Madina Djuraeva

In this paper, we argue that critical applied linguists must work towards the materially transformative, dialogic inclusion of marginalized voices in order to create more just social relations. We show how a spatiotemporal theorization of voice as materially situated and discursively imaginative can enable a more holistic approach to including such voices. Illustrative data come from the experiences of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong and includes their discourses, those of their employers, and those of domestic worker-led grassroots organizations. We use these data to demonstrate how different stakeholders have unequal abilities to materialize the spatiotemporal imaginaries they voice out, how academic (re)theorizations of language may not always bring about changes to the material spatiotemporal conditions of marginalized stakeholders, and why the collective voices of marginalized groups should be taken into account alongside individual voices. Implications are discussed in t...

ABSTRACT This study responds to scholarship that has examined “folk concepts” of (non)nativeness through the lens of imagined ideals of the native speaker, by proposing a framework that integrates both ideals and habits. We operationalize these concepts by drawing from the theoretical notions of chronotope, scale, and habitus. Using data from interviews with Central Asian transnational migrants, we demonstrate how attending to both the habitual and idealized aspects of speakers’ metalinguistic commentary offers a more holistic approach to the study of multilingual repertoires and speakers’ social positionings in relationship to (non)nativeness. Our findings demonstrate how identification as a “(non)native” speaker may become more or less important to participants depending on whether they orient to habits or ideals. We also show that speakers’ use of “discourses of habit”, which emphasize their less conscious linguistic behaviors, may lead to a blurring of the lines between nativeness and non-nativeness. This in turn has implications for theories of agency as resistance to linguistic marginalization, and contributes to applied issues related to language education.

This study examines the ownership of English and linguistic (in)security of multilingual English learners in two post-Soviet nation-states. Using the chronotopic and scalar analysis of discourse, I examine students’ ideologies of English vis-à-vis their linguistic repertoires in the context of national imaginary and globalization. I utilize the concept of ‘nation branding’ to trace the relationship between language ideologies and broader sociopolitical factors, including neoliberalism. The analysis of 60 individual student interviews revealed that the state-circulated nation-branding discourse is a powerful tool for instilling the sense of linguistic ownership. The findings showed that students in Uzbekistan regard English as opportunistic and more valuable in the global market than their local languages. In contrast, students in Kazakhstan see all of their languages including English as pivotal in enacting trilingual identity at local, national, and global scales.

The subject of this paper is how parental language ideologies are discursively represented in relation to the small-scale, relatively private family decisions involved in language planning. We use data from the multilingual context of post-soviet Central Asian families-both abroad and in indigenous contexts to examine, through socially situated analysis of discourse and narrative inquiry methods, how parents justify decisions that influence their children's education and linguistic exposure. We use the notion of " chronotope " as a way to conceptualize how parental ideologies are embedded in images of space, time and moral personhood, i.e. as members of a soviet state, a newly independent nation-state, or in a host country. Focusing on these images, rather than only on language ideologies, allows us to incorporate the many social factors-both linguistic and non-linguistic-involved in bottom-up language planning and to pay more attention to emic perspectives. Our focus on moral images is not meant to negate the influence of top-down factors and state discourses, but rather to show how these discourses are internalized by participants through their understandings of morality relative to other issues such as language education.

This study examines the ownership of English and linguistic (in)security of multilingual English learners in two post-Soviet nation-states. Using the chronotopic and scalar analysis of discourse, I examine students’ ideologies of English vis-à-vis their linguistic repertoires in the context of national imaginary and globalization. I utilize the concept of ‘nation branding’ to trace the relationship between language ideologies and broader sociopolitical factors, including neoliberalism. The analysis of 60 individual student interviews revealed that the state-circulated nation-branding discourse is a powerful tool for instilling the sense of linguistic ownership. The findings showed that students in Uzbekistan regard English as opportunistic and more valuable in the global market than their local languages. In contrast, students in Kazakhstan see all of their languages including English as pivotal in enacting trilingual identity at local, national, and global scales.

In this chapter I argue that the newly-formed Uzbek national identity is a product of the historical, political and cultural events that largely drew on a language as a symbolic system for building such an identity. Through a focus on the language reforms and language in education policies, I show their impact in producing the ‘Uzbek citizen’. Indeed, there are no controversies over a language status or the meaning of being Uzbek in a twenty-three year old independent republic which is internationalizing its education. This cannot be noted, however, about its neighboring countries, such as Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. What role the language policies played in formation of Uzbek national identity is the focus of this chapter.