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Article published In: Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts
Vol. 5:2 (2019) ► pp.165–184

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Translanguaging as an expression of transnational identity

Ethnicity renegotiation in the Indian diaspora

 | University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ | University of Heidelberg
Published online: 24 April 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00030.reg
Abstract
Non-linguists are usually able to discriminate accurately between different language patterns (Niedzielski, Nancy A., and Dennis R. Preston. 2003. Folk Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Preston, Dennis R. 2010. “Language, People, Salience, Space. Perceptual Dialectology and Language Regard.” Dialectologia 51: 87–131.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) although long-standing scholarly tradition has often, if not always, contradicted their views of language (Boas, Franz. 1917. “Introductory.” International Journal of American Linguistics 11: 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Bloomfield, in Hall, Robert A. Jr. 1950. “Obituary of Leonard Bloomfield.” Lingua 21: 117–123. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Moreover, in diasporic settings, speakers’ constant need of renegotiating the problem of ethnicity is often resolved in their willingness to shed their regional, linguistic and ethnic identities to the detriment of their more general pan-Indian one (Jayaram, Narajana. 2004. The Indian Diaspora. Dynamics of Migration. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). In an Indian diasporic community situated in Heidelberg, Germany, perceived subtle differences in L2 phonological characteristics may index local and situated ethnic identities. In order to ascertain whether dialectal variation has salience for the community, this paper presents findings on how translanguaging might be a valuable linguistic resource in the expression of speakers’ ethnic identities. A qualitative analysis of questionnaires, interviews and informal conversations has delineated a new ‘diaspora consciousness’ (Vertovec, Steven. 1997. “Three Meanings of ‘Diaspora’, Exemplified among South Asian Religions.” Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 6(3): 277–299. Accessed January 23, 2019. [URL]) in light of the transient aspect of the community in question.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translanguaging in India and the Indian Diaspora
  • 3.Present study
    • 3.1The Heidelberg Indian Student Community
    • 3.2An investigation into identity, ethnicity and translanguaging
  • 4.Data and methodology
  • 5.Results and discussion
  • 6.Conclusion and outlook
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (60)
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