Speaking Subjects in Multilingualism Research

Biographical and Speaker-centred Approaches

Edited by Judith Purkarthofer, Mi-Cha Flubacher

Publication date:

22 July 2022

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781800415720

This book discusses salient moments of multilingual encounters and brings together contributions focused on the interplay between language use by individuals and societies, and language-related inequalities or opportunities for speakers. The chapters demonstrate how biographical and speaker-centred approaches can contribute to an understanding of linguistic diversity, how researchers can empirically account for lived experiences of languages, and how such accounts are embedded in a larger discussion on social (in)equality. Together the chapters make a powerful case for the importance of speaker-centred methodologies in multilingual and multilingualism research. The book is a rich source of theoretical and methodological reflections and will thus be a valuable resource for both experienced researchers and students beginning to explore biographical research methods.

Figures and Tables
Contributors
Acknowledgments

Part 1: Introducing Speaking Subjects

Chapter 1. Mi-Cha Flubacher and Judith Purkarthofer: Speaking Subjects in Multilingualism Research: Biographical and Speaker-centred Approaches

Chapter 2. Judith Purkarthofer: And the Subject Speaks to You: Biographical Narratives as Memories and Stories of the Narratable Self

Chapter 3. Tim McNamara: Discourse and the Agency of the Subject in Autobiographical Narratives

Chapter 4. Mi-Cha Flubacher: Ethnography as a Speaker-centred Approach? Methodological Reflections

Part 2: Empirical Insights

Language Portraits as a Starting Ground

Chapter 5. Christine Anthonissen: Profiles of Multilingualism: An Analysis of Language Biographies and Linguistic Repertoires of University Students

Chapter 6. Maartje De Meulder and Annelies Kusters: Experiencing Multimodal Languaging: The Use of Language Portraits with Deaf and Hearing Multilingual Signers

Chapter 7. Ruth Singer: Linguistic Biographies and Language Portraits as Tools for Developing Shared Understandings of Multilingualism with an Indigenous Australian Community

Linguistic Repertoires and Language Learning in Time and Space

Chapter 8. Xolisa Guzula: Children’s Use of Their Full Linguistic Repertoire to Establish a Social and Linguistic Third Space for Learning: A Case Study of the Stars of Today Literacy Club

Chapter 9. Simangele Mashazi and Marcelyn Oostendorp: Belonging: The Interplay of Linguistic Repertoires, Bodies and Space in an Educational Context

Chapter 10. Julie Choi: Learning about Multilingual Language Learning Experiences through Language Trajectory Grids

Chapter 11. Andrea Sedlaczek: Using Media Diaries to Study Multilingual Media Repertoires: A Pilot Study with Language Learners in a Rural Community Education Setting

Addressing Trauma

Chapter 12. Julia Sonnleitner: A Past of Flesh and Blood: Chronotopic Agency and Embodiment in Biographic Narrative

Chapter 13. Mastura Raschidy: Freedom is Suffering for a Caged Bird: Biographical Approaches and Psychotraumatology

Chapter 14. Mascha Dabić: Speaking about the Unspeakable: Interpreter-mediated Psychotherapy for Survivors of War and Torture

Part 3: Unsettling and Extending Biographical Research and Speaker-centred Approaches

Chapter 15. Ana Deumert, Zolani Kupe and Nkululeko Mabandla: Ilwiimi Zisulungekile: Reflections on Language, Meaning and Communication

Chapter 16. Jürgen Spitzmüller: Ideologies of Communication: The Social Link between Actors, Signs and Practices

Chapter 17. Anne-Christel Zeiter-Grau: Language Issues? On Collecting Language Biographies without Focusing on Language

Chapter 18. Brigitta Busch: A Few Remarks on Working with Auto-Socio-Bio-Ethnography

Index

This brilliant contribution to language research reframes our understanding of linguistic repertoires, diversity and (in)equality in multilingual societies. Through creative and thought-provoking ideas, it inspires researchers to think differently regarding the creation of knowledge about speakers and their languages. A must-read for anybody interested in speaker-centred approaches to language.