial stance, discussing how North-South entanglements are present in the interactions of marginalized populations and illuminating their experiences of struggle and oppression. Findings suggest that, for these families, FLP is an intentional act of maintaining the Somali language, although practices do not always align with this policy. Participants use in fact a broad linguistic repertoire in their interactions, constructing multiple identities in different spaces through their discursive practices, which are connected to their FLP. These practices are informed by ideologies on the importance of Somali in identity-building and in connecting people within the Somali diaspora, and by the supposed benefits of multilingualism. Participants report challenges in maintaining their FLP, such as the main role attributed to mothers in language maintenance, facing negative reactions to FLP from peers and society, and lack of institutional support. Results from this thesis contribute to redressing the identified gaps by researching participants’ own views on what is important for them and whatchallenges they face, an essential element for a decolonial approach. They also offer a critical perspective on multilingualism in FLP, locating language within southern perspectives. Results could also aid state actors working with Somali-Swedish families, enabling them to offer more focused support regarding raising multilingual children.

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In this thesis, I attempt to describe and analyse language ideologies relevant in the specific situation of the Sorbian minority in the city of Bautzen (Sorbian: Budyšin) - a city with a clear German majority at the same time considered a cultural, social and political centre of Sorbs - with a special emphasis on links between language and nationalism. Focusing on these links, I also examine the specific role of language for maintainance of Sorbian national identity. I also view Sorbian language ideologies in the broader context of social and political relations in and around Bautzen, whereas I, among other topics, inquire into recently significant hatred of local German radical right towards the Sorbian minority. At the same time, I attempt to capture the power relations between German and Sorbian languages. Apart from the paradigm of language ideologies, I am also informed by works of certain poststructuralist authors, especially due to their emphasis on constructivism regarding identities and language mechanisms. Keywords: language, language ideologies, nationalism, language nationalism, identities, national identity, ethnicity, language and power, Sorbian, German, language and politics, language contact

This thesis consists of a series of analytically independent, but conceptually interrelated studies of language ideologies across a number of different discursive terrains. The overarching objective of these interventions is to illuminate the relationship between language, politics and subjectivity from a number of different historical, philosophical, theoretical and empirical perspectives. This, in turn, is pursued with the aim to critically interrogate the ways in which social psychology has traditionally conceptualised and approached language (and language related phenomena), and to explore some of the conceptual, metatheoretical and theoretical requirements for a reconfigured, critical social psychology of language. Towards this end, the following specific themes are explored: (1) the political role language has historically played in South Africa, especially with regards to the articulation and political embodiment of various ethnically, racially and nationally mediated forms of subjectivity (Chapter 3); the politically productive role language has played in the emergence of nationalism, nation-state societies and the modern political order more broadly (and, vice versa, the role nationalism and the modern nation-state has played in delineating language as an ontologically, epistemologically and politically consistent object of state, academic and popular interest) (Chapter 4); (3) the way in which nationally mediated and state-oriented conceptions of language, politics and political subjectivity have been assumed, naturalised and reproduced by traditional social psychology throughout the twentieth century (Chapter 5); and (4) the way in which ordinary discussions about language in an everyday South African setting contribute (by invoking liberal and nationalist discourses, amongst others) to the continued racialisation of language and public space in this country, and to the further legitimisation of linguistically mediated forms of inequality and marginalisation (Chapter 6). In each instance the focus is on language as both constructed and constructive in relation to the emergence of particular social and political orders and their associated subjectivities. The thesis concludes with a reflection on the limits of discourse and ideology as frameworks for the study of language, politics and subjectivity, and develops a number of tentative ideas about language as a corporeal component of embodied and affective subjectivities (Chapter 7). / Thesis (Ph. D.) (Psychology)

This thesis consists of a series of analytically independent, but conceptually interrelated studies of language ideologies across a number of different discursive terrains. The overarching objective of these interventions is to illuminate the relationship between language, politics and subjectivity from a number of different historical, philosophical, theoretical and empirical perspectives. This, in turn, is pursued with the aim to critically interrogate the ways in which social psychology has traditionally conceptualised and approached language (and language related phenomena), and to explore some of the conceptual, metatheoretical and theoretical requirements for a reconfigured, critical social psychology of language. Towards this end, the following specific themes are explored: (1) the political role language has historically played in South Africa, especially with regards to the articulation and political embodiment of various ethnically, racially and nationally mediated forms of subjectivity (Chapter 3); the politically productive role language has played in the emergence of nationalism, nation-state societies and the modern political order more broadly (and, vice versa, the role nationalism and the modern nation-state has played in delineating language as an ontologically, epistemologically and politically consistent object of state, academic and popular interest) (Chapter 4); (3) the way in which nationally mediated and state-oriented conceptions of language, politics and political subjectivity have been assumed, naturalised and reproduced by traditional social psychology throughout the twentieth century (Chapter 5); and (4) the way in which ordinary discussions about language in an everyday South African setting contribute (by invoking liberal and nationalist discourses, amongst others) to the continued racialisation of language and public space in this country, and to the further legitimisation of linguistically mediated forms of inequality and marginalisation (Chapter 6). In each instance the focus is on language as both constructed and constructive in relation to the emergence of particular social and political orders and their associated subjectivities. The thesis concludes with a reflection on the limits of discourse and ideology as frameworks for the study of language, politics and subjectivity, and develops a number of tentative ideas about language as a corporeal component of embodied and affective subjectivities (Chapter 7). / Thesis (Ph. D.) (Psychology)

This study investigates the impact of Family Language Policy (FLP) on the conservation of minority languages in Zimbabwe. Family language policy is a newly emerging sub field of language planning and policy which focuses on the explicit and overt planning in relation to language use within the home among family members. The study is therefore predicated on the view that the conservation of any minority language largely depends on intergenerational transmission of the particular language. Intergenerational transmission is dependent in part, on the language practices in the home and therefore on family language policy. To understand the nature, practice and negotiation of family language policy in the context of minority language conservation, the study focuses on the perspectives of a sample of 34 L1 Kalanga parents and 28 L1 Tonga parents, who form the main target population. In this study, parents are considered to be the ‘authorities’ within the family, who have the capacity to articulate and influence language use and language practices. Also included in this study are the perspectives of language and culture associations representing minority languages regarding their role in the conservation of minority languages at the micro community level. Representatives of Kalanga Language and Cultural Development Association (KLCDA), Tonga Language and Culture Committee (TOLACCO) as well Zimbabwe Indigenous Languages Promotion Association (ZILPA) were targeted. This research takes on a qualitative approach. Methodologically, the study deployed the interview as the main data collection tool. Semi structured interviews were conducted with L1 Kalanga and L1 Tonga parents while unstructured interviews were conducted with the representatives of language and culture associations. This study deploys the language management theory and the reversing language shift theory as the analytical lenses that enable the study to understand the mechanics of family language policy and their impact on intergenerational transmission of minority languages in Zimbabwe. Language management theory allows for the extendibility of the tenets of language policy into the family domain and specifically affords the study to explore the dialectics of parental language ideologies and family language practices in the context of minority language conservation in Zimbabwe. The reversing language shift theory also emphasises the importance of the home domain in facilitating intergenerational transmission of minority languages. Findings of the study demonstrate that family language policy is an important aspect in intergenerational transmission of minority languages, itself a nuanced and muddled process. The research demonstrates that there is a correlation between parental language ideologies and parental disposition to articulate and persue a particular kind of family language policy. In particular, the study identified a pro-minority home language and pro- bilingual family language policies as the major parental language ideologies driving family language policies. However, the research reveals that parental language ideologies and parental explicitly articulated family language polices alone do not guarantee intergenerational transmission of minority languages, although they are very pertinent. This, as the study argues, is because family language policy is not immune to external language practices such as the school language policy or the wider language policy at the macro state level. Despite parents being the main articulators of family language policy, the study found out that in some instances, parental ideologies do not usually coincide with children’s practices. The mismatch between parental preferences and their children’s language practices at home are a reproduction, in the home, of extra familial language practices. This impacts family language practices by informing the child resistant agency to parental family language policy, leading to a renegotiation of family language policy. The research also demonstrates that parents, especially those with high impact beliefs are disposed to take active steps, or to employ language management strategies to realise their desired language practices in the home. The study demonstrates that these parental strategies may succeed in part, particularly when complemented by an enabling sociolinguistic environment beyond the home. The articulation of a pro-Tonga only family language policy was reproduced in the children’s language practices, while the preference for a pro- bilingual family language policy by the majority L1 Kalanga parents was snubbed for a predominantly Ndebele-only practice by their children. In most cases, the research found out that language use in formal domains impacted on the success of FLP. Tonga is widely taught in Schools within Binga districts while Kalanga is not as widespread in Bulilima and Mangwe schools. Ndebele is the most widespread language in Bulilima and Mangwe schools. As such; children of L1 Kalanga parents tend to evaluate Kalanga negatively while having positive associations with Ndebele. All these language practices are deemed to impact on family language policy and therefore on intergenerational transmission of minority languages in Zimbabwe. The desire by parents for the upward mobility of children results in them capitulating to the wider socio political reality and therefore to the demands of their children in terms of language use in the home. The study therefore concludes that family language policy is an important frontier in the fight against language shift and language endangerment, given the importance of the home in intergenerational transmission of minority languages. The study therefore implores future research to focus on this very important but largely unresearched sub field of language policy. The study observes that most researches have focused on the activities of larger state institutions and organisations and how they impact on minority language conservation, to the detriment of the uncontestable fact that the survival of any language depends on the active use of the language by the speakers. The research also recommends that future practice of language policy should not attempt to promote minority languages by discouraging the use of other majority languages, but rather, speakers should embrace bilingualism as a benefit and a resource and not as a liability. The interaction between the top down state language policy and the bottom up micro family language policy should be acknowledged and exploited, in such a way that the two can be deployed as complementary approaches in minority language conservation. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Languages, Linguistics and Literature)

The thesis deals with language ideologies in Czech public discourse. After introducing its topic, motivation and structure in the opening chapter, it devotes the second chapter to a thorough analysis of the research field of language ideologies. It presents various ways of defining them, two different approaches to them and a few key features which characterize language ideologies. The relation of language ideologies and other related notions is outlined, possibilities and ways of investigation are surveyed. Some remarks focus on existing lists or glossaries of language ideologies. The core of this chapter is an original, complex definition of language ideologies grounded in a critical reflection of approaches up to now. The third chapter summarizes relevant existing findings and on that basis, it formulates the main aim of the thesis - to make a contribution to knowledge on the foundations and ways of conceptualizing language in Czech public discourse. The fourth chapter elaborates the methodological frame of the thesis. Critical discourse analysis is chosen as a basis - its basics are summarized, main critical comments are considered and a partial solutions are proposed in use of corpus linguistics' tools. Another part of this chapter concerns with keyness as one of the dominant principles used...

This dissertation interrogates the deficit assumptions about English proficiency of skilled immigrants who were recruited by Canadian governments between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Through the lens of literacy as social practice, the eighteen-month ethnographic qualitative research explores the sequential experiences of settlement and economic integration of seven well-educated Chinese immigrant professionals. The analytical framework is built on sociocultural approaches to literacy and learning, as well as the theories of discourses and language reproduction. Using multiple data sources (observations, conversational interviews, journal and diary entries, photographs, documents, and artifacts collected in everyday lives), I document many different ways that well-educated Chinese immigrants take advantage of their language and literacy skills in English across several social domains of home, school, job market, and workplace. Examining the trans-contextual patterning of the participants’ language and literacy activities reveals that immigrant professionals use literacy as assistance in seeking, negotiating, and taking hold of resources and opportunities within certain social settings. However, my data show that their language and literacy engagements might not always generate positive consequences for social networks, job opportunities, and upward economic mobility. Close analyses of processes and outcomes of the participants’ engagements across these discursive discourses make it very clear that the monolithic assumptions of the dominant language shape and reinforce structural barriers by constraining their social participation, decision making, and learning practice, and thereby make literacy’s consequences unpredictable. The deficit model of language proficiency serves the grounds for linguistic stereotypes and economic marginalization, which produces profoundly consequential effects on immigrants’ pathways as they strive for having access to resources and opportunities in the new society. My analyses illuminate the ways that language and literacy create the complex web of discursive spaces wherein institutional agendas and personal desires are intertwined and collide in complex ways that constitute conditions and processes of social and economic mobility of immigrant populations. Based on these analyses, I argue that immigrants’ successful integration into a host country is not about the mastery of the technical skills in the dominant language. Rather, it is largely about the recognition and acceptance of the value of their language use and literacy practice as they attempt to partake in the globalized new economy.