Cover not available

Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 36:1 (2023) ► pp.204–233

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Constructing identity through code choice and code-switching

Evidence from multilingual Muslim women in Barcelona

ORCiD logo with link | DePauw University
Published online: 2 March 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.20015.ali
Abstract
With the presence of Catalan, Spanish, and a variety of migrant languages, multilingualism in Catalonia extends across the region and is a regular practice for native-born and migrant residents alike. This study examines language use and its relationship to identity construction among first and second-generation Muslim women immigrants in Barcelona. Data was collected from 34 female informants in Barcelona, all of whom identified as first or second-generation Muslim. Data consisted of questionnaires and interviews which were designed to learn about the informants’ linguistic background as well as the extent to which they used Spanish, Catalan and their native/heritage language(s). As a further case study, specific instances of code-switching among the South Asian Urdu-speaking informants were examined. Results point to a generational divide in terms of domains of use. However, informants demonstrated a greater tendency towards multilingual language use rather than restricting themselves to single language use in specific domains, a reflection of informants’ self-reported code-switching practices, which were found to be a widely accepted communicative tool that serves an array of socio-pragmatic functions.
Resumen
La construcción de la identidad por la elección de código y el cambio de código: Evidencia de mujeres musulmanas multilingües en Barcelona
Con la presencia del catalán, el español y una variedad de lenguas de inmigrantes, el multilingüismo en Cataluña se extiende por toda la región y es una práctica habitual tanto para los residentes autóctonos como para los inmigrantes. Este estudio examina el uso de la lengua y su relación con la construcción de la identidad entre mujeres musulmanas inmigrantes de primera y segunda generación en Barcelona. Se recopilaron datos de 34 informantes en Barcelona, todas identificadas como musulmanas de primera o segunda generación. Los datos consistieron en cuestionarios y entrevistas que se diseñaron para aprender sobre los antecedentes lingüísticos de las informantes, así como el alcance en que usaban el español, el catalán y su lengua materna o de herencia. Como estudio de caso adicional, se examinaron casos específicos de cambio de código entre las informantes de habla urdu del sur de Asia. Los resultados apuntan a una división generacional en términos de dominios de uso. Sin embargo, los informantes demostraron una mayor tendencia hacia prácticas multilingües en lugar de restringirse al uso de un solo idioma en dominios específicos, un reflejo de las prácticas de cambio de código autoinformadas de los informantes, que resultaron ser una herramienta comunicativa ampliamente aceptada que sirve a una variedad de funciones socio-pragmáticas.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language ideology and policy
  • 3.Immigrant languages in Catalonia
    • 3.1Migration in Catalonia
    • 3.2Language maintenance and attitudes among immigrant populations
    • 3.3Negotiation of immigrant identity
    • 3.4Code-switching
  • 4.Present study
    • 4.1Methodology
      • 4.1.1Informants
      • 4.1.2Instruments
    • 4.2Results
      • 4.2.1Domains of use
      • 4.2.2Code-switching
    • 4.3Discussion and Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (47)
References
Ali, F. (2020). Multilingualism and acculturation in Catalonia: An analysis of Muslim immigrant women. Cuadernos de Lingüística Hispánica, 361, 181–209. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ali, F., & Ready, C. (2021). Integration or assimilation? A comparative intertextual analysis of language policy in Madrid and Catalonia. International Journal of Language & Law, 101, 24–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auer, P. (2005). A post-script: Code-switching and social identity. Journal of Pragmatics, 371, 403–410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bentahila, A. (1983). Language attitudes among Arabic-French bilinguals in Morocco. Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bonet, E. (2014). 30 years of language policy. Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chana, U., & Romaine, S. (1984). Evaluative reactions to Panjabi/English code-switching. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 51, 447–473. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheshire, J., & Moser, L. M. (1994). English as a cultural symbol: The case of advertisements in French-speaking Switzerland. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 15(6), 451–469. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Congreso de los Diputados (2003). La Constitución española de 1978. [Constitution of Spain] Retrieved 20 January, 2020, from [URL]
Cortès-Colomé, M., Barrieras, M., & Comellas, P. (2016). Changes in immigrant individuals’ language attitudes through contact with Catalan: The mirror effect. Language Awareness, 25(4), 272–289. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dewaele, J. M., & Wei, L. (2014). Attitudes towards code-switching among adult mono- and multilingual language users. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 35(3), 235–251. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Estors Sastre, L. (2014). Les actitudes lingüístiques segons l’origen dels aprenents de català com a llengua d’acollida [Linguistic attitudes according to the origin of learners of Catalan as a host language]. Treballs de Sociolingüística Catalana, 241, 152–171. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fader, A. (2001). Literacy, bilingualism, and gender in a Hasidic community. Linguistics and Education, 12(3), 261–283. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Learning faith: Language socialization in a Hasidic community. Language in Society, 35(2), 207–229. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). Redeeming sacred sparks: Syncretism and gendered language shift among Hasidic Jews in New York. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 17(1), 1–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Mitzvah girls: Bringing up the next generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn. Princeton University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fishman, J. (2001). 300-plus years of heritage language education in the United States. In J. K. Peyton, D. A. Ranard, & S. McGinnis (Eds.), Heritage languages in America: Preserving a national resource (pp. 81–89). Washington, DC & McHenry, IL: Center for Applied Linguistics & Delta Systems.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fukuda, M. (2014). Barrera o passaport per a la integració? Ideologies lingüístiques dels japonesos residents a Catalunya [Barrier or passport to integration? Linguistic ideologies of Japanese residents in Catalonia]. Revista de Llengua i Dret, 621, 86–105. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Language use in the context of double minority: The case of Japanese-Catalan/Spanish families in Catalonia. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(4), 401–418. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Galindo Solé, M., & Vila i Moreno, F. X. (2009). Factors explaining informal linguistic usage among Catalan schoolchildren: Initial language, social networks, competence and vehicular language for teaching. Noves SSL, Revista de Sociolingüística, n. p.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Generalitat of Catalunya. (2018). Language policy report. Retrieved 12 August, 2020, from: [URL]
. (2019). Foreign population by countries. Instituto de Estadística de Cataluña. Retrieved 12 August, 2020, from: [URL]
Gore, S. (2002). The Catalan language and immigrants from outside the European Union. International Journal of Iberian Studies, 15(2), 91–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumperz, J. J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huguet, À., & Janés, J. (2008). Mother tongue as a determining variable in language attitudes. The case of immigrant Latin American students in Spain. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(4), 247–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Larrea Mendizabal, I. (2017). Les actituds lingüístiques d’immigrants adults d’origen panjabi a Catalunya [Linguistic attitudes of adult Punjabi immigrants in Catalonia] [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University Pompeu Fabra].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marshall, S. (2007). New Latino diaspora and new zones of language contact: A social constructionist analysis of Spanish-speaking Latin Americans in Catalonia. In J. Holmquist, A. Lorenzino & L. Sayahi (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the Third Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp. 150–161). Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mijares Molina, L. (2006). Aprendiendo a ser marroquíes. Inmigración, diversidad lingüística y escuela [Learning to be Moroccan. Immigration, linguistic diversity, and school]. Ediciones de Oriente y del Mediterráneo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mills, J. (2004). Mothers and mother tongue: Perspectives on self-construction by mothers of Pakistani heritage. In A. Pavlenko & A. Blackledge (Eds.), Negotiation of identities in multilingual contexts (pp. 161–191). Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moreno-Fernández, F. (2009). Integración sociolingüística en contextos de inmigración: marco epistemológico para su estudio en España [Sociolinguistic integration in contexts of immigration: Epistemological framework for its study in Spain]. Lengua y migración, 1(1), 121–156.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moustaoui Srhir, A. (2016). Tú serás el responsable ante Dios el día del juicio si no le enseñas árabe [a tu hijo o hija]: lengua árabe, identidad y vitalidad etnolingüística en un grupo de marroquíes en Madrid [You will be responsible before God on judgment day if you do not teach Arabic [to your son or daughter]: Arabic language, identity and ethnolinguistic vitality in a group of Moroccans in Madrid]. Lengua y migración, 8(1), 51–79.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Nueva economía y dinámicas de cambio sociolingüístico en el paisaje lingüístico de Madrid: el caso del árabe [New economy and dynamics of sociolinguistic change in the linguistic landscape of Madrid: the case of Arabic]. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 1(21-XI), 89–108.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newman, M., & Trenchs-Parera, M. (2015). Language policies, ideologies and attitudes in Catalonia. Part 1: Reversing language shift in the twentieth century. Language and Linguistic Compass, 9(7), 285–294. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lawson, S., & Sachdev, I. (2000). Codeswitching in Tunisia: Attitudinal and behavioural dimensions. Journal of Pragmatics, 32(9), 1343–1361. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parliament of Catalonia (2006). Organic Law 6/2006 of the 19th July, in The Reform of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1983). Ley 7/1983, Normalización lingüística en Cataluña. [Linguistic normalization in Catalonia]. Retrieved 20 January, 2020, from: [URL]
Pavlenko, A., & Blackledge, A. (2004). Negotiation of identities in multilingual contexts. Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pujolar, J. (2009). Immigration and language education in Catalonia: Between national and social agendas. Linguistics and Education, 211, 229–243. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rahman, T. (2007). The role of English in Pakistan. In A. B. M. Tsui & J. W. Tollefson (Eds.), Language policy, culture, and identity in Asian contexts (pp. 219–239). Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). Language, ideology and power: Language-learning among the Muslims of Pakistan and North India. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ready, C. (2021). “Yo me siento andalusí”: el marco espaciotemporal en la construcción de identidad de inmigrantes marroquíes en Granada, España. [“I feel Andalusian”: spatiotemporal framework in the construction of identity of Moroccan immigrants in Granada, Spain] Lengua y migración, 13(1), n. p. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabahat, P., & Aslam, S. (2013). A study of reasons for code-switching in Facebook by Pakistani Urdu English bilinguals. Language in India, 13(11), 564–590.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabaté i Dalmau, M. (2014). Migrant communication enterprises: Regimentation and resistance. Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trenchs-Parera, M., & Newman, M. (2015). Language policies, ideologies, and attitudes. Part 2: international immigration, globalization and the future of Catalan. Language and Linguistics Compass, 9(12), 491–501. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Velásquez, M. C. (2010). Language and identity: Bilingual code-switching in Spanish English interviews. [Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Toronto].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vila i Moreno, F. X., & Galindo Solé, M. (2012). Sobre la història i l’extensió de la norma de convergència lingüística a Catalunya [On the history and extension of the linguistic convergence rule in Catalonia]. Institut d’Estudis Catalans.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Woolard, K. A. (1989). Double talk: Bilingualism and the politics of ethnicity in Catalonia. Stanford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Nazeer, Imran , Jawaria Rehman & Minaam Butt
2024. Exploring Code-Switching Dynamics in Urdu-English Multilingual ChatGPT Models: Patterns, Challenges, and Implications. Journal of Policy Research 10:2 ► pp. 18 ff. DOI logo
Rolland, Louise
2023. ‘I’m sure at some point we’ll be switching’: planning and enacting an interview language policy with multilingual participants. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 44:8 ► pp. 702 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue