What are the features of the discursive rules for language negotiation between members of a family in which there are at least two languages being spoken [Portuguese and English primarily]?
2. Give a brief summary of the research that your project responds to/comments on/is based on
+No research has really focused on this context [family]
+language negotiation is key to writing studies across the board. [education and other social contexts] Also, there is writing that incorporates two languages. How effective is that? Why did the author use more than one language?
+based on anthropological studies on language usage. The study I used focused used loosely structured interviews. I have raw data in which the participants were aware that they were being recorded but certainly were not being interviewed. Given the difference in context, previous features defined may not be appropriate
+ Because the domestic context is different from a business context, there are new features that arise. However, the features from the business context can still apply.
+ Because the domestic context is different from a business context, there are new features that arise. However, the features from the business context can still apply.
3. Direct classmates to the section of your work you want feedback on
FOCUS ON CATEGORIES FOR ANALYSIS, BOTH THE ONES FROM THE ARTICLE AND THE ONES I MADE.
4. Give your classmates some indication of what you want help with (e.g. you might ask for help relating the categories you have marked in your transcript to your research question, or for help with the organization /development of a posted draft, and so on).
I've written out quite a bit of information below. What I would like to get feedback on is: should I use the categories of analysis from the article and the new categories I would add OR just talk about the categories from the article and focus more on the new categories I have made?
CONTEXT
GIGAS' birthday party. Celebrated in their own home in the evening. Every member of this family is aware of the other's linguistic knowledge.
- RELATIONSHIPS
- ZE is the mother in the family [50s]
- SECA is the father [60s]
- CLEO is the older sister, not SECA’s daughter, ZE’s daughter [20s]
- GIGAS is the middle child, brother, ZE’s and SECA’s son [teens]
- AL is the little sister, ZE’s and SECA’s daughter. [teens]
- LANGUAGES [in order according to proficiency languages]
- CLEO – High Proficiency in English and Portuguese, Proficient in Spanish and French, low proficiency in Japanese
- ZE – High Proficiency in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, medium proficiency in French
- AL – High Proficiency in English and Portuguese, medium proficiency in Spanish
- GIGAS – High Proficiency in English, medium proficiency in Portuguese and Spanish
- SECA – High Proficiency in Portuguese, medium proficiency in Spanish, low proficiency in English
My definition for Proficiency:
High proficiency - able to communicate clearly and functionally in any setting. Fully understands language when being spoken to.
Medium proficiency - able to communicate clearly and functionally in some settings. Mostly understands language when being spoken to.
Low proficiency - able to communicate in very few settings or simply knows a few words or phrases. Has a lot of trouble understanding the language when being spoken to.
Categories of Analysis:
From the article titled "Multilingual Organizations as 'linguascapes': Negotiating the position of English through discursive practices":
"Through discourse analysis, we identify six different ways of accounting for language use. Furthermore, we map the various tensions between these accounts through which we can understand how the rise of English afters the discursive negotiation in two different organizational contexts."
1. Adaptation to the viable language of a certain location
- the local, national or even global space indicates which language should be spoken
GIGAS: All of it.
AL: [laughs]
ZE: All of it!
SECA: [?].. Sorry!
- In this case, it is not about the location in terms of the country but rather the fact that this is a Portuguese home. The parents, who are the heads of the family, both speak Portuguese more fluently than English. Therefore, the lingua franca of this household is Portuguese.
- what informs one's language use is not the language, which is provided as almost a baseline by one's living or working location, but the more temporary notion of aligning oneself with the language spoken by the person one is interacting with
[03:30] SECA: Aii, regresso a vida! [claps] [Return to life!]
[laughter, clapping, cheering]
CLEO: Esto e uma casa de locos.[This is a house for crazy people.]
GIGAS: I don’t think anybody else wants …[?]
CLEO: Ele a assoprar a vela a cuspir tudo em cima. Estas duas a rir e este a cantar parece que e um funeral. [He's blowing the candle and spitting everything all over, these two, laughing, and this one, singing, it's like it's a funeral.]
3. Collective negotiation of a common language
- depending on the even and person's involved, there is an active moment of negotiating about the question of which common language to use
[03:30] SECA: Aii, regresso a vida! [claps] [Return to life!]
[laughter, clapping, cheering]
CLEO: Esto e uma casa de locos. [This is a house for crazy people.]
GIGAS: I don’t think anybody else wants …[?]
CLEO: Ele a assoprar a vela a cuspir tudo em cima. Estas duas a rir e este a cantar parece que e um funeral. [He's blowing the candle and spitting everything all over, these two, laughing, and this one, singing, it's like it's a funeral.]
SECA: Ouviste o que e que eu disse? [Did you hear what I said?]
GIGAS: I want two flores [flowers]. Nah. I want that part and that part and yeah.
ZE: Ahhh to hard. Eu vou por “CAR”. [I'm going to put CAR.]
AL: So you can get a car in the future.
ZE: Car.
4. Languages can be used simultaneously
- everyone replies in his or her language; a situation occurs where several languages are mixed.
AL: Say hi to the camera, mommy.
ZE: Eh?
AL: Say hi.
ZE: Hi.
AL: [giggles]
GIGAS: Siiiirrrr!
ZE: Não sabia que estavas a toucar. [I didn't know you were playing]
AL: See CLEO. I told you it would be more epic.ZE: Estas a filmar? [Are you recording?]
SECA: Vai. Vamos la. Mãe. Podemos organizar o não? [Let's go. Come on. Mother. Can we organize or not?]
AL: Yeah.
ZE: Hi.
AL: [giggles]
GIGAS: Siiiirrrr!
ZE: Não sabia que estavas a toucar. [I didn't know you were playing]
AL: See CLEO. I told you it would be more epic.ZE: Estas a filmar? [Are you recording?]
SECA: Vai. Vamos la. Mãe. Podemos organizar o não? [Let's go. Come on. Mother. Can we organize or not?]
AL: Yeah.
- First they sang the birthday song in Portuguese, then in English. Both main languages are present and respected.
GIGAS: All of it.
- GIGAS responds in an language different from ZE.
- adopt a new language other than the mother tongue of both interlocutors involved in the communication.
- [add example]
- cannot possibly find a common language and they will need to improvise and actively mix several languages.
ZE: Já tiraste a picture do cake? [Did you take a picture of the cake?]
- English and Portuguese are being fused together. Only happens when speaking to either CLEO, GIGAS, or AL.
The article mentioned above assumes that the speakers want to communicate to one another directly, that language is being use to facilitate the exchange of ideas so that all participants in a conversation can understand those ideas. However, sometimes language is used to marginalize or isolate certain participants, whether it be the speaker or others. Therefore, I will add to these categories by suggesting the following:
Exclude certain listeners:
[Add example]
Branch off/standout/ diverge
The English version of the birthday song has been sung. SECA is repeatedly encouraging everyone to sing in English now. However, only seconds after the switch is made, he decided to sing in Portuguese again!
SECA: Em Ingles. Ahora em Ingles. [In English. Now in English.]
ZE: Hahaha! Happy Birthday
SECA: Em Ingles. [In English.]
ZE, SECA: To you.
ZE: In tune.
ZE, SECA: Happy Birthday to you.
ZE: Canta, CLEO! [Sing, CLEO!]
SECA: Neste dia de festa. [On this day of festivity]
ZE, AL: Happy Birthday to you.
SECA: Para o menino GIGAS-inhos [To our little boy GIGA-inhos]
ZE: Hahaha!
AL: Happy Birthday to you.
SECA: Uma salva de palmas [A round of applause.]
ZE: How old are you now?
Also, the speaker can have their own agenda, such as to make a joke in a particular language. therefore I will also add:
Idiomatic phrases/ puns - leads to humor
At this point, the family is still singing the birthday song in Portuguese.
ZE: Muitos anos de vida. [Many years of life.]
SECA: Muitos anos de desgrenha. [Many years of chaos.]SECA decides to make a pun with the words de vida [of life] by instead saying de degrenha [of chaos]. As can be seen through the translation, such a pun would never work in English because life and chaos are very different in sounds. Furthermore, desgrenha is a slang term meaning chaos, thus heightening the need to use Portuguese for this joke rather than English.
SECA: Para o rato chato [To the annoying rat]
Here, SECA is rhyming to make a joke about GIGAS. The rhyming doesn't work in English.
ZE: Para nosso GIGAS-inhos [variation of GIGAS; term of endearment] [To our GIGA-inhos]
Here, ZE is using the ending -inhos in order to show endearment to GIGAS. -inhos and -inhas are added to the end of people's names in order to make it cute, like saying little before someone's name [e.g. little Mary; little Tara]. These endings are also added to the end of other nouns to make them seem smaller [e.g. I have a little time to talk. Eu tenho um tempinho para falar.] This is very informal.
Finally, this article assumes that all the participants who speaking a certain language are fluent in the language. However, in the context of the family used for this research project, there are varying degrees of fluency/proficiency. Therefore, I will add:
ZE: Para nosso GIGAS-inhos [variation of GIGAS; term of endearment] [To our GIGA-inhos]
Here, ZE is using the ending -inhos in order to show endearment to GIGAS. -inhos and -inhas are added to the end of people's names in order to make it cute, like saying little before someone's name [e.g. little Mary; little Tara]. These endings are also added to the end of other nouns to make them seem smaller [e.g. I have a little time to talk. Eu tenho um tempinho para falar.] This is very informal.
Finally, this article assumes that all the participants who speaking a certain language are fluent in the language. However, in the context of the family used for this research project, there are varying degrees of fluency/proficiency. Therefore, I will add:
Language proficiency of the speaker
Whenever any of the other speakers talk to SECA, they speak in Portuguese. Whenever the speakers speak to GIGAS, they tend to speak in English.
Whenever any of the other speakers talk to SECA, they speak in Portuguese. Whenever the speakers speak to GIGAS, they tend to speak in English.
SECA: Happy beert- [suppose to be birth]
Language Proficiency of the listener
SECA and GIGAS are on opposite ends of the spectrum, but GIGAS has more English than SECA has Portuguese.
SECA: [singing] Esta quietinho, o levas no focinho. Sabes o que e focinho? [Stay still, or you'll get hit in the snout. You know what snout is?]
Here, SECA prefers Portuguese, but because he is aware that GIGAS is not as fluent in the language, he asks GIGAS if he know what focinho [snout] is in Portuguese.
GIGAS: Alright, mom this part is for you
AL: As long as you don’t blow the cake anymore.
ZE: [giggles]
CLEO: Ainda ‘tas a cantar? [Are ya still singing?]
The conversation was in English. CLEO changes it to Portuguese. CLEO is addressing SECA so she used Portuguese to address him.
ZE is more comfortable with Portuguese than English. For most of the transcript, she is speaking in Portuguese.
AL prefers English so she speaks English for most of the transcript.
CLEO jumps between both according to need.
The conversation was in English. CLEO changes it to Portuguese. CLEO is addressing SECA so she used Portuguese to address him.
ZE is more comfortable with Portuguese than English. For most of the transcript, she is speaking in Portuguese.
AL prefers English so she speaks English for most of the transcript.
CLEO jumps between both according to need.
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