Resistance during intergenerational language practices in transnational families (Turkey, France, Germany)

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Resistance during intergenerational language practices in transnational families (Turkey, France, Germany)There is resistance where there is power (Foucault 1976) which “exists in all social relations and is negotiated in each relation and context” (Jonsson 2014). For Scott (1985), “resistance is the weapon of the weaks”. It happens when human beings face a situation which seems illegitimate to them: it is the refusal to submit to someone, to domination.In language context, resistance is meaningful when speakers manifest it with others, for example, at school (Martín Rojo 2010), with a refusal to collaborate to a system (Canagarajah 1999) or within family where children show their disagreement towards their parents (Fogle et King 2013).In this study, I will show how resistance is observed during intergenerational conversations in the case of transnational multilingual families who are linked historically to Antioch (South Turkey) where they belong to a minority group speaking Arabic essentially within family, and Turkish. They mostly live in France or Germany, visiting Antioch occasionally.After presenting some context and methodology regarding their multilingual language practices (Istanbullu 2017) and based on the analysis of multilingual corpora (Léglise et Alby 2016), I will focus on the resistance phenomena observed between adults and children in these families whose members use resources in several languages during their conversations (Arabic, Turkish, French or German). This happens in the complex socially collaborative process (Luykx 2003) where, in response to adult’s behaviours such as insistence, mockery or unfair treatment, children manifest their disagreement. They may refuse to align with their interlocutor, refuse to speak the language that adults encourage them to use, or refuse to communicate and interact. These phenomena seem to block not only communication, but are also a brake on the practice of the heritage language (Arabic) by the youngest participants. Keywords: Resistance, transnational families, multilingual families, family language policy, language practicesReferences:Fogle, Lyn W., et Kendall A. King. 2013. « Child Agency and Language Policy in Transnational Families ». Issues in Applied Linguistics 19: 1‑25.Istanbullu, Suat. 2017. « Pratiques langagières intergénérationnelles : le cas de familles transnationales plurilingues (Antioche, Île-de-France, Berlin) ». Paris: Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales.Jonsson, Carla. 2014. « Power and resistance: Language mixing in three Chicago plays ». International Journal of Bilingualism 18 (2): 118‑33.Léglise, Isabelle, et Sophie Alby. 2016. « Plurilingual corpora and polylanguaging, where corpus linguistics meets contact linguistics ». Sociolinguistic Studies 10 (3): 357‑81.Scott, James C. 1985. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.