“Quierojuksar en lajulaftenito” – Playfulness and metalinguistic awareness in translingual family interactions

Abstract

This article explores playfulness and creativity in translingual family interactions. In particular, it focuses on how and to what ends adolescents mobilize multilingual resources in family interactions. It investigates the cases of two multilingual families with adolescent children (13–18 years old). The families have different linguistic backgrounds, but have in common that one of the parents have migrated from a Spanish-speaking Latin-American country to Northern-Norway, and that Spanish represents a linguistic resource and a heritage language in the families. The data consists of self-recorded family interactions (29 recordings, ca. 5 h.) and were collected over the course of one year. By analysing interactions where the adolescents employ Spanish features, the article offers insights into how adolescents negotiate the position of the heritage language Spanish in the family. A close, turn-by-turn analysis demonstrates that the adolescents in a creative and playful manner employ a multitude of linguistic resources to fulfil interactional achievements: Through metalinguistic talk and playful translingual practices, the adolescents challenge and negotiate identities and family roles, exert agencies, and demonstrate metalinguistic awareness and sociolinguistic control.

Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Bi-/Multilingualism

“…[3/5;7/2] Code switching after early childhood may also be explained by the fact that the rising metalinguistic awareness allows young bi-/multilinguals to consciously choose elements of their languages in order to achieve specific communicative needs. Purposeful, creative language mixing for jocular purposes can be treated as a sign of well-developed metalinguistic awareness (Johnsen, 2022). Such language use has been observed by a few participants, for example: Mixing [was] frequent and subconscious until primary school, later [it became] rather conscious, for fun.…”