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Chapter 4: How young people construct language identities Language vs. identity Classical definitions of ethnicity regard the links between language and ethnic identity as fundamental, since language seems to be the most objective marker of group membership, visible (or, rather, audible) to individuals within and outside the community (cf. Bucholtz & Hall, 2004; Edwards, 2009). However, observations of language minorities in Europe reveal that this seemingly obvious relationship has been changing. This is the result of weakened or interrupted language trans- mission in families, changes in how minority languages function, and the growing significance of revitalization processes, which have significantly expanded the concept of a speech community (Jaffe, 2011). It has been noted that as language change becomes more drawn out, more people see themselves as representatives of the given minority group without knowing the language (Fishman, 1991: 16). This means that ethnic identity does not necessarily go hand in hand with using the minority language. Carol Eastman (1984; Eastman & Reese, 1981) believes that “associated languages” are always at the core of ethnic identity, even when the minority language is not the main language in everyday use. Language plays a range of different functions, and as a result of globalization and associated “glocalization” processes these functions can become more symbolic than utili- tarian, becoming an individual rather than objective marker of identity (Edwards, 1994a: 289). John Edwards concludes that the links between language reproduction and ethnic identity are gradually becoming weaker. This does not mean, however, that they are disappearing altogether. The best example of their power is the use of minority languages during cultural practices specific to their community and a symbolic manifestation of ethnicity long after the group members have stopped using the language in their everyday lives (Edwards, 1994a). Marking clear boundaries around speech communities and giving them an unequivocal definition is impossible in today’s world. Scholars of contemporary language minorities should remember that they are no longer dealing with close- knit groups, distinctly isolated from their surroundings and showing clear ethnic and/or language boundaries. Today, members of language minorities can be indi- viduals who use the given language in their everyday lives, individuals who are passive speakers or are learning the language at school, and individuals who do not speak the language but identify with the group or use elements of the language to mark their membership of the group. This is why Suresh Canagarajah stresses that we cannot regard such categories as “language” or “community” as obvious (Canagarajah, 2011: 95); rather, the attitudes and aspirations of groups linked with a given language should be viewed in a broad context. Representatives of minori- ties may experience, manifest or feel their links with the culture in different ways. Nicole Doowy-Rybiska - 9783631827758 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/23/2021 03:34:35PM via free access 134 How young people construct language identities These are increasingly less closely tied to language: today it is possible to live as part of a minority culture while not speaking its language.40 However, for my interlocutors from four different language minorities, these ties between the language, identity and group membership are an important issue. Analysis of statements made by young people reveals a wide range of relationships, dependencies and ways in which these ties are established. Putting their statements in the context of language practice at home and in the community helps us notice similarities and differences in how these ties are perceived. It should be stressed that the analysis presented below concerns thoughts and declarations by young people who have a very specific, engaged attitude towards minority languages and cultures. Their statements largely depend on how they and their community perceive the minority and the discourse dominating it: how group membership is discussed, how its boundaries are defined, how its history is understood, what its relationship is with the dominant culture, etc. An important part in this analysis involved observing how common imagination is reflected in everyday practice and in the perception of relationships with other members of the minority. During the part of my research in Poland, I asked my interlocutors whether their families are “Kashubian.” Many young people answered the question with “yes, but…” (“but my parents don’t speak Kashubian”; “but my parents wouldn’t describe themselves as Kashubs”; “but we don’t engage in any typically Kashubian activities”). Only one young man answered spontaneously that his family is not Kashubian. Knowing him and several members of his family, and being aware that they are almost all strongly involved with the Kashubian community, its activities and meetings, I asked what kind of family he would describe as Kashubian. He said: N22M(K): Most of all, one which has the language. I don’t know, I wonder, maybe that isn’t right, but it’s what I think. After all, language is the main carrier of cul- ture and everything. So Kashubian, maybe not all the time, but at these unofficial family moments, so that parents speak Kashubian to each other and to their chil- dren. Some typical Kashubian customs, cultivating them. Maybe subconsciously. And also singing in Kashubian […] or just cultivating Kashubian accents. But mainly the language. The young man learned Kashubian at school, although he did not attain sufficient competence to use it conversationally. He also stated that in his view, a Kashubian family is one in which language transmission and participation in culture is “nat- ural” or continuous. At the same time he admitted that he feels Kashubian, that some members of his family also identify as Kashubian, but that his family is not Kashubian. An “acquired” Kashubian identity seems to him to be less significant in 40 A good example is Sheilah Nicholas’s analysis of the young generation of the Hopi tribe of Native Americans tribe, whose attitude to their language is expressed by the statement: “I live Hopi I just don’t speak it” (Nicholas, 2009). Nicole Doowy-Rybiska - 9783631827758 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/23/2021 03:34:35PM via free access Language vs. identity 135 identifying with the minority than “innate,” even though his family has Kashubian roots and lives in the region. A young woman from a Kashubian-speaking family expresses a similar sentiment: I22F(K): For me, a real Kashub is someone who speaks and understands Kashubian. And someone who doesn’t speak or understand, then I have some suspicions whether they are a real Kashub [laughs]. Because I think that if someone thinks of themselves as a true Kashub, they have some catching up to do. After all, the language for me is the foundation. Here the question of language is treated more directly: someone who thinks of themselves as a Kashub but has not had the opportunity to learn the language at home should make the effort to learn it elsewhere. Individuals making the effort to learn the language are Kashubs and should be seen as such. At the same time, the young woman – who started learning Kashubian at university – does not think that Kashubs should be limited to only those individuals who speak the language. She realizes that such a definition would mean she could not perceive herself as Kashubian, and she feels very close ties with the minority. However, she lists Kashubian as the fundamental marker of cultural membership of the group. F23F(K): I don’t think they aren’t Kashubs, because they don’t speak Kashubian. […] But it simply seems to me that it’s as though two people meet in a foreign land. One speaks a language, the other speaks the same language, and they immediately recognize each other. I think that with Kashubian it’s important. You know for sure straight away that someone is also a Kashub. In Kashubia, the language criterion is not seen as absolute, although many people see it as important or even fundamental. Young people who don’t speak the language and learners of Kashubian who do not engage frequently identify with Kashubian culture and are recognized as Kashubs by speakers of Kashubian. In Brittany, very few people speak Breton, especially among the young genera- tion, therefore links between speaking the language and being Breton are treated very cautiously. This is all the more so because young people who have learned the language are aware of the experiences of the older generations and the sense of injustice they suffered. A secondary school student whose parents learned Breton after deciding to send their children to an immersive school says: AA16M(B): If we say that we are Bretons, it is important to make an effort and learn the language. Because it is a big, even the most important part of the Breton cul- ture, isn’t it? But it’s difficult, because there are people aged 60 or 70 who are fully immersed in the Breton community and who never learned the language, and it’s hardly a surprise, because the situation was hostile. At the same time they can hardly be told they aren’t Bretons since they don’t speak the language. I think, though, that language is an important part of the culture, and it is important if you’re going to feel Breton. […] If nothing else, because I can speak Breton to Nicole Doowy-Rybiska - 9783631827758 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/23/2021 03:34:35PM via free access 136 How young people construct language identities other people, and in Brittany it’s something… symbolic, isn’t it? […] I think that speaking Breton is something which really shows we are in Brittany. Drawing a simple link between knowing a language and cultural membership can be problematic.