Family Language Policies And Practices In The Multilingual Transnational Marriages

As a burgeoning area of research in sociolinguistics and applied linguistics,the field of family language policy has flourished in recent years,addressing an ever-increasing breadth of transnational populations,family types,and linguistic practices.However,little is known about the family language policy(FLP)and language practices in multilingual transnational families between Chinese and Burmese in some rural areas in southwestern China Yunnan province,where transnational marriages between Chinese and Burmese have been prevalent.Therefore,a study on FLPs in the multilingual transnational marriages in some rural areas of Yunnan province has both theoretical and practical significance.Under the frameworks of Curdt-Christiansen’s(2014a)conceptualization of FLP and Wenger’s Communities of Practice(Cof P)(1998),by means of questionnaires and in-depth interviews,the present study aimed to address the gap by investigating the language competence,language practices,language ideologies and language management strategies in the transnational Chinese-Burmese families in Yangliu Township,Baoshan City of Yunnan province.Meanwhile,the underlying factors influencing the FLPs were explored.In total 20 transnational marriage families were recruited to participate in this study,containing 20 couples(40 parents)and 3 children.To this end,questionnaires and ethnographic open-ended interviews were adopted to collect their demographic information and their family language polices as well as language practices.The interviews were conducted in the Han dialect except 3 fathers who were interviewed in the Yi language.All interviews were recorded and transcribed for detailed analysis and discussion.The findings obtained from the study showed that:(1)The language competence of different languages was not identical among the participants,leading to various language practices and language management strategies.Only several participants could speak Putonghua fluently.All Chinese fathers were able to speak the Han dialect very fluently,among whom a half could speak either the Yi or Bai language fluently.The first language(L1)or native language of one half of the Burmese mothers was Burmese or other ethnic minority languages of Myanmar with the remaining half whose L1 was the Han dialect and some of them learned a new language(the Han dialect and either the Bai or Yi language)and the Chinese characters after their marriages.(2)The participants’ language practices mainly depended on their interlocutors.The Han dialect was widely used to talk to various interlocutors.Either the Bai or Yi language was spoken by the fathers to the fellow villagers or to their spouses.Among mothers whose L1 was either Burmese or one of the ethnic minority languages in Myanmar,only 2 mothers strove to transmit their L1 to children but others failed or did not do it.(3)The interplay between language practices and language ideologies was observed in the study,but sometimes language practices were conflicting with language ideologies.A majority of the parents claimed that Putonghua should be used to talk to the children at home,but they seldom or never spoke it to them.(4)The Burmese mothers,in order to be full members in the Cof P,utilized personal networks and applications on smartphones as language management strategies to learn a new language(the Han dialect or the Yi/Bai language)and the Chinese characters.(5)The FLPs of the transnational families were influenced by both the micro factors like parental language background,education level,etc.and macro factors such as sociolinguistic,socioeconomic,sociocultural,sociopolitical forces.This study makes a contribution to the field of FLP by expanding the scope of enquiring the multilingual transnational families in rural villages in China-Myanmar border areas.It also provides a new research area of continuing to investigate the transnational family language policy and language practices in multilingual and multicultural rural contexts in border areas.The thesis ends with the limitations of the study and suggestions for further research.