Cover not available
Part of
Identity Struggles: Evidence from workplaces around the world
Edited by Dorien Van De Mieroop and Stephanie Schnurr
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 69] 2017
► pp. 335–352

Chapter 18
“I speak French=eh”

Multilingualism and professional identity struggles in Luxembourg

This chapter discusses the relationship between multilingual practices and the construction and challenging of professional identities at work. Whereas research into workplace discourses has intensely studied the ways in which staff members construct, negotiate and challenge each other’s professional and other identities at work, less work has so far been conducted on the specific impact of a multilingual workplace on these processes. This seems surprising, given that multilingual workplaces are the norm rather than the exception in today’s globalised world, and given that multilingualism in the workplace is a prominent area of research in workplace discourse. Moreover, the relationship between multilingualism and identity has been identified as one of the major issues in other areas of sociolinguistics. Using selected interactions from a supermarket and an IT company situated in Luxembourg, this chapter seeks to address this research desideratum by analysing (a) how staff members use their multilingual resources in their attempts to construct a coherent professional identity, (b) draw on their multilingual repertoires to challenge established power relations in the workplace, and (c) challenge others’ legitimate professional identities for using the ‘wrong’ language.

Keywords: multilingualism, workplace discourse, identity, challenge, Luxembourg
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The sociolinguistic situation of Luxembourg
  • Methods and data
  • Findings
    • Fresh & Fruity
    • InfoTech
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 26 April 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.69.18fra
References
Agar, Michael
2009 “Ethnography.” In Culture and Language Use, edited by Gunter Senft, Jan-Ola Östman, and Jef Verschueren, 110–20. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anen, Nicolas
2006 “Alternance de Code Français-Luxembourgeois Dans Une Redaction de Presse Quotidienne. Une Enquête Sociolinguistique Au Luxembourg.” Université Catholique de Louvain.Google Scholar
Angouri, Jo
2011 “‘We Are in a Masculine Profession…’: Constructing Gender Identities in a Consortium of Two Multinational Engineering Companies.” Gender and Language 5 (2): 373–404. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angouri, Jo, and Jason Glynos
2009 “Managing Cultural Difference and Struggle in the Context of the Multinational Corporate Workplace : Solution or Symptom ?” IDA Working Papers. Vol. 26.Google Scholar
Auer, Peter
2005 “A Postscript: Code-Switching and Social Identity.” Journal of Pragmatics 37 (3): 403–10. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Bailey, Benjamin
2000 “The Language of Multiple Identities among Dominican Americans.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 10 (2): 190–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007 “Multilingual Forms of Talk and Identity Work.” In Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication, edited by Peter Auer and Li Wei. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Baltes-Löhr, Christel, Agnes Prüm, Rachel Reckinger, and Christian Wille
2011 “Everyday Cultures and Identities.” In Doing Identity in Luxembourg. Subjective Appropriations – Institutional Attributions – Socio-Cultural Milieus, edited byIPSE, 233–84. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blackledge, Adrien, and Angela Creese
2010 Multilingualism: A Critical Perspective. London/New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Blommaert, Jan, and Ad Backus
2012 “Superdiverse Repertoires and the Individual.” Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies 24: 1–32.Google Scholar
Blommaert, Jan, and Dong Jie
2010 Ethnographic Fieldwork: A Beginner’s Guide. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
CEFIS
2011 “L’intégration Au Luxembourg. Focus Sur Les Réseaux Sociaux, La Confiance et Les Stéréotypes Sur Les Frontaliers.” 12. RED. Luxembourg: CEFIS.Google Scholar
de Bres, Julia
2013 “Language Ideologies for Constructing Inclusion and Exclusion: Identity and Interest in the Metalinguistic Discourse of Cross-Border Workers in Luxembourg.” In Ideological Conceptualisations of Language: Discourse of Linguistic Diversity, edited by Erzsébet Barát, Patrick Studer, and Jiří Nekvapil, 57–83. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
2014 “Competing Language Ideologies about Societal Multilingualism among Cross- Border Workers in Luxembourg.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 227: 119–37. DOI logo.Google Scholar
de Bres, Julia, and Anne Franziskus
2011 “Les Frontaliers Du Luxembourg. Représentations Négatives et Stratégies de Réponse.” In Représentations Du Transfrontalier, 201–12. Nancy: Presses Universitaires de Nancy.Google Scholar
De Fina, Anna
2007 “Code-Switching and the Construction of Ethnic Identity in a Community of Practice.” Language in Society 36 (03): 371–92. DOI logo. [URL].
Eckert, Penelope, and Sally McConnell-Ginet
1992 “Think Practically and Look Locally: Language and Gender as Community-Based Practice.” Annual Review of Anthropology 21 (1): 461–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fehlen, Fernand
2009 BaleineBis: Une Enquête Sur Un Marché Linguistique Multilingue En Profonde mutation/Luxemburgs Sprachenmarkt Im Wandel. Luxembourg: SESOPI Centre Intercommunautaire.Google Scholar
Franziskus, Anne
2013 “Getting by in a Multilingual Workplace. Language Practices, Ideologies and Norms of Cross-Border Workers in Luxembourg.” Université du Luxembourg.Google Scholar
Franziskus, Anne, and Julia de Bres
2012 “Le Rôle de La Langue Luxembourgeoise Dans Les Pratiques Linguistiques Des Frontaliers Au Luxembourg.” In Le Travail Frontalier Au Sein de La Grande Région Saar-Lor-Lux: Pratiques, Enjeux et Perspectives, edited by Rachid Belkacem and Isabelle Pigeron-Piroth, 129–49. Nancy: Presses Universitaires de Nancy.Google Scholar
Franziskus, Anne, and Peter Gilles
2012 “‘ Et Le Präis Direct Etikett ?’ Non-Overlapping Repertoires in Workplace Communication in Luxembourg.” Sociolinguistica 26 (1): 58–71.
Hinnenkamp, Volker
1982 Foreigner Talk Und Tarzanisch: Eine Vergleichende Studie über Die Sprechweise Gegenüber Ausländern Am Beispiel Des Deutschen Und Des Türkischen. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.Google Scholar
Holmes, Janet
2000 “Politeness, Power and Provocation: How Humour Functions in the Workplace.” Discourse Studies 2: 159–85. DOI logo. [URL].
2006 “Workplace Narratives, Professional Identity and Relational Practice.” In Discourse and Identity, edited by Anna de Fina, Deborah Schiffrin, and Michael Bamberg, 166–87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet, Meredith Marra and Bernadette Vine
2011 Leadership, Discourse, and Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet, Stephanie Schnurr, and Marra Marra
2007 “Leadership and Communication: Discursive Evidence of a Workplace Culture Change.” Discourse & Communication 1 (4): 433–51. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Horner, Kristine
2005 “Reimagining the Nation: Discourses of Purism in Luxembourg.” In Linguistic Purim in the Germanic Languages, edited by Nils Langer and Winifred V. Davies, 166–85. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Horner, Kristine, and Jean-Jacques Weber
2008 “The Language Situation in Luxembourg.” Current Issues in Language Planning 9 (1): 69–128. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Jaspers, Jürgen
2011 “Talking like a ‘zerolingual’: Ambiguous Linguistic Caricatures at an Urban Secondary School.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (5): 264–78. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, Normann J.
2008 “Polylingual Languaging around and among Children and Adolescents.” International Journal of Multilingualism 5 (3): 161–76. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, Normann J., Martha S. Karrebæk, Lian M. Madsen, and Janus Spindler Møller
2011 “Polylanguaging in Superdiversity.” Diversities 13 (2): 23–37.Google Scholar
Kingsley, Leilarna
2010 “Language Policy in Multilingual Workplaces: Management, Practices and Beliefs in Banks in Luxembourg.” Language Policy. Victoria University of Wellington.Google Scholar
2013 “Language Choice in Multilingual Encounters in Transnational Workplaces.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 34 (6): 533–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Møller, Spindler Janus
2008 “Polylingual Performance Among Turkish-Danes in Late-Modern Copenhagen.” International Journal of Multilingualism 5 (3): 217–36. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Mondada, Lorenza
2004 “Ways of ‘Doing Being Plurilingual’ in International Work Meetings.” In Second Language Conversations, edited by Rod Gardner and Johannes Wagner, 18–39. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Mullany, Louise
2010 “Gendered Identities in the Professional Workplace Negotiating the Glass Ceiling.” In Language and Identity, edited by Carmen Llamas and Dominic Watts, 179–91. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Plester, Barbara A., and Janet Sayers
2007 “‘Taking the Piss’: Functions of Banter in the IT Industry.” Humor – International Journal of Humor Research 20 (2): 157–87. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Poncini, Gina
2003 “Multicultural Business Meetings and the Role of Languages Other than English.” Journal of Intercultural Studies 24 (1): 17–32. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Rampton, Ben, and Constadina Charalambous
2012 “Crossing.” In The Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism, edited by Marilyn Martin-Jones, Adrian Blackledge, and Angela Creese, 482–98. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Roberts, Celia
2007 Multilingualism in the Workplace. In Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication, edited by Peter Auer and Li Wei, 405–422. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Rogerson-Revell, Pamela
2011 “Chairing International Business Meetings: Investigating Humour and Leadership Style in the Workplace.” In Constructing Identities at Work, edited by Jo Angouri and Meredith Marra, 61–84. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schnurr, Stephanie
2008 Leadership Discourse at Work: Interactions of Humour, Gender and Workplace Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schnurr, Stephanie, and Angela Chan
2011 “Exploring Another Side of Co-Leadership: Negotiating Professional Identities through Face-Work in Disagreements.” Language in Society 40: 187–209. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schnurr, Stephanie, and Olga Zayts
2012 “‘You Have to Be Adaptable, Obviously’: Constructing Professional Identities in Multicultural Workplaces in Hong Kong.” Pragmatics 22 (2): 279–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Selting, Margret, Peter Auer, Dagmar Barth-Weingarten, Jörg Berg-, Pia Bergmann, Karin Birkner, Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen et al.
2009 “Gesprächsanalytisches Transkriptionssystem 2 (GAT 2).” Gesprächsforschung – Online-Zeitschrift Zur Verbalen Interaktion 10: 353–402.Google Scholar
STATEC
2014 “Le Luxembourg En Chiffres 2014.” Luxembourg: STATEC. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Vine, Bernadette, Janet Holmes, Meredith Marra, Dale Pfeifer, and Brad Jackson
2008 “Exploring Co-Leadership Talk Through Interactional Sociolinguistics.” Leadership 4 (3): 339–60. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Wenger, Etienne
1998 Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar