Bilingual idiosyncratic dimensions of language attitudes

Abstract

The goal of this study is to identify new dimensions of language attitudes to allow for both their multidimensionality and possible language-specificity stemming from local sociolinguistic environments. Adopting a two-step methodology comprising (1) elicitation of adjectives in group interviews and (2) employment of the semantic differential technique within a direct approach, this article demonstrates that language attitudes of bilinguals may be made up of a number of latent dimensions that go beyond those found in previous academic studies. In particular, Italian English bilinguals in Australia rate their languages according to three idiosyncratic dimensions only partly ascertained in the literature: attractiveness, superiority and efficiency. These three dimensions, emerged through rotated principal component analysis, reveal the significance of bilingualism in attitude formation. Moreover, this study provides insights on language attitudes as constructions avulsed from their contextualised manifestations and indeed accounts for both their language-specific singularity and intrinsic multidimensionality.

Children’s language exposure and parental language attitudes in Russian-as-a-heritage-language acquisition by bilingual and multilingual children in Canada

“…Following the descriptions of attitudes in psychology (e.g., McGuire, 1954) and linguistics (Crystal, 1992), a language attitude can be defined as “a construct underlying the feelings that people have about their own language or the languages of others” (Cherciov, 2013, p. 716). Language attitudes can relate to minority and majority languages, bilingualism, language maintenance and shift, language variation, the use of languages and their mixture, dialects, and speech styles (Santello, 2015). This paper investigates whether the heritage language development of children growing up in a bilingual environment are connected to family efforts to provide a sustainable heritage language and culture input.…”

Üleminek eestikeelsele õppele. Vene dominantkeelega Tartu lastevanemate hoiakute uurimisest

“…Keelte kategoriseerimine mõjutab keelekasutajate hoiakuid vähemus-ja enamuskeelte, kakskeelsuse, keelte varieerumise, nende kasutamise, murrete ja kõnestiilide suhtes. (Holmes 2008;Santello 2015) Suhtumine keelde sõltub paljuski sellest, kuidas tajuvad inimesed selle rolli ühiskonnas. Ingrid Piller (2000) märgib, et mitmekeelses ühiskonnas peetakse tavaliselt paremaks pigem enamus-kui vähemuskeelt, sest esimene on kasulikum: see on prestiižne ning annab võimaluse laiendada sotsiaalset võrgustikku ja suhelda teiste inimestega (vt ka Managan 2004;Dweik, Qawar 2015).…”

Nurturing bilingual learners: challenges and concerns in Singapore

“…Language ideology is a critical element in effective bilingual education as it reflects the socio-historical role, value, and function of a language or language variety in a given society (Blommaert, 2006;Woolard, 1998). How teachers and parents perceive a language is directly related to the power, value, status and utility of that language, thus divulging their attitudes towards and beliefs about a certain language (Baker, 1992;Curdt-Christiansen, 2009;Santello, 2015). Within a given society, there are or can be many ideologies which agree or disagree with each other.…”