Language, Identity, and Cultural Awareness in Spanish-speaking Families

Abstract

There exists a wealth of research in the areas of heritage languages in the United States. Over the last two decades, the rapidly growing work on Spanish, particularly, is making important strides in the understanding of this research area. Yet, there is only minimal work focusing specifically on language socialization and Spanish maintenance in Canada. In this article, I describe qualitative research examining the contextual factors of the linguistic socialization of Spanish-speaking families and their children in Vancouver, Canada. Analysis of the data indicates that cultural awareness and identity, familism, and home language practices are key factors that cut across a variety of aspects of first language maintenance, both as agents and outcomes. Il existe une riche base de recherche sur les apprenants de langues d'origine aux Etats-Unis. Lors des deux dernières décennies, des études sur l'espagnol en particulier, ont permis de grands progrès dans ce domaine d'étude. Néanmoins, le nombre de recherches examinant la situation canadienne vis-à-vis de la socialisation linguistique et le maintien de l'espagnol reste infime. Cet article rapporte les résultats d'une étude qualitative, laquelle examine les facteurs contextuels de la socialisation linguistique de familles et de leurs enfants de langue espagnole à Vancouver au Canada. L'analyse des données indique que la conscience culturelle et l'identité, le famillisme, et les habitudes linguistiques au foyer sont des facteurs critiques qui affectent une variété d'aspects du maintien de la langue maternelle, autant comme agents que comme conséquences.

A deliberate language policy or a perceived lack of agency: Heritage language maintenance in the Polish community in Melbourne

“…They underlined the necessity to celebrate Christmas and Easter traditions, especially religious ones. Concurrently, they expressed their contentment about the fact that the children had adapted to Australian society despite being situated in a diaspora community, which is also congruent with a study conducted by Guardado (2008).…”

“…They underlined the necessity to celebrate Christmas and Easter traditions, especially religious ones. Concurrently, they expressed their contentment about the fact that the children had adapted to Australian society despite being situated in a diaspora community, which is also congruent with a study conducted by Guardado (2008) In this account, Agnieszka positions her children in two different worlds. Cultivating ethnic cultural practices provides a link for them to the Polish extended family and enhances inner family communication, whereas being fully immersed in their Australian life is important in terms of affinity and belonging.…”

‘Glued to the family’: the role of familism in heritage language development strategies

“…While some degree of familism exists in every culture (Kassess, 1976;Kim, 1990;Lau, 1981;Lind, 1971;Mindel, 1980), the role that it plays in the HLD of Hispanic immigrant families is of particular importance, and therefore, of scholarly interest. Because familism -and the emotional ties that sustain it -is such a central cultural value for Hispanics, even extended family members living elsewhere can have a significant effect on HLD (Guardado, 2002(Guardado, , 2006(Guardado, , 2008b. Indeed, its centrality to Hispanic culture 2 makes it somewhat surprising that very few HLD studies with Hispanics have drawn on the concept to inform their analyses.…”

Speaking or being Chinese: the case of South African-born Chinese

“…Some scholars consider the relationship between language and cultural identity to be interdependent and inseparable (Guardado 2008;Fishman 1991). Supporters of this view generally believe that language is more than a tool for communication and information exchange, but is a conditional marker of identity, closely linked with tradition and collective mythology (May 2000).…”