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In:Sociolinguistic Approaches to Arabic and Spanish in Contact
Edited by Farah Ali, Carol Ready and Sherez Mohamed
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 44] 2025
► pp. 77–102

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Chapter 5
Sociolinguistic (dis)order and disputed agencies in language policy within transnational families of Moroccan origin in Spain

 | Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Published online: 17 July 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.44.05srh
Abstract
This chapter explores the notion of sociolinguistic order, from the Family Language Policy studies, within different transnational and multilingual Moroccan families in the Madrid and Castilla la Mancha region. Specifically, the chapter will examine when the agency of children intervenes in the family language policy agency of children intervene in family language policy and how does its appearance affect not only the transformation of the sociolinguistic order but also the social, cultural and ideological family cohesion. The analysis points out that the agency, that of parents and of children define the status and significance of the languages used, mainly the heritage languages, mainly the heritage languages and Spanish, in the family linguistic order and environment, and therefore the model of socialization in families of Moroccan origin in Spain.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Family language policy
  • Family roles, child agency and language management
  • Moroccan-speaking communities: From family to higher education
  • Data collection and participants
  • Findings
    • Parental ethnolinguistic and cultural loyalty in the process of language transmission
    • Spanish as a hegemonic language: Linguistic muda and child agency
    • Translanguaging in the family: The pragmatic option to monolingual practices
    • Disputed agencies and conflicted situations
  • Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgement
  • References
References (61)
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