We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Reflections on the Polyglot Self: Multilinguals Negotiating Identity.
- Authors
SOBANSKI, BRENNA
- Abstract
In this paper I discuss how 10 multilingual residents of Halifax, Nova Scotia make sense of the meaning of their multilingualism for their identity. Contemporary work on multilingualism focuses on the ways in which globalization, diversity and the commodification of language affect multilinguals' language practices and identity. As the movement of people, information, and goods across borders increases in quantity and complexity, multilingualism becomes both more common and more highly valued. It is within this context of greater emphasis on the value of multilingualism, and perhaps greater acceptance of certain types of multilingualism in North America, that participants reflect on, and communicate, the meaning multilingualism holds for them. For participants in this research, multilingualism was the basis for a polyglot identity that focuses on increasing cross-cultural understanding and forming a sense of belonging to the world at large. While some felt that each language entailed its own specific way of being, all understood languages as connecting them to other cultures and ways of understanding the world around them. From this basis they developed a polyglot identity based on cross-cultural understanding and inclusivity.
- Subjects
HALIFAX (N.S.); CANADA; MULTILINGUAL persons; LINGUISTIC identity; MULTILINGUALISM; CODE switching (Linguistics); LANGUAGE &; culture; MONOLINGUALISM
- Publication
Canadian Ethnic Studies, 2016, Vol 48, Issue 1, p161
- ISSN
0008-3496
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/ces.2016.0005