Bilingualism

MLA Essay Heading

The theoretical tenet that lies at the heart of bilingualism is a socially constructed phenomenon constituted through sediment performances of bilingualisms-in practice (Musk 2006: 112). Situated within a poststructuralist paradigm, the social constructionist perspective adopted here draws heavily on application and adaptation of notion of the bilingualism to gender, “which means, quite simply, that it is real only to the extent that it is performed.” Likewise, bilingualism can be claimed to be a social construction, that is, a dynamic, non-essentialist category that is produced by means of repeated discursive acts, “which congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural type of being'' (Butler 1990a: 33). The bilingualism processes which constitute bilingualisms-in-practice can therefore be seen as discourse relating to the phenomenon, but also as the everyday situated practices (interactions) of bilinguals. However, although it may be useful for the analyst to make this binary distinction, it is important to bear in mind that both are part and parcel of bilingualisms-in-practice. That is, the discursive constructions of bilingualism and their associated ideologies cannot be entirely divorced from the language practices of bilinguals (and even monolinguals with whom they may also interact). Indeed, there is a reflexive relationship between the two.

Finally, it should be mentioned here that the plural form, bilingualisms in- practice, has been adopted here to highlight the multifaceted and multilayered nature of the notion. This is in accordance with recommendation to pluralize accepted concepts in order to highlight the fact that they are products of particular cultural and historical ways of thinking. Conversely, much traditional research on bilingualism and multilingualism has been characterized by a de-contextualized, mono-logistic, and often static notion of linguistic competence. This is often further compounded by a rigid, idealized, and essentialist view of languages as discrete entities. As various researchers (in this issue) also note in their data from the marketing domain and multilingual respectively, real-life bilingual linguistic practices often feature hybrid and language forms which confound such rigid notions of language.

The significance of the meso level

Let us now turn our attention to the reasoning behind the focus of this article on how bilingualisms-in-practice are performed and (re)contextualized at the meso level. If we look beyond the horizons of sociolinguistics, the developmental psychologist researchers distinguished between four interacting societal levels within the ecological systems theory - The macro level, the highest level, which constitutes larger cultural contexts, such as political units (e.g., the nation-state) or contexts of a religious or ideological nature. - The exo level, which refers to the community with its complex web of organizations and other social networks. - The meso level, which encompasses organizational contexts, e.g., schools and public institutions. - The micro level, which pertains to the individual, or, preferably, to take a more dialogical approach, interpersonal relations. These levels are to be seen as nested systems.

1. The impact or effects of relationships within and between the levels are illustrated by the arrows; the straight arrows between each level represent so-called cross-level effects, ...