Negotiating Writing Identities Across Languages: Translanguaging as Enrichment of Semiotic Trajectories

Abstract

Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study of the writing practices of three plurilingual writers in Toronto, Canada, this article focuses on the translingual practices that these writers engaged with and discusses how these practices enriched their writing processes and products both in English and in their mother tongues. The author explains how these writers’ translanguaging was a complex process with five dimensions: (1) lexical, (2) syntactic, (3) rhetorical, (4) conceptual, and (5) presentational (how to present, share, and disseminate text). The article highlights how translanguaging contributed to the participants’ larger semiotic engagements. Moving beyond the formulations of semiotic agility as a technical skill, the author explains how translanguaging helped the writers maintain their writing identities by creating semiotic and semantic continuity in their writing trajectories.
 S’inspirant des résultats d’une étude ethnographique sur les pratiques de rédaction de trois écrivains plurilingues de Toronto au Canada, cet article se concentre sur les pratiques trans-langagières que ces écrivains utilisent et discute de la façon dont ces pratiques ont enrichi leur processus et leurs produits d’écriture à la fois en anglais et dans leur langue maternelle. L'auteur explique comment le translanguaging de ces écrivains était un processus complexe en cinq dimensions : (1) lexical, (2) syntaxique, (3) rhétorique, (4) conceptuel et (5) présentationnel (comment présenter, partager et disséminer le texte). L’article souligne comment le translanguaging a contribué aux engagements sémiotiques plus larges des participants. En se déplaçant au-delà des formulations d’agilité sémiotique comme compétence technique, l’auteur explique comment le translanguaging a permis aux écrivains de maintenir leur identité rédactionnelle en créant une continuité sémiotique et sémantique dans leurs trajectoires rédactionnelles.

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