Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Multilingualism among children, age 7-12, typological representation and language use pattern in a medium sized town in Norway.

Arntzen, Ragnar and Håkansson, Gisela LU (2022) In International Journal of Multilingualism p.1-15
Abstract
This article examines multilingual language use in two groups of children, one group at a state school, and one at a private IB school. The IB school has earlier been assumed to reflect an ‘elite’ multilingualism. Three research questions are posed: to what extent is the children’s language use multilingual, what are their typological profiles, and are there any differences between the two groups in the language use patterns. The agency of the speaker is captured by self-reporting questionnaires. We use a method of circles in which the participant fills in the names and domains of the languages in use. The answers are registered according to three main dimensions: family, social interaction and media use. The study is exploratory and... (More)
This article examines multilingual language use in two groups of children, one group at a state school, and one at a private IB school. The IB school has earlier been assumed to reflect an ‘elite’ multilingualism. Three research questions are posed: to what extent is the children’s language use multilingual, what are their typological profiles, and are there any differences between the two groups in the language use patterns. The agency of the speaker is captured by self-reporting questionnaires. We use a method of circles in which the participant fills in the names and domains of the languages in use. The answers are registered according to three main dimensions: family, social interaction and media use. The study is exploratory and descriptive, and the results demonstrate that a large majority of the children at both schools used more than one language. The study is innovative in combining a sociolinguistic approach with language typology. Our results shed light on children’s dynamic and flexible language use, using languages from all of the world’s language families. We found similarities in the multilingualism of the two groups, and there was little to indicate that the IB pupils could be characterised as having an ‘elite’ multilingualism. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
This article examines multilingual language use in two groups of
children, one group at a state school, and one at a private IB
school. The IB school has earlier been assumed to reflect an ‘elite’
multilingualism. Three research questions are posed: to what
extent is the children’s language use multilingual, what are their
typological profiles, and are there any differences between the
two groups in the language use patterns. The agency of the
speaker is captured by self-reporting questionnaires. We use a
method of circles in which the participant fills in the names and
domains of the languages in use. The answers are registered
according to three main dimensions: family, social interaction... (More)
This article examines multilingual language use in two groups of
children, one group at a state school, and one at a private IB
school. The IB school has earlier been assumed to reflect an ‘elite’
multilingualism. Three research questions are posed: to what
extent is the children’s language use multilingual, what are their
typological profiles, and are there any differences between the
two groups in the language use patterns. The agency of the
speaker is captured by self-reporting questionnaires. We use a
method of circles in which the participant fills in the names and
domains of the languages in use. The answers are registered
according to three main dimensions: family, social interaction and
media use. The study is exploratory and descriptive, and the
results demonstrate that a large majority of the children at both
schools used more than one language. The study is innovative in
combining a sociolinguistic approach with language typology.
Our results shed light on children’s dynamic and flexible
language use, using languages from all of the world’s language
families. We found similarities in the multilingualism of the two
groups, and there was little to indicate that the IB pupils could be
characterised as having an ‘elite’ multilingualism. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
Multilingual use; language typology; children; ‘elite’; age, Multilingual use, language typology, children, ‘elite’, age
in
International Journal of Multilingualism
pages
15 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85142354589
ISSN
1479-0718
DOI
10.1080/14790718.2022.2143507
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
509b670c-9f33-4d41-9cda-0762aa126cba
date added to LUP
2022-12-20 13:11:45
date last changed
2023-12-01 18:13:14
@article{509b670c-9f33-4d41-9cda-0762aa126cba,
  abstract     = {{This article examines multilingual language use in two groups of children, one group at a state school, and one at a private IB school. The IB school has earlier been assumed to reflect an ‘elite’ multilingualism. Three research questions are posed: to what extent is the children’s language use multilingual, what are their typological profiles, and are there any differences between the two groups in the language use patterns. The agency of the speaker is captured by self-reporting questionnaires. We use a method of circles in which the participant fills in the names and domains of the languages in use. The answers are registered according to three main dimensions: family, social interaction and media use. The study is exploratory and descriptive, and the results demonstrate that a large majority of the children at both schools used more than one language. The study is innovative in combining a sociolinguistic approach with language typology. Our results shed light on children’s dynamic and flexible language use, using languages from all of the world’s language families. We found similarities in the multilingualism of the two groups, and there was little to indicate that the IB pupils could be characterised as having an ‘elite’ multilingualism.}},
  author       = {{Arntzen, Ragnar and Håkansson, Gisela}},
  issn         = {{1479-0718}},
  keywords     = {{Multilingual use; language typology; children; ‘elite’; age; Multilingual use; language typology; children; ‘elite’; age}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  pages        = {{1--15}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Multilingualism}},
  title        = {{Multilingualism among children, age 7-12, typological representation and language use pattern in a medium sized town in Norway.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2022.2143507}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/14790718.2022.2143507}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}