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

Résumé En

I will show how resistance is observed during intergenerational multilingual conversations among transnational families linked to Antioch (South Turkey) and living in France or Germany. After presenting some context and methodology regarding their multilingual language practices (Istanbullu 2017) and based on the analysis of plurilingual corpora (Léglise et Alby 2016), I will focus on the resistance phenomena of children with adults in these families whose members use resources in several languages (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 of resistance seem to block not only communication, but are also a brake on the practice of the heritage language (Arabic) by the youngest participants.References: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, & 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.