Translocal English in the linguascape of Mongolian popular music

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the current discussion of world Englishes by revealing the seamless English language incorporation in the linguascape of the popular music scene of post-socialist Mongolia, a context that has been rarely addressed in previous research. Drawing on sets of linguistic (n)ethnographic data, the paper argues that the role of English in the mixed language practices of young musicians should be understood as 'translocal language', which makes its meaning through the contact of transnational linguistic flows and resources embedded within the idea of 'linguascape'.

Dimensions of language education policy in Asia

“…Russian and English have traditionally been the two dominant second languages. After 1990, however, when Mongolia moved from being a Russian satellite to an independent country with a market economy, English quickly transplanted Russian as the major second language (Dovchin 2017). Unusually for the region, which favours an early start in English, following the 2015 Mongolian Language Law, foreign language instruction cannot start before grade 5.…”

Uneven distribution of resources in the youth linguascapes of Mongolia

“…This study thus draws first of all on an understanding of "linguascape" (Dovchin 2016a;Dovchin 2016b;Pennycook 2003;Rantanen 2006;Steyaert et al 2011), a term originally developed by extending the notion of "-scapes" (Appadurai 1996(Appadurai , 2001(Appadurai , 2006 to refer to "the transnational flows of linguistic resources circulating across the current world of flows, making meanings in contact with other social scapes and affecting the particular speakers' linguistic practices in varied ways" (Dovchin 2016a: 4;Dovchin 2016b). This earlier understanding of linguascape focused on the ways in which the current global cultural economy is understood in terms of non-isomorphic transnational movements of the social landscapes of people, imageries, technologies, money, and ideas (i. e. ethno-, media-, techno-, financeand ideoscapes) to demonstrate the various ways that cultural objects move across boundaries to make meaning (Thorne and Ivković 2015).…”

The role of English in the language practices of Mongolian Facebook users

“…From this point of view, this article will look at the role of English in the Mongolian Facebook users through how the speakers localize available resources and further make new or locally relevant meanings out of that context. That is to say, the role of English in the local context is understood, following Dovchin et al (2015), not only through how the speakers borrow, repeat and mimic English but also through the ways they make local linguistic meanings within this complex relocalizing process (see also Dovchin, 2016aDovchin, , 2016b. As Leppänen et al (2009Leppänen et al ( : 1081 suggest, 'The skilled use of the new media together with the use of English form a powerful combination providing local actors access to translocal activity spaces and communities of practice where young [people] can create discourse that is appropriate and meaningful within their particular contexts and normative frameworks.…”

“…Mongolia embraced the linguistic and cultural diversity, and English and other foreign languages have replaced the once popular Russian language. English has now immense role in both institutional and non-institutional contexts (Dovchin, 2016a, 2016b).…”

“…They need to be considerably addressed within current language educational settings. We, as language educators, need to grasp the implications of a growing need to investigate the new conditions and ways of English being integrated into the local society (Dovchin, 2016b).…”