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Indexicality, shared knowledge, and embodiment in heritage language contexts

ORCiD logo with link | Arab Open University
Published online: 4 September 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.23047.nof
Abstract
This study investigates how young Hindi heritage language learners in New Zealand use colours as an indexical resource to construct and negotiate multilingual identities. While previous research has focused on linguistic signs and data collected from adults, children’s semiotic meaning-making practices remain under-researched, particularly in heritage language contexts. Drawing upon the concepts of direct and indirect indexicality and embodied indexicality, this study analyses twenty linguistic reflection drawings and interviews from heritage language learners. The analyses reveal that older participants demonstrated nuanced ideological negotiations, for example, by rejecting monolingual norms through multimodal compositions. The study expands the concept of indexicality to include non-verbal semiotics such as colours and argues for a ‘sensory turn’ in indexicality research as multilingual identities are not just discursive but sensorially and affectively embodied.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Hindi heritage language learners in New Zealand
  • Indexicality
  • Theoretical framework: Indexicality and multimodal meaning making
  • Participants
  • Linguistic reflection drawings
  • Data and analysis
  • Findings
    • Direct indices
      • Indirect indices
      • Shared knowledge indices
      • Embodied indices
  • Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
References (56)
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