Feeling Special: Language in the Lives of Polish People

Abstract

In this article I use findings from an ESRC funded project on language and identity in the narratives of Polish people to challenge a narrow approach to language in debates about integration. I argue that decisions about learning languages are influenced by wider concerns of self and other identification rather then simply being issues of instrumental need. I show how research participants viewed speaking Polish as an important part of being Polish, that is, of their identity. They recognised that changing the language they spoke involved questioning the way they presented themselves and how they related to others. I discuss how language was used to differentiate between 'us' and 'others', including in terms of values and the ways in which these perceptions of difference influenced social interactions.

Relations between Second-Language Proficiency and National Identification: The Case of Immigrants in Germany

“…Some of her respondents stress the importance of high proficiency in the second language as a tool for the demonstration of their strong identification with the receiving society (Giampapa, 2001). Tempel (2010) demonstrates that Polish speakers in England related learning English to changes they are willing or unwilling to make in their lives and in their self-concepts. Similarly, Cervatiuc (2009) demonstrates how re-categorization into a community of bicultural persons increases first generation immigrants' ability to acquire second language skills.…”

“…Language proficiency has been on the agenda of integration research for many years and served as an important indicator of human capital, determining immigrants' structural integration (e.g., Chiswick, 1991). Yet as Tempel (2010) points out, much less has been done to investigate the relations between language and national identification (but see Alba, 1990;Berry, 1997;Portes and Rumbaut, 2001;Waters, 1990). …”

Beyond ‘us’ and ‘them’: migrant encounters with difference and reimagining the national

“…There has been, nonetheless, relatively little scholarly interest into these issues so far, with several notable exceptions that focus on the expressions of diasporic belonging (e.g. Burrell 2006Burrell , 2008Temple 2010;Brown 2011;Bielewska 2012) and family migration (e.g. Lopez Rodriguez 2010;Heath et al 2011;White 2011).…”

On the inclusive and exclusive functions of the ‘other’ language in family talk

“…Research has also been conducted on various issues related to the preservation of Polish identity, such as the role of food habits in creating a Polish home (Rabikowska 2010), the emergence of Polish shops (Rabikowska & Burrell 2009) and the relationship between the use of Polish language and identity (Temple 2010).…”