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Article published In:
Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts
Vol. 5:2 (2019) ► pp.165–184

Translanguaging as an expression of transnational identity

Ethnicity renegotiation in the Indian diaspora

| University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ | University of Heidelberg

Non-linguists are usually able to discriminate accurately between different language patterns (Niedzielski and Preston 2003; Preston 2010) although long-standing scholarly tradition has often, if not always, contradicted their views of language (Boas 1917; Bloomfield, in Hall 1950). Moreover, in diasporic settings, speakers’ constant need of renegotiating the problem of ethnicity is often resolved in their willingness to shed their regional, linguistic and ethnic identities to the detriment of their more general pan-Indian one (Jayaram 2004). In an Indian diasporic community situated in Heidelberg, Germany, perceived subtle differences in L2 phonological characteristics may index local and situated ethnic identities. In order to ascertain whether dialectal variation has salience for the community, this paper presents findings on how translanguaging might be a valuable linguistic resource in the expression of speakers’ ethnic identities. A qualitative analysis of questionnaires, interviews and informal conversations has delineated a new ‘diaspora consciousness’ (Vertovec 1997) in light of the transient aspect of the community in question.

Keywords: diaspora, ethnicity, folk scrutiny, Indian Englishes, translanguaging
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translanguaging in India and the Indian Diaspora
  • 3.Present study
    • 3.1The Heidelberg Indian Student Community
    • 3.2An investigation into identity, ethnicity and translanguaging
  • 4.Data and methodology
  • 5.Results and discussion
  • 6.Conclusion and outlook
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 24 April 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00030.reg
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