Elite multilingualism a critical dialogue from a theoretical

Elite multilingualism: a critical dialogue from a theoretical and empirical standpoint Dr Elisabeth Barakos Dr Charlotte Selleck SS 21 Murcia 2016 Aston University, Birmingham University of Worcester e. barakos@aston. ac. uk c. selleck@worc. ac. uk 1

Outline A Elite multilingualism – what and why? 3 B Elite multilingualism – how? 6 2

A. Elite multilingualism – what and why? 3

Elite multilingualism: what? Multilingualism • Multilingual turn (May 2013) • Current celebratory discourses on multilingualism as pride/profit (Duchêne & Heller 2012) and capital (Bourdieu 1986) • ‘Prestige’ or ‘pure’ multilingual speakers of international languages vs. ‘plebeian’ multilingual speakers of minoritised or regional language varieties (Jaspers 2009) Eliteness • Linguistic: some languages / language varieties / accents / dialects are more ‘prestigious’, more ‘equal’ and have more market value than others • Social: some classes of speakers have easier / more natural / privileged access to linguistic resources than others (cf. Block 2014) • Economic: processes of globalisation and a neoliberal market order may make more visible and tangible who and what is elite / non-elite ➨ EM AS SOMETHING THAT ADDS SOCIAL / MATERIAL CAPITAL, PRESTIGE, PRIVILEGE AND ACCESS TO RESOURCES FOR SOME 4

Elite multilingualism: why? Critical sociolinguistic framing Questions • Linguistic diversity as rarely neutral and as something hierarchical (Piller 2016) • • Multilingualism as an ideology of and for the elite (Mejia 2002) What counts as ‘elite multilingualism’? How is multilingualism as a kind of power regime taken up in different spaces? Which type of multilingualism counts? • Tensions over monolingual ideologies as central for minority language speakers to claim rights (Mc. Laughlin 2015) • Are certain languages favoured by ‘elite’ learners? How are other, less frequently learnt languages and their speakers positioned? • Does multilingualism bring about new forms of inequalities, hierarchies and stratification? Who benefits from multilingualism and who is marginalised by it? 5

B. Elite multilingualism – how? 6

Elite multilingualism – panel participants § Roseline G. Paquet & Catherine Levasseur, Université de Montréal, “When bilingulism isn't enough: perspectives from new French speakers on multilingualism in Montreal and Vancouver“ § Michael Hornsby, Adam Mickiewicz University, “Positions and stances in the hierarchisation of Breton speakerhood”. § Siân Preece, University College London, “We speak mixed, innit? The case of non-elite multilingual students in higher education § Alicia Fernández Barrera and Ana María Relaño-Pastor, University of Castilla La Mancha, “Nativist Language Ideologies in Bilingual Schools in La Mancha: Socializing ‘elitist English’ in the classroom and beyond”. § Andrea Sunyol & Eva Codó, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, “The construction of Mandarin Chinese as an elite language in international schools in Barcelona”. § Discussant: Peter De Costa, Michigan State University ➨ ELITE MULTILINGUALISM AS A NEW LANGUAGE REGIME? 7

Selected references Block, D. (2014). Social class in applied linguistics. London: Routledge. De Mejía, A. M. (2002). Power, prestige, and bilingualism: International perspectives on elite bilingual education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Duchêne, A. & Heller, M. (eds) (2012). Language in Late Capitalism: Pride and Profit. New York: Routledge. Bourdieu, P. (1986). ‘The Forms of Capital’. Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Capital. J. G. Richardson. New York, Greenwood Press: 241 -58. Liddicoat, A. J. (2013). Language-in-education policies. The Discursive Construction of Intercultural Relations. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. May, S. (2014). The multilingual turn. New York: Routledge. Mc. Laughlin, M. (2015). Linguistic minorities and the multilingual turn: constructing language ownership through affect in cultural production. Multilingua (ahead of print). Piller, I. (2016). Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice: An Introduction to Applied Sociolinguistics. New York: Oxford University Press. 8