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    Family interaction and engagement with the heritage language: A case study

    Cover for Family interaction and engagement with the heritage language: A case study
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    Creator
    De Fina, Anna
    Abstract
    In this paper I closely examine spontaneous interactions between members of a tri-generation Italian American family. I argue that members show different language preferences and differing attitudes towards the family's multilingual identity but that they all demonstrate a degree of `engagement' with the heritage language. Phenomena that I describe as illustrating engagement are speech accommodation, translations, metalinguistic comments, and attempts to speak the language that I characterize as `probing' and `performing.' Data come from a case study of an Italian American family living in Flushing, New York, conducted through sociolinguistic interviews and tape-recording of spontaneous interaction. All data were collected by one of the family members. The paper's main objectives are to demonstrate the vitality of qualitative paradigms for the study of language use and identity negotiations among immigrant groups, and to extend the still limited investigation of actual talk in interaction among Italian Americans.
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10822/559321
    Date Published
    2011
    Rights
    Publisher's version/PDF may be used, on author/editor's own website or institutional repository
    Subject
    multilingual practices; identity; ethnicity; family interaction; language engagement; immigrant communities; Heritage language speakers--New York (State)--New York; Italian Americans--New York (State)--New York--Languages; Italian Americans--New York (State)--New York--Ethnic identity;
    Type
    text
    Publisher
    Walter de Gruyter GmbH
    Collections
    • Faculty Scholarship - Italian Department
    Metadata
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    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2022 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility