Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions. If you have discovered material in Aston Research Explorer which is unlawful e.g. breaches copyright, (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please read our Takedown policy and contact the service immediately ([email protected]) THE LINGUISTIC IMPACT OF MIGRATION: THE CASE OF ALBANIAN IMMIGRANT CHILDREN IN GREECE URANIA SARRI Doctor of Philosophy Aston University March 2016 ©Urania Sarri, 2016 Urania Sarri asserts her moral right to be identified as the author of this thesis. ―This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without appropriate permission or acknowledgement.‖ 1 Aston University The linguistic impact of migration: the case of Albanian immigrant children in Greece Urania Sarri Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Thesis summary The present study investigates individual bilingualism of second-generation Albanian, immigrants in Greece. More specifically, it investigates the linguistic impact of migration and the phenomena of language maintenance and shift based on the example of Albanian immigrant, primary school students in Greece. The data collected was based on interviews through which the participants‘ linguistic biographies were elicited and from recordings of informal communication among them. The aim of the present study is to identify the participants‘ patterns of communication in the home and school environment, investigate the incentives, the rationales and the conditions these patterns of communication stem from, as well as the participants‘ attitude towards Albanian. Results revealed that L1 transmission is problematic for the Late Bilinguals‘ group, while the possibility of non-acquisition of Albanian remains a reality for the participants who were born in Greece or came to Greece in infancy. The home context is normally the only domain where Albanian is used in fragmented patterns of communication. Findings also revealed signs of language shift for these young immigrants despite their claims for the use of Albanian that stem from symbolic reasons. Key words: bilingualism, migration, language shift, maintenance 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my academic advisor for her unlimited support, guidance and patience. My deepest gratitude goes to the group of my Albanian students who participated in this study. My thanks and appreciations are also extended to my colleagues for their help in collecting the data for this study. I also want to thank my family for their support and tolerance throughout this journey. 3 List of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 Background p.8 1.2 Theoretical framework p.9 1.3 Methodological framework p.11 1.4 Outline of thesis p.12 Chapter 2. Language and migration. Introduction: Globalization and migration in the 21st century p.13 2.1. Linguistic aspects of migration p.16 2.2. Approaches to educating migrant children p.23 2.3. Conclusions p.28 Chapter 3. Albanian migration to Greece. Introduction p.30 3.1. A historical overview of the Albanian migration to Greece p.31 3.2. Albania and Greece: the long-term relationship between two neighbouring Countries p.32 3.3. The policies adopted by the Greek state p.35 3.4. Education and immigrant students in Greece p.37 3.5. Structures and methods of intercultural education p.39 3.6. Conclusions p.45 Chapter 4. Theoretical background: The bilingual child and Second Language Acquisition. Introduction p.46 4. 1. How to become bilingual p.48 4.1.1. The process of language contact, change and choice p.48 4.1.2. Bilingual Child Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition p.50 4.1.3. Types of bilingual acquisition p.52 4.2. Bilingual practices p.55 4.2.1. Code-switching p.55 4.2.2 Translanguaging: new developments in the study of multi- and Bilingualism p.58 4.4. Immigration and bilingualism p.60 4.5. Language shift p.63 4.5.1. Individual factors p.66 4.5.2. Group factors p.69 4.5.3. Language status p.71 4 4.6. Discussion p.73 Chapter 5. Research methodology Introduction p.75 5.1. Children as research participants p.76 5.2. The research participants and procedure of recruitment p.80 5.3. Recording spoken data: Recordings of informal interaction p.82 5.4. The approach of Language Biographies p.83 5.5. Analyzing the data p.86 5.6. Discussion p.89 Chapter 6. Analysing informal interaction and linguistic biographies of children with Albanian background. Introduction p.91 6.1 Analysis of the participants‘ linguistic biographies. p.92 Introduction p.92 6.1.1. The issue of the participants‘ L1 p.93 6.1 2. Language use at home: The importance of the interlocutor p.96 6.1.3.The issue of lack of transmission / acquisition of Albanian p.98 6.1.4. The issue of language proficiency p.100 6.1.5. Group concentration p.104 6.1.5. Geographical proximity and ease of travel p.104 6.1.6. The Latin alphabet p.105 6.1.8. Peer pressure p.106 6.1.9. The role of the television p.107 6.1.10 Discussion p.109 6.2. Analysis of the participants‘ recorded interaction Introduction p.110 6.2.1. Language choice and linguistic background p.113 6.2.2. The group of Late Bilinguals (LB) p.114 6.2.3. The group of Early Bilinguals (EB) p.121 6.2.4 Informal interaction among the participants: analyzing switches into Albanian p.131 6.2.5. Conclusion p.145 Chapter 7: Conclusions Introduction p.149 7.1 Summary of the study p.149 7.2 Responding to the research questions p.152 7.3. Limitations of the study p.156 5 7.4 Implications p.157 7.5 Future directions p.160 7.6. Conclusion p.160 References p.161 Appendices Appendix 1. Graph 1: Resident population in Greece by citizenship p.179 Appendix 2. Graph 2: foreign resident population in Greece by citizenship p.180 Appendix 3. Graph 3: Country of origin of immigrants with foreign citizenship who settled in Greece during the five last years before the Census of 2011 p.181 Appendix 4. Tables on the distribution of immigrant students in Greece p.182 Appendix 5. The Bilingualism Glossary p.183 Appendix 6. Ethics procedure p.189 1. Information letter to the school principal asking permission to conduct the research and consent form (translated from Greek) p.189 2. Information letter to the parents and consent form (translated from Greek) p.190 3. Children‘s Information Sheet (translated from Greek) p.191 Appendix 7. Interview questions (translated from Greek) p.193 Appendix 8. Research data: Tables on data analysis p.195 Appendix 9. Extracts from transcribed recordings of interaction p.200 Appendix 10. The participants‘ linguistic biographies p.209 Appendix 11. Transcription of the participants‘ interviews p.224 6 List of Abbreviations EB Early Bilinguals LB Late Bilinguals AL Albanian GR Greek A1, A2, A3, A4, A5: code names of participants in the Late Bilinguals group. G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, G6, G7, G8: code names of participants in the Early Bilinguals group List of Tables Table 1: Foreign students in Greek primary schools per country of origin (2010-2011) p.182 Table 2: Foreign students in Greek primary schools per country of birth (2010-2011) p.182 Table 3: Foreign students in Greek primary schools per citizenship (2010-2011) p.182 Table 4: Patterns of communication for the Late Bilinguals‘ group (LB) p.195 Table 5: Patterns of communication for the Early Bilinguals‘ group (EB) p.195 Table 6: Patterns of language use: LB group p.196 Table 7: Patterns of language use: EB group p.196 Table 8: Language competence: LB group p.197 Table 9: Language competence: EB group p. 197 Table 10: The social impact of Albanian: LB group p. 197 Table 11: The social impact of Albanian: EB group p.198 Table 12: Instances of code-switching by participants p.198 Table 13: Instances of code-switching by number of switches p.198 Table 14: Instances of code-switching by research group: Late Bilinguals. p.199 Table 15: Instances of code-switching by research group: Early Bilinguals. p.199 Table 16: Instances of code-switching by gender p.199 List of graphs/diagrams Diagram 1: Research methods p.75 Diagram 2: The research participants p.91 Graph 1: Resident population in Greece by citizenship p.179 Graph 2: Foreign resident population in Greece by citizenship p.180 Graph 3: Country of origin of immigrants with foreign citizenship who settled in Greece during the five last years before the Census of 2011. p.181 7 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1. Background This is a study of the linguistic impact of migration based on the example of primary school students in Greece whose families have recently emigrated from Albania. Unlike the limited, earlier work in the bilingual repertoire of Albanian immigrants in Greece, here the focus is exclusively on the patterns of bilingual repertoire based on qualitative methodology. Using data from semi-structured interviews and audio data recorded at school during interaction among the participants I first explore how and with whom the participants use Albanian describing recurrent patterns and variations; second, I examine the factors that determine language choice for this group of young Albanian immigrants; and third, I consider their attitude towards L1, as well as how their linguistic background affects or is affected by second language learning.