30.2281, Diss: Catalan-Valencian-Balear; Spanish; Sociolinguistics: Farah Ali: ''Language Attitudes among Muslim Women in Barcelona''

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-2281. Fri May 31 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.2281, Diss:  Catalan-Valencian-Balear; Spanish; Sociolinguistics: Farah Ali: ''Language Attitudes among Muslim Women in Barcelona''

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Date: Fri, 31 May 2019 16:18:05
From: Farah Ali [farah636 at gmail.com]
Subject: Language Attitudes among Muslim Women in Barcelona

 
Institution: University at Albany, State University of New York 
Program: Spanish 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2019 

Author: Farah Ali

Dissertation Title: Language Attitudes among Muslim Women in Barcelona 

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics

Subject Language(s): Catalan-Valencian-Balear (cat)
                     Spanish (spa)


Dissertation Director(s):
Megan Solon

Dissertation Abstract:

Given the multilingual setting of Catalonia, Spain - a region that is not only
home to a diverse immigrant population, but also one that officially
recognizes and heavily promotes the use of Catalan - foreign immigrant
populations are presented with the unique challenge of acculturating to two
cultures and acquiring both Spanish and Catalan while simultaneously being
faced with maintaining or losing their heritage language/culture. The
objective of this study is primarily to examine reported language use and
linguistic attitudes among first and second generation Muslim immigrant women
in Barcelona, how these attitudes are shaped by transgenerational processes
such as acculturation and language shift, and finally, how these attitudes
relate to identity construction as reflected in reported language use and
learning. In concentrating specifically on female informants, this study will
also reflect on how language use is a gendered social practice that is
realized through socio-cultural structures present in the target language (TL)
and heritage communities. Data was collected from 34 informants, all of whom
identified as first or second generation Muslim of either South Asian, North
African or West African descent. Data consists of questionnaires that were
designed to learn about informants’ background, including their attitudes
towards their native/heritage language(s)/cultures, as well as their language
use in various domains. Additionally, interviews were conducted to gain a
better understanding of informants’ experiences with acculturation, linguistic
attitudes, language use, and gendered identity.

Results indicate that first and second generation informants hold distinctive
linguistic attitudes in the case of Spanish and Catalan, where first
generation informants identified more strongly with the former and second
generation informants identified more strongly with the latter. Heritage
languages, on the other hand, were highly valued across both generations.
These attitudes are also reflected in the domains of use, although domains
were frequently assigned more than one language, suggesting that Spanish,
Catalan and heritage languages are not necessarily used in a diglossic manner.




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