DOCSLIB.ORG

From Babel to Brussels Jürgen Gerhards

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
From Babel to Brussels Jürgen Gerhards From Babel to Brussels European Integration and the Importance of Transnational Linguistic Capital Jürgen Gerhards Author Jürgen Gerhards is professor of sociology at the Freie Universität Berlin. His main fields of interest are: comparative cultural sociology, European integration, sociology of the public sphere. His most important book publications include Cultural Overstretch? Differences Between Old and New Member States of the EU and Turkey (Routledge 2007); The Name Game. Cultural Modernization and First Names (Transaction Publishers 2005) and Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States (Cambridge University Press 2003, together with Myra Marx Ferree, William Gamson, and Dieter Rucht). His most important articles include European Integration, Equality Rights and People's Beliefs (European Sociological Review 2012, with Holger Lengfeld); Why not Turkey? Attitudes towards Turkish Membership in the EU among Citizens in 27 European countries (Journal of Common Market Studies 2011, with Silke Hans); Non­ Discrimination Towards Homosexuality (International Sociology 2010); From Hasan to Herbert: Name Giving Patterns of Immigrant Parents between Acculturation and Ethnic Maintenance (American Journal of Sociology 2009, with Silke Hans); Forms of Capital and Social Structure in Cultural Fields: Examining Bourdieu's Social Topology (American Journal of Sociology 1995, with Helmut K. Anheier, and Frank P. Romo) as well as Mesomobilization. Organizing and Framing in Two Protest Campaigns in West Germany (American Journal of Sociology 1992, with Dieter Rucht). Translation: The manuscript was translated from German into English by Maureen Metzger. Layout & Final Editing: Inga Ganzer Front Picture: “Tower of Babel” (1563) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder Citation: Gerhards, Jürgen (2012): From Babel to Brussels. European Integration and the Importance of Transnational Linguistic Capital. Berlin Studies on the Sociology of Europe (BSSE). No. 28. Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin. Contact: Jürgen Gerhards, Institute of Sociology, Free University of Berlin, Garystraße 55, 14195 Berlin, j.gerhards@fu‐berlin.de. From Babel to Brussels. European Integration and the Importance of Transnational Linguistic Capital Summary Globalisation and the political process of European integration opened the European Union member states to one another. As different EU member states have different languages, participation in globalisation and the process of European integration is dependent on Europeans’ ability to speak the languages of others. Those who speak multiple languages can more easily come into contact with citizens of other countries, conduct business and diplomacy, cooperate academically, organise protests across national boundaries, or enter into romantic relations with them. In short, they can socialise transnationally in a number of different dimensions. Those who only speak their native language are, in contrast, tied to their home country and can only take slight advantage of the perks of a united Europe and a globalised world. Possessing transnational linguistic capital is a deciding factor in whether or not someone can participate in an emerging European society; it becomes a new measure of social inequality, a resource that can either lead to societal inclusion or exclusion. The question central to our study is to what degree citizens in the twenty‐ seven EU member states possess transnational linguistic capital and how to explain the differences in multilingualism both between and within the member states. We present a general explanatory model for foreign language proficiency, create hypotheses from this model and test them empirically. Drawing on a survey conducted in twenty‐seven European countries it can be shown that the peoples’ ability to speak different languages can be very well predicted with the help of the different explanatory factors. We find that country size, the prevalence of a respondent’s native language, the linguistic difference between one’s mother tongue and the foreign language, and age affect language acquisition negatively, whereas a country’s level of education has a positive influence. Using Bourdieu’s theory of social class, we show that besides other factors a respondent’s social class position and the level of education are important micro‐level factors that help to increase a person’s transnational linguistic capital. One must put these results in the context of the state of the art. The analysis of multilingualism is a major topic in linguistics, psychology, and education. The societal conditions in which language learners are embedded are hardly taken into account in these studies. This would not be worth discussing any further if sociology was not relevant to multilingualism; but the contrary seems to be true. Our analysis shows that the neglected societal conditions are actually of central importance in determining transnational linguistic capital. CONTENTS Foreword: Why this book is published in open access?.............................................. 6 Acknowledgements.................................................................................................................... 9 1. Setting the stage....................................................................................................................10 2. Conceptual Framework......................................................................................................21 2.1. What is Language?.......................................................................................................22 2.2 Language Proficiency as Human Capital.............................................................26 2.3 Transnational Linguistic Capital and its Growing Importance.................47 3. From Nation States to a European Society................................................................53 3.1 Nation Building, and Language Standardisation, World Society and the Rise of English as a Hegemonic lingua franca .........................................54 3.2 Europeanisation and Globalisation of Nation State Societies in Europe..................................................................................................................................78 3.3 European Union’s Language Policy.......................................................................97 4. European Citizens’ Transnational Linguistic Capital.........................................121 4.1 Who Speaks How Many Languages?..................................................................122 4.2 Explaining Differences in Transnational Linguistic Capital ....................133 4.3 Outlook on How the Citizens’ Multilingualism will Develop...................176 5. An Argument for a new Language Policy in the European Union ................182 Appendix A: The relationship between Language and Culture .........................196 Appendix B: Description of Variables............................................................................203 References.................................................................................................................................206 FROM BABEL TO BRUSSELS Foreword: Why this Book is Published in Open Access? This book is an English translation of the German work “Mehrsprachigkeit im vereinten Europa. Transnationales sprachliches Kapital als Ressource in ei‐ ner globalisierten Welt” (Multilingualism in Europe. Transnational linguistic capital as a resource in a globalised world), published in 2010 by the Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Literature that has appeared since 2010 has not been systematically considered for this translation. This omission includes the 2011 work by Philippe van Parijs‚ “Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World”. The English version will not be published by a publishing house, but will instead be made available as an open access publication. It is the first of my books to be published this way. While the number of open access journals has grown significantly, the publication of open access books has not followed the same pattern. In this respect, the publication of “From Babel to Brussels” is an interesting personal experiment. I have been motivated to pursue this mode of publication for the following reasons. Firstly, a book published by a social sciences publishing house will cost, in paperback, around € 25‐30, while the open access version is available to readers for free. It is self‐evident that readers would rather read a book for free than pay for it. The internet also makes it possible for anyone with a computer to access the book instantly, meaning not only that the book is available at no cost, but also that there is also no waiting period before a reader is able to read the text. Libraries generally only have one available copy of a given book. If this copy is loaned out, potential readers must wait until the book is returned. Open access availability means that many potential customers have access to the book simultaneously. Secondly, most authors of scientific books do not earn any income from the publication of a book by a publishing house. This means that authors do not make any significant financial loss with the open access publication of their work. Financial incentives are, moreover, not the main reason why authors 6 Foreword: Why this Book is Published in Open Access? from academia write scholarly books. They want their work to be read by others, and especially to influence their peers, an influence that is manifested
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Commodification of Russian Around the World
    Edinburgh Research Explorer The commodification of Russian around the world Citation for published version: Ryazanova-Clarke, L & Muth, S 2017, 'The commodification of Russian around the world', International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, vol. 20, no. 4, 1, pp. 381-384. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2015.1115000 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1080/13670050.2015.1115000 Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Peer reviewed version Published In: International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 Introduction: The commodification of Russian around the world Sebastian Muth and Lara Ryazanova-Clarke This special issue is dedicated to the commodification of Russian – the language whose global sociolinguistic behavior had been increasingly attracting scholarly attention (Isurin 2011; Laitin 1998; Pavlenko 2008; Pavlenko et al. forthcoming; Ryazanova-Clarke 2014). When the disintegration of the Soviet Union became imminent in the early 1990s, a collection of papers on this subject would have been highly unusual.
    [Show full text]
  • Commodity, Capital, and Commercial ELT: a Political Economy of Eikaiwa English Language Teaching
    Commodity, Capital, and Commercial ELT: A Political Economy of Eikaiwa English Language Teaching Doctoral Thesis William Simpson IOE – UCL (Applied Linguistics) Word Count: 95,882 1 Signed Declaration: I, William Simpson, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract: The aims of this research are threefold. Firstly, to understand how the drive for profit in commercial English language teaching (ELT) affects the manner in which language is taught. Secondly, to understand the how the various ways in which teachers are valued (monetarily in wages, valued as a ‘good’ teacher, and valued as an ‘authentic’ speaker of a language for example) interrelate with one another. Finally, the research aims to give an account of how teachers’ experiences of potential contradictions and tensions between commercial and pedagogic interests, and multiple forms of valuation, inform the way they understand themselves in relation to the economy and society more broadly. The research synthesises a body of research on political economy and language with Marxist political economy in order to understand commercial ELT through the moments of capital as value in motion: from the production and consumption of lessons, to the realisation of the lesson’s value in its sale, through to the distribution of this value in the form of wages. In focussing in on these moments throughout the circulation of capital, the research gives an account of the contradictory forces and interests at play within commercial eikaiwa – a form of ELT in Japan in which teachers are often precariously employed.
    [Show full text]
  • Parental Attitudes Towards Sri Lanka's Trilingual Education Policy
    Postwar reconciliation: parental attitudes towards Sri Lanka's trilingual education policy Item Type Thesis Authors Malalasekera, Nimasha S. Download date 27/09/2021 14:21:32 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/10629 POSTWAR RECONCILIATION: PARENTAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS SRI LANKA'S TRILINGUAL EDUCATION POLICY By Nimasha S. Malalasekera, M.A. A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics University of Alaska Fairbanks August 2019 © 2019 Nimasha S. Malalasekera APPROVED: Patrick Marlow, Committee Chair Sabine Siekmann, Committee Member Wendy Martelle, Committee Member Patrick Marlow, Chair Linguistics program Todd Sherman, Dean College of Liberal Arts Michael Castellini, Dean Graduate School Abstract After 26 years, the ethnic-based civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009. The Trilingual Education Policy seeks to reconcile the estranged Sinhalese and Tamil communities by teaching each community the other's language in this postwar context. Scholars argue that national reconciliation through Trilingual Education is unlikely to succeed because of the continued mistrust and prejudice between the two communities and the demand for English as key to social mobility and economic prosperity. Since these claims are not supported by empirical evidence, this study seeks to find empirical data to support or counter these claims. The study investigates parental attitudes to their second languages, Sinhala, Tamil, and English, the three languages of the Trilingual Education Policy to understand its likely success. Twenty-one parents whose children receive Sinhala, Tamil, and English L2 tuition in Colombo 5 were selected through convenience sampling. The study uses the constructivist grounded theory, mentalist approach to language attitudes, and concepts of capital and linguicism for data analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Title the Discourse of Linguistic Capital: Language and Economic Policy Planning in Singapore Author Rita Elaine Silver Source L
    Title The discourse of linguistic capital: Language and economic policy planning in Singapore Author Rita Elaine Silver Source Language Policy, Volume 4 (2005), Issue 1, pages 47-66 Publisher Springer This document may be used for private study or research purpose only. This document or any part of it may not be duplicated and/or distributed without permission of the copyright owner. The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. This is the author’s accepted manuscript (post-print) of a work that was accepted for publication in the following source: The Discourse Of Linguistic Capital: Language And Economic Policy Planning In Singapore. Language Policy. 2005; 4(1):47-66. DOI: 10.1007/s10993-004-6564-4 Notice: Changes introduced as a result of publishing processes such as copy-editing and formatting may not be reflected in this document. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10993-004-6564-4 1 LPOL37 Running Head: The discourse of linguistic capital Title: The discourse of linguistic capital: Language and economic policy planning in Singapore Author: Rita Elaine Silver Affiliation: National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University Address for Correspondence: Dr. Rita Elaine Silver Nanyang Technological University National Institute of Education English Language and Literature 1 Nanyang Walk, Block 3, Rm 100 Singapore 637616 Republic of Singapore [email protected] 65-6790-3472 [phone] 65-6896-9149 [fax] 2 ABSTRACT. This paper examines the historical and current connections between English language education policy and economic development policy in Singapore. Policy statements on English language education policy in Singapore are used to demonstrate the ways that English is given a role in economic development and modernization by government officials and educators.
    [Show full text]
  • From Babel to Brussels Jürgen Gerhards
    From Babel to Brussels European Integration and the Importance of Transnational Linguistic Capital Jürgen Gerhards Author Jürgen Gerhards is professor of sociology at the Freie Universität Berlin. His main fields of interest are: comparative cultural sociology, European integration, sociology of the public sphere. His most important book publications include Cultural Overstretch? Differences Between Old and New Member States of the EU and Turkey (Routledge 2007); The Name Game. Cultural Modernization and First Names (Transaction Publishers 2005) and Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States (Cambridge University Press 2003, together with Myra Marx Ferree, William Gamson, and Dieter Rucht). His most important articles include European Integration, Equality Rights and People's Beliefs (European Sociological Review 2012, with Holger Lengfeld); Why not Turkey? Attitudes towards Turkish Membership in the EU among Citizens in 27 European countries (Journal of Common Market Studies 2011, with Silke Hans); Non­ Discrimination Towards Homosexuality (International Sociology 2010); From Hasan to Herbert: Name Giving Patterns of Immigrant Parents between Acculturation and Ethnic Maintenance (American Journal of Sociology 2009, with Silke Hans); Forms of Capital and Social Structure in Cultural Fields: Examining Bourdieu's Social Topology (American Journal of Sociology 1995, with Helmut K. Anheier, and Frank P. Romo) as well as Mesomobilization. Organizing and Framing in Two Protest Campaigns in West Germany (American Journal of Sociology 1992, with Dieter Rucht). Translation: The manuscript was translated from German into English by Maureen Metzger. Layout & Final Editing: Inga Ganzer Front Picture: “Tower of Babel” (1563) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder Citation: Gerhards, Jürgen (2012): From Babel to Brussels.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of Korean Early Study Abroad in Singapore
    L2 Journal, Volume 8 Issue 2 (2016), pp. 92-109 http://repositories.cdlib.org/uccllt/l2/vol8/iss2/art6/ Becoming Global Elites through Transnational Language Learning?: The Case of Korean Early Study Abroad in Singapore SOHEE BAE National University of Singapore E-mail: [email protected] JOSEPH SUNG-YUL PARK National University of Singapore E-mail: [email protected] Since the late 1990s, early study abroad (ESA) in English-speaking countries has been a popular educational strategy for pre-university Korean students to acquire important language skills such as global English, which is imagined to help them prepare for the competition in global educational and occupational market. However, as ESA, commonly known as jogi yuhak, became a prominent educational strategy among middle class Koreans, the destination for Korean Study Abroad began to diversify, showing significant increase of Study Abroad in non-Western countries. For instance, Singapore has emerged as a new site for ESA, due to its multilingual environment which facilitates the learning of global language of English as well as additional languages such as Mandarin. What, then, are the implications of such diversification of ESA for the goals of and beliefs about study abroad? This paper aims to answer this question by examining the language learning practices and ideologies of three Korean ESA families in Singapore, based on participant observation and interview data drawn from a 2.5-year ethnographic study. The parents we studied anticipated that the multilingual competence gained in Singapore, including that of English, Mandarin, and Korean, will lead their children to become truly global elites.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of an Accent: the Experiences of International College Students from India in the Greater Toronto Area
    THE IMPACT OF AN ACCENT: THE EXPERIENCES OF INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE STUDENTS FROM INDIA IN THE GREATER TORONTO AREA by Micheline Chevrier, B.A & B.Ed., Bishop’s University, 2017 & 2018 A Major Research Paper presented to Ryerson University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Program of Immigration and Settlement Studies Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2019 © Micheline Chevrier 2019 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A MAJOR RESEARCH PAPER (MRP) I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this Major Research Paper. This is a true copy of the MRP, including any required final revisions. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this MRP to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this MRP by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my MRP may be made electronically available to the public. Micheline Chevrier ii THE IMPACT OF AN ACCENT: THE EXPERIENCES OF INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE STUDENTS FROM INDIA IN THE GREATER TORONTO AREA © Micheline Chevrier 2019 Master of Arts 2019 Immigration and Settlement Studies Ryerson University Abstract India is one of the world’s largest sources of international students with 553,440 studying abroad globally, its Ministry of External Affairs estimated in late 2017 (Vanderklippe, 2019). Canada has become an increasingly attractive destination for this cohort of international students. With English as the dominant global language for commerce and politics, and the fact that more people now use English as a second language than a first language (Crystal, 2003), these speakers become uniquely positioned in an English-dominated environment such as Canada, due to their accents.
    [Show full text]
  • Transnational Linguistic Capital: Explaining English Proficiency in 27 European Countries
    519461 ISS0010.1177/0268580913519461International SociologyGerhards earch-article2014 Article International Sociology 2014, Vol. 29(1) 56 –74 Transnational linguistic capital: © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: Explaining English proficiency sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0268580913519461 in 27 European countries iss.sagepub.com Jürgen Gerhards Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Abstract Foreign language proficiency in general and proficiency in the world’s most widely spoken language, English, are central resources to participate in the globalisation process. Drawing on a survey conducted in 27 European countries the article attempts to explain the huge differences in English proficiency that exist between and within countries. The author presents a general explanatory model for foreign language proficiency, creates hypotheses from this model and tests them empirically by using multilevel techniques. The findings show that the prevalence of a respondent’s native language, the linguistic difference between one’s mother tongue and English, and age affect language acquisition negatively, whereas a country’s level of education has a positive influence. Using Bourdieu’s theory of social class, the author shows that besides other factors a respondent’s social class position and the level of education are important micro-level factors that help to increase a person’s transnational linguistic capital. Keywords Europe, globalisation, linguistic capital, multilingualism, multilevel analysis, Pierre Bourdieu, transnationalisation Since the second half of the twentieth century, the extent, frequency and speed of exchange and interconnectedness between different nation-states and different world regions have increased enormously, a process described in the literature as globalisation (cf. Held et al., 1999).1 Europe has experienced especially extensive changes.
    [Show full text]
  • Journeys of Integration in Canada's Pluralistic Society
    “GIREOGI GAJOK”: TRANSNATIONALISM AND LANGUAGE LEARNING by Hyunjung Shin A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Hyunjung Shin (2010) “GIREOGI GAJOK”: TRANSNATIONALISM AND LANGUAGE LEARNING Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Hyunjung Shin Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning University of Toronto Abstract This dissertation examines effects of globalization on language, identity, and education through the case of four Korean jogi yuhak (early study abroad) students attending Toronto high schools. Resulting from a 2.4-year sociolinguistic ethnography on the language learning experiences of these students, the thesis explores how globalization-- and the commodification of language and corporatization of education in the new economy, in particular--has transformed ideas of language, bilingualism, and language learning with respect to the transnational circulation of linguistic and symbolic resources in today‘s world. This thesis incorporates insights from critical social theories, linguistic anthropology, globalization studies, and sociolinguistics, and aims to propose a ―globalization sensitive‖ Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theory. To better grasp the ways in which language learning is socially and politically embedded in new conditions generated by globalization, this new SLA theory conceives of language as a set of resources and bilingualism as a social construct, and examines language learning as an economic activity, shaped through encounters with the transnational language education industry. ii The analysis examines new transnational subjectivities of yuhaksaeng (visa students), which index hybrid identities that are simultaneously global and Korean. In their construction of themselves as ―Cools‖ who are wealthy and cosmopolitan, yuhaksaeng deployed newly-valued varieties of Korean language and culture as resources in the globalized new economy.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Fetishism and the Language Commodity
    Fetishism and the Language Commodity: A Materialist Critique Abstract Over the past 10 years, an emerging body of research in linguistic anthropology and applied linguistics has made the argument that recent global political-economic developments have led to the commodification of language. In focusing on how language is seen as a tradeable commodity, the process of commodification is portrayed as a principally discursive event, where value and commodity status are attributed to languages. However, the notion of both value and of commodities themselves as discursive matters stands in contrast to Marxist and classical political economy where commodities have value only insofar as they are congealed embodiments of human labour, expended in production processes where labour stands in relation to capital. In juxtaposing the ‘language commodity’ with the commodity of Marxist political economy, and in drawing on Marx’s notion of commodity fetishism, we argue that though language may appear to be a commodity, it is not one, as language itself is not a product of labour. We conclude by discussing what a closer engagement with the more material concerns of production offer political economy approaches to language in addressing an ‘ideal’ and ‘material’ epistemological divide (Gal 1989; Irvine 1989; Friedrich 1989; Shankar & Cavanaugh 2012). Introduction Over the past 10 years, an emerging body of research has made the argument that recent global political-economic developments have led to the commodification of language. This is evidenced in a series of edited monographs and journal special issues that are centred on the notion of language as commodity (e.g. Duchêne & Heller eds.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Policy, Medium of Instruction and Economic Development of Countries in Kachru's Concentric Circles of Asian Englishes
    International Journal of Language and Literary Studies Volume 3 , Issue 1, 2021 Homepage : http://ijlls.org/index.php/ijlls Language Policy, Medium of Instruction and Economic Development of Countries in Kachru’s Concentric Circles of Asian Englishes Joel M. Torres Department of Secondary Education, College of Education Central Luzon State University Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines [email protected] (corresponding author) Myla L. Santos Department of Secondary Education, College of Education Central Luzon State University Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines [email protected] DOI: http://doi.org/ 10.36892/ijlls.v3i1.510 Received: Abstract 04/01/2021 Language and culture are indispensable elements to the economic growth of the individual and society. They represent an important indicator of the Accepted: 10/03/2021 individual’s satisfaction and quality of life. This paper is an attempt to answer Grin and Arcand’s (2013) observation that the part that language might play in economic development has long intrigued scholars from Keywords: various disciplines, and up to the present decade no clear story has emerged language policy, from the investigations published and the empirical evidence remains medium of inconclusive. Thus, in an attempt to come up with empirical evidence to instruction, establish the link between language policy and language in education to economic economic growth, this paper reviews the language policies and medium of growth, instruction (MOI)in six countries, two countries each from each circle in GDP per capita Kachru’s concentric circles of Asian Englishes. Each circle was represented by a country with high and low gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
    [Show full text]
  • The Losses and Gains of Language As Embodied and Embedded Symbolic Capital
    languages Article Navigating the London-French Transnational Space: The Losses and Gains of Language as Embodied and Embedded Symbolic Capital Saskia Huc-Hepher School of Humanities, University of Westminster, London W1B 2HW, UK; [email protected] Abstract: In this article, an interdisciplinary lens is applied to French migrants’ reflections on their everyday language practices, investigating how embodied and embedded language, such as accent and London-French translanguaging, serve as both in-group and out-group symbolic markers in different transnational spaces. Key sociological concepts developed by Pierre Bourdieu are deployed, including field, habitus, hysteresis and symbolic capital, to assess the varying symbolic conversion rates of the migrants’ languaging practices across transnational spaces. A mixed-methodological and analytical approach is taken, combining narratives from ethnographic interviews and autobiography. Based on the data gathered, the article posits that the French accent is an embodied symbolic marker, experienced as an internalised dialectic: a barrier to inclusion/belonging in London and an escape from the symbolic weight of the originary accent in France. Subsequently, it argues that the migrants’ translanguaging functions as a spontaneous insider vernacular conducive to community identity construction in the postmigration space, but (mis)interpreted as an exclusionary articulation of symbolic distinction in the premigration context. Finally, the article asks whether participants’ linguistic repertoires, self-identifications and spatialities go beyond the notion of the ‘cleft habitus’, or even hybridity, to a post-structural, translanguaging third space that transcends borders. Citation: Huc-Hepher, Saskia. 2021. Keywords: symbolic capital; linguistic habitus; cleft habitus; hysteresis; translanguaging; London Navigating the London-French French; in-group vernacular; accent; othering; third space Transnational Space: The Losses and Gains of Language as Embodied and Embedded Symbolic Capital.
    [Show full text]