Beyond the Mother Tongue: The Postmonolingual Condition
... V središču raziskav, ki odkrivajo pluralizem jezikov (mešanje jezikov, večjezičnost, narečje), najdemo povezavo med »družbeno polifonijo in etnično-kulturno funkcijo«, ki jo raziskovalci literarnega diskurza posebej natančno proučujejo z vidika večjezičnega položaja subsistemskih enot (Strutz 2006: 243), 2 kot sta literarna diskurza migrantske skupnosti in narodnih manjšin na obmejnih ozemljih (prim. Yildiz 2012). ...
... maternega jezika, ni edini princip jezikovnega razvoja in rabe. V sodobni predstavi o literarnem jeziku enojezičnost in večjezičnost soobstajata in sta opredeljeni prek medsebojnega stika in napetosti (Yildiz 2012). Tezo o soobstoju enojezičnosti in večjezičnosti v sodobnem literarnem diskurzu skušamo razumeti v kontekstu različnih družbenih okolij slovenskega jezikovnega prostora in tako dobiti vpogled v dialektiko med različnimi diskurzi (prim. ...
... Različne diskurzivne oblike, ki nastajajo znotraj literarnega sistema, 3 opazujemo s pomočjo a) segmentov iz besedila dvojezičnega avtorja iz mestnega okolja osrednje Slovenije Gorana Vojnovića, ki v delu Čefurji raus! oblikuje predstavo o literarnih govoricah potomcev priseljencev iz republik nekdanje Jugoslavije, in b) segmentov besedil iz zbirke Besiede tele zemlje, v kateri dvojezični avtorji v t. i. beneškem narečju 4 predstavljajo literarne govorice pripadnikov slovenske narodne skupnosti na zemljepisno obrobnem območju slovenskega jezikovnega ozemlja -v Beneški Sloveniji (prim. Yildiz 2012). Čeprav sprva opazimo predvsem njuno različnost, 5 novejše raziskave med izbranima diskurzoma odkrivajo dialog, ki se glede na spodaj navedena stališča vzpostavlja predvsem na ravni ideje o pristnosti literarnih govoric: ...
The paper deals with contemporary literary texts written by authors living in the province of Udine (Italy) and belonging to the community of so-called Venetian Slovenians (Besiede tele zemlje 2004), as well as a literary work from the central part of Slovenia (Čefurji raus! 2008). Taking into account the tendency of these texts to reflect real-language use, ideological aspects of literary discourse based on language varieties from different parts of the Slovene-speaking territory are discussed.
... S pojmom »paradigma enojezičnosti« je v razpravah Y.Yildiz (2012) poimenovano literarno polje, ki predstavlja literaturo enega naroda in ene kulture. Pojav paradigme enojezičnosti je, kot piše Y. Yildiz, povzročil bistveno spremembo, saj pritisk te paradigme prikriva skozi zgodovino vseskozi prisotne prakse večjezičnosti. ...
... V primerjavi z večjezičnostjo kot zgodovinsko konstanto se je v obdobju po pojavu enojezičnosti kot prevladujoče paradigme spremenil zlasti pomen večjezičnosti. Avtorica tako ne govori o dihotomiji med enojezičnostjo in večjezičnostjo, ampak o diskurzu, v katerem enojezičnost in večjezičnost soobstajata in sta opredeljeni prek medsebojnega stika in napetosti(Yildiz 2012). Koncept slednjega po Y. Yildiz označuje soobstoj paradigme enojezične nacionalne države ob pojavu večjezičnosti in daje možnost analize o tem, kako se v družbi jezikovna subjektivnost gradi in prepleta z narodno skupnostjo. ...
On the background the Carinthian language conflict, is it possible for a writer to freely decide on the choice of language? In the article, historical research of language policy conflict in Austrian Carinthia is upgraded by rethinking the meaning of using German in the contemporary European context of complex linguistic and other social circumstances that determine the lives and the literary writing of Carinthian Slovenes.
... This practice destabilises the notion of a singular language of self-expression, revealing that identity is best articulated through the interplay of multiple languages and cultural references. The novel's multilingualism thus resists rigid linguistic and cultural boundaries, embodying a postmonolingual perspective (Yildiz 2012) in which languages interact and transform each other to reflect the complexity of post-migrant experience. ...
This article investigates linguistic and aesthetic strategies employed by non-binary authors in contemporary German-language literature, with a specific focus on the challenges they present for translation. A brief survey of prevalent practices in German and Italian gender-fair language provides background for two representative case studies: Sasha Marianna Salzmann’s Außer sich (2017) and Kim de l’Horizon’s Blutbuch (2022). These texts illustrate the distinct strategies used by two acclaimed non-binary authors to depict gender-nonconforming characters. The analysis then turns to the Italian translations of both novels – Fuori di sé (2019) and Perché sono da sempre un corso d’acqua (2023) – to assess critically how the original German-language strategies adopted to challenge cis-normativity are conveyed (or lost) in the target language. By foregrounding the complexities of non-binary representation, this research underscores the importance of linguistic and cultural sensitivity in literary translation, emphasizing the need for translators to engage deeply with text, cultural context, and author intention, as well as to be mindful of non-binary identities when navigating the constraints of a target language.
... Erst in letzter Zeit sind Fallstudien erschienen, welche die Notwendigkeit betonen, nach dem literaturästhetischen Gehalt, dem Schreibverfahren und der dahinterliegenden Poetik der sogenannten Bindestrich-Literaturen zu fragen, und diese Aspekte anhand von brisanten Beispielen fokussieren (Spinnen 2007;Sturm-Trigonakis 2007;Bürger-Koftis/Schweiger/Vlasta 2010;Cornejo 2010;Yeşilada 2012;Yildiz 2012). Dabei rückt der »Gebrauch einer fremden Sprache als Grundform poetischer Verfremdung« (Kilchmann 2012: 110) allmählich in den Mittelpunkt der Betrachtung und sprachlich-kulturelle Codes, Wort-und Sprachspiele sowie die dem translingualen Schreiben eigene Sprachlatenz werden als charakteristische Dispositive multilingualer Gegenwartsliteratur aufgegriffen. ...
... On a more general level related to border crossings in language and literature, it is important to note that Rinne's poetry -precisely because of its multilingual nature -does not fit the present institutional frameworks for financial aid to authors, often modelled to fit the nation state and a single national language. Thus, Rinne's works tend to fall outside these institutions produced by the workings of the "monolingual paradigm", as it has been elaborated by the German Studies and literary scholar Yasemin Yildiz (2012). Instead, Rinne is part of a transnational community of contemporary avant garde poets, a "multilingual space of sound poetry" (Olsson 2013: 183, 200), notoriously difficult to confine to one single nation state and linguistic community. ...
Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht den Lyrikband notes for soloists (2009) der transnationalen Lyrikerin Cia Rinne mit einem besonderen Schwerpunkt auf der Frage der literarischen Mehrsprachigkeit und der Intermedialität des Textes. Ausgangspunkt ist Naoki Sakais Verständnis von Übersetzung als „bordering“ (Sakai 2009); hier wird die Rolle des Lesers von notes for soloists als Erzeuger sprachlicher Grenzen hervorgehoben. Hierbei funktioniert Rinnes mehrsprachiger und intermedialer Text als eine Art Partitur, die Leser verschiedener Sprachkompetenzen auf unterschiedliche Weise realisieren. Es wird veranschaulicht, wie die Dynamik zwischen dem gedruckten Text und den verschiedenen artikulatorischen Möglichkeiten des Textes die Leser in eine Sphäre zwischen Sonorität und sprachlicher Artikulation versetzt; eine Sphäre, die normalerweise kleinen Kindern, die noch keine Sprache beherrschen, vorbehalten ist. Dabei wird die Kontingenz sprachlicher Grenzen ins Auge gefasst, zugleich werden jedoch auch mögliche Verbindungen zwischen verschiedenen für die Leser unbekannten bzw. bekannten Sprachen vorgeführt.
... However, multilingualism "has been and continues to be refracted through the monolingual paradigm," as Yasemin Yildiz argues. 21 Hence, in order to expose the assumed dominance of the monolingual as well as "multilingual attempts to overcome it," 22 she employs the term "postmonolingual" 23 which refers to a "field of tension in which the monolingual paradigm continues to assert itself and multilingual practices persist or reemerge." 24 It is precisely this "field of tension" dominating the contact zone in the novels that raises various issues of language, narration, and migration. ...
... Pensar sob essa ótica não significa, de maneira alguma, ignorar o problema da permanência do paradigma monolíngue no imaginário contemporâneo, mas, ao contrário, indagá-lo a partir de uma "condição pós-monolíngue" -conceito que, segundo Yildiz (2012), traz à baila a ideia de "pós" não como pretensa superação de algo, mas como movimento de hesitação entre a diretriz impositiva do monolinguismo e a ressonância da translinguagem que insiste em reemergir, de modo a focalizar a tensão que se estabelece entre uma e outra. ...
Resumo Neste artigo, objetivo problematizar formações ideológicas em que se ancora a relação entre literatura e monolinguismo, com vistas a questionar tradições, epistemologias e fronteiras linguísticas e curriculares estabelecidas na educação literária. Partindo do pressuposto de que a literatura funciona como importante agente das políticas de línguas, proponho a elaboração conceitual de uma perspectiva glotopolítica do literário, a fim de debater, por um lado, formas de silenciamento das práticas translíngues no ensino e na formação de leitores, e, por outro lado, dar visibilidade crítica às zonas de contato/fricção entre múltiplas línguas-culturas no bojo da textualidade literária. Em diálogo com conceituações a respeito das contrapedagogias da crueldade (Segato, 2018), que mobilizam processos de descolonização epistêmico-cultural e restabelecimento de projetos de vínculo transnacional no contexto latino-americano, pretendo discutir a contribuição de diferentes estratégias contrapedagógicas das poéticas translíngues do contemporâneo para a ressignificação/reinvenção dos currículos e pedagogias da literatura na atualidade.
... During the last decades, the term mother tongue has been deemed insufficiently precise and unsuitable as a technical term, highly misleading and metaphorical, given that it suggests that mothers, as primary caretakers of children, are the only ones responsible for intergenerational language transmission (Romaine 1995, Gupta 1997, Yildiz 2012, Bugarski 2017. Therefore, alternative terms referring to non-mainstream languages in bilingual repertoires have been used, preferable but still questionable alternatives, each encoding different perspectives and unveiling conceptual implications underpinning their use: minority language, first language, family language, heritage language or home language (Eisenchlas and Schalley 2020). ...
The present study analyzes the meanings bilingual and multilingual speakers attach to the term mother tongue, a familiar concept which is most often intuitively understood, but difficult to define. Taking as the main frame of reference the vulnerable linguistic communities of Serbia, the authors assess the answers given by the interviewees to the open question “What does the notion of mother tongue mean to you?” asked in the pilot sociolinguistic questionnaire the study is based on. The responses are classified in several categories, which are then analyzed and discussed. The findings show that the speakers give equal importance to the period of language acquisition, in early childhood, and the role of the family in language transmission for defining mother tongue. The diversity of responses obtained in the study suggests that the definitions provided by the censuses, used in the education context, human rights literature, or sociolinguistics, do not necessarily overlap with the social reality, as the actual members of the linguistic communities perceive the concept as being more heterogeneous than generally assumed and do not automatically connect it to mothers.
... 26). In this respect, the predicament of the translingual writer as someone belying the "monolingual paradigm" (Yildiz 2012) that since the late eighteenth century has come to dominate views of literary creativity seems to be analogous to the notion of the translator as traitor ("traduttore traditore"). As Till Dembeck reminds us, the claim that "literary creativity rests on the monolingual competence of the native speaker" (2017, 3-4) was first postulated in Herder's programmatic text Über die neuere deutsche Literatur (1767-68): ...
Highlighting the mobile, transnational, and translingual character of Afrodiasporic literatures in Germany, this article illustrates how contemporary Anglophone literary texts of the African diaspora in Germany not only challenge conventional understandings of what German-ness and ‘German literature’ means but also how their representations of (im)mobilities go beyond narratives of migration. By example of Olumide Popoola’s play Also by Mail (2013) and Musa Okwonga’s novel In the End, It Was All about Love (2021), I analyse how these texts depict Black characters as quotidian mobile subjects, addressing the plurality and relationality of practices and politics of (im)mobility in order to explore how these are intertwined with regimes of belonging and processes of racialisation in modern Europe. From a mobility studies perspective, the article employs the notion of friction to read the primary texts under scrutiny as fictions of everyday mobility that draw attention to the material conditions and embodied experiences of mobility and immobilisation while thinking (im)mobility also in terms of literary form.
Prispevek raziskuje literarne pripovedi sodobnih avtorjev, ki pišejo o večkulturnosti v evropskem prostoru in so družbeno kritični. Zanimajo nas predvsem tiste pripovedi, ki učinkujejo avtentično in prinašajo kritičen odziv na stereotipe o Drugem in Drugačnem, kot so prisotni v javnem diskurzu. Zgodbe o življenju med več kulturami in jeziki med drugim pripovedujeta Goran Vojnović in Widad Tamimi. Goran Vojnović v svojem prvencu Čefurji raus! pripoveduje o življenju potomcev priseljencev v Sloveniji, v delu Jugoslavija, moja dežela pa o spominu na razpad nekdanje Jugoslavije. Pisateljica palestinsko-judovskega rodu Widad Tamimi pa v Vrtnicah vetra pripoveduje zgodbo o nekdanjem izgnanstvu svoje judovske družine v času fašizma v Italiji ter izgnanstvu palestinske družine, ki pa je pred vojno zbežala v Jordanijo. Ob primerih avtorjev, kot je Feridun Zaimoğlu, poskušamo življenjske zgodbe protagonistov izbranih proznih del umestiti v širši nadnacionalni kontekst literarnega ustvarjanja. Namen prispevka je opazovati spreminjanje percepcije literature, ki je danes ni mogoče fiksirati z nacionalno, religiozno, jezikovno ali kulturno pripadnostjo, ampak gre za transnacionalni sistem, v katerem ustvarjajo avtorji najrazličnejših kultur in jezikov. To se kaže tudi v avtentičnosti literarnega jezika, ki je postal množica jezikovnih idiomov in kulturnih ozadij.
This Forum, appearing in each issue of the Journal of Literary Multilingualism , aims to continue the conversation started in the very first issue, where we collected articles which assessed and debated the field of Literary Multilingualism Studies. The Forum is a space for shorter, more informal reflections on the field and its future: position papers, dialogues between scholars, roundtable discussions, responses to articles within the journal, and responses to recent multilingualism conferences or events. We welcome proposals for contributions, particularly from marginalized perspectives or on neglected aspects of literary multilingualism. Please contact us directly to discuss ideas.
For this Forum, we asked Eugene Ostashevsky to elaborate on his notion of translingual poetry. His essay follows the idea that translingualism in poetry is, firstly, a use of language that defies translation, or rather: the notion that everything can be said in every language. Secondly, Ostashevsky claims that such poetry makes use of linguistic strategies which have been described as characteristic of bilinguals who tend to speak with another language being present as a potential source of cross-linguistic interference in their language of use. This, thirdly, leads to the conclusion that translingual poetry is, in fact, always close to punning (or, more precisely, to paronomasia), thus making it a prime example of poetic language use in the sense of Russian formalism.
— Juliette Taylor-Batty and Till Dembeck, Forum Moderators
Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Transformation der deutschsprachigen ‚Ausländerliteratur‘ in den 1980er Jahren und den frühen 1990er Jahren, mit besonderem Fokus auf die Verlagerung von einer marxistisch geprägten ‚Gastarbeiterliteratur‘ zu einer identitätsorientierten ‚interkulturellen Literatur‘. Dabei wird die Hypothese aufgestellt, dass in dieser Literatur die Betrachtung der ‚materiellen‘ Bedingungen – im marxistischen Sinne – der Migration als literarischer Stoff durch einen Fokus auf die interkulturelle Identitätsthematik ersetzt wurde. Dieser Wandel spiegelt die von Mimmo Cangiano analysierte Entwicklung wider, wonach die zeitgenössische aktivistische Praxis der cultural wars durch eine Verschiebung des Politischen zugunsten des Kulturellen gekennzeichnet ist.
Theme: Multilingualism and Children's Literature. Ill. Henry Lyman Saÿen - Child Reading (1915–1918). Smithsonian American Art Museum, object number 1968.19.11. This article focuses on aesthetic and didactic aspects of literary multilingualism and the interaction between these aspects in two contemporary dual-language picturebooks with Sámi motifs and characters. Lilli, áddjá, ja guovssahas/Lilli, farfar och norrskenet (Lilly, Grandpa and the Northern Lights, 2020), written by Elin Marakatt and illustrated by Anita Midbjer, and Gájuoh muv! Gïjrra Almien jah Enoken luvnnie/Rädda mig: Vår hos Almmie och Enok (Save me: Spring at Almmie and Enok’s, 2021), written by Sophia Rehnfjell and illustrated by Inga-Wiktoria Påve, are intended for 3–7-year-olds and combine a Sámi language and Swedish. The analyses show the aesthetic and didactic interplay between verbal and visual elements. The insertion of North Sámi words in an otherwise Swedish text can highlight culture, traditional beliefs, and history, and the Ume Sámi glossaries can be used to talk about the illustrations and learn words pertaining to reindeer husbandry and life in Sápmi. The vocabulary has a didactic function, while the literary text and the illustrations tell stories about the Sámi peoples, thus being both aesthetic and didactic. Literary multilingualism is teamed with didactics and Sámi aesthetics to support language acquisition, to depict and to make visible Sámi culture and Sámi peoples to in-group as well as out-group readers.
Theme: Multilingualism and Children's Literature. Ill. Henry Lyman Saÿen - Child Reading (1915–1918). Smithsonian American Art Museum, object number 1968.19.11. State-Sanctioned Multilingualism for Babies and Their Adults: Literary Multilingualism in Finnish Baby Box Books The baby books that, since the 1980s, are included in the Finnish state’s maternity packages distributed to every new-born child and their caregivers, are multilingual at heart. On pages of durable cardboard, a multilingual iconotext is realised as the two national languages Finnish and Swedish coexist with pictures on the spread. Lately, separate editions in the Sámi languages are also available. So far, there has been little literary research on these unique baby books. Hence, we seek to combine picturebook research with research in literary multilingualism to explore how these books handle multilingualism in relation to the materiality and multimodality of the picturebook medium. Our interest has been fuelled by the baby box books being a stately sanctioned and tailored book product that reaches about 30,000 Finnish families every year. In our article, we argue that a visual literary multilingualism is an essential trait of these books, and we suggest a typology for how multilingualism is realised within their multimodal format. Paying special attention to how the books deal with power hierarchies among the featured languages, we show that they employ a range of strategies to neutralise such hierarchies with greater or lesser success. Hence, we end up concluding that the books in the maternity package harbour a utopian and unproblematised view of multilingualism at odds with current societal debates.
This article traces Zeina Hashem Beck's development of a new poetic form called the "duet." Duets include equal parts written in two different languages, English and Arabic for the Lebanese poet whose recent collection, O, includes six such duets. The ideal bilingual reader brings sufficient context in both languages to the understanding of the dialogue between the two duet halves. This study argues, however, that access to the third text hidden in this dialogue is not exclusive to those equally familiar with the different represented languages. Close readings of "daily يوم "كل and "blue "أزرق identify the characteristics and variations of the new poetic form. Analysis of "prophecy "نبوة and "Ode to Babel االنتظار "نشيد centers around translingual poetics. Scrutiny of "Dear white critic, الرحيل في ",رفيقي and "Ode to Leaving غ ربة " highlights the impact of projected audiences on the duet development. Relying on a comparative analysis of these six examples, the article discusses the benefits of ever improving machine translation, the availability of native speaker consultations, as well as a growing polyglot imaginary as extensions of traditional tools conducive to poetry exegesis.
Zusammenfassung
Nach der Differenzierung zwischen textübergreifender und textinterner Mehrsprachigkeit wird auf translinguales Schreiben als Erbe der Moderne eingegangen. Der Forschungsüberblick fokussiert verschiedene Termini der Mehrsprachigkeit und erörtert zentrale Forschungspositionen. Im Hauptteil werden drei Formen der literarischen Mehrsprachigkeit – manifeste, latente und exkludierte – sowie ihre Realisierungsformen besprochen und an zahlreichen Textbeispielen dokumentiert. An einer Passage aus Vielleicht Esther von Katja Petrowskaja wird die latente Präsenz des Russischen in der deutschen Sprache des Textes aufgezeigt. – After differentiating between cross-textual and text-internal multilingualism, translingual writing as a legacy of modernity is addressed. The research overview focuses on various terms of multilingualism and discusses central research positions. In the main part, three forms of literary multilingualism – manifest, latent and excluded – as well as their forms of realization are discussed and documented in numerous text examples. A passage from Vielleicht Esther by Katja Petrowskaja reveals the latent presence of Russian in the German language of the text.
Zusammenfassung
Die mehrsprachige Gestaltung vieler Texte deutschsprachig-jüdischer Gegenwartsliteratur knüpft an literarische Traditionen polyglotten Schreibens in der Diaspora an und aktualisiert diese für die eigene Gegenwart. Dieser Artikel stellt unterschiedliche Formen und Funktionen von Mehrsprachigkeit vor, untersucht deren poetologische Bedeutung in Texten von Tomer Gardi, Lena Gorelik und Channah Trzebiner und diskutiert sie im Kontext eines neuen post-monolingualen Paradigmas. – The multilingualism of many works of contemporary German-Jewish literature draws on literary traditions of polyglot writing in the diaspora and actualizes them for the present. This article presents various forms and functions of multilingualism, examines their poetological significance in works by Tomer Gardi, Lena Gorelik, and Channah Trzebiner, and discusses them in the context of a new post-monolingual paradigm.
This article analyses how elements of mass media in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners (1956) and Guo Xiaolu’s A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (2007) reinforce and challenge London’s position as “literary capital” and also transform its language, value system, and hierarchy. This system of values absorbs people into a “monolingual paradigm” which reinforces the dominant position of the language. However, Selvon’s novel challenges the city mediascape, the standardized English language, and even English literary tradition. Fifty years later, although Guo Xiaolu fails to transform the position of English in the metropolis, she still adopts elements of mass media and uses formal innovations to challenge the hierarchy established by mass media and English literary traditions, pointing to the immigrants’ new life experience and relationship to the metropolis in the 21st century.
One of the dimensions of systemic racism in Argentina is linguistic discrimination. This phenomenon has historical roots in the monolingual and monocultural imaginary promoted by the State. The multilingual nature of new literary voices in the country, especially in the field of poetry, questions such an imaginary and guides the panorama of national letters towards a “post-monolingual” frame (Yildiz) which incorporates migrant and indigenous languages and consequently, troubles the very idea of the “national” and its whitewashed, westernizing and centralist matrix (Bocco). (Self-)translation and code-switching stand as crucial practices for the negotiation of identities and the constitution of linguistic bodies and territories that challenge the monolingual norm and canon in the contemporary literary field. Special attention will be paid to the work of a new generation of poets born in different regions of Argentina who translate between Spanish and Guaraní, Mapudungun and Quechua: Dolo Trenzadora, Maitén Cañicul Quilaleo and Sandro Rodríguez.
Resumen: Desde principios del siglo XXI, los estudios de traducción en América Latina y, en especial, los de historia y sociología de la traducción literaria, se han consolidado como un núcleo de interés que atrae no solo a investigadores e investigadoras de traductología, sino también a quienes provienen de la literatura comparada, la crítica literaria, la historia intelectual o de las ideas, la sociología de la cultura, los estudios culturales y, actualmente, la historia global y la world literature, por mencionar dos perspectivas recientes que integran en clave cultural la lógica de la globalización.
In Talisman (1996) and Überseezungen (2002), Yoko Tawada destabilizes languages in their nationalized definition. Through exophony, she develops a process of defamiliarization. She fruitfully reshapes literary perspectives and opens new horizons by transgressing borders. The intertwining of both the sensuality and the fragility of language provides two key texts, “Erzähler ohne Seele” and “Zungentanz”, with a broader discussion of the desire for what I call an “over there”. Eroticism and death are central to an understanding of Tawada’s practice of defamiliarization that critiques the national and gendered aspects of language and reveals the problematic family romance attributed to language. By elaborating on Yildiz’s postmonolingualism and Tawada’s exophony through nuanced Deleuzian and Guattarian concepts, I analyze the author’s poetic of multiple desires through multiple languages by exaggerating the senses (notably, hearing and sight) and propose the “over there” as an alternative way of experiencing world literature.
This special issue is an attempt to illuminate the multifaceted
ways in which Conrad’s work continues to challenge, redefine, and enrich the discourse of world literature. By engaging with Conrad’s texts through diverse methodological lenses – ranging from deconstructive analysis to comparative studies and philosophical inquiry – these essays collectively underscore the enduring relevance of his oeuvre in navigating the complexities
of global literary traditions.
This study was inspired by the observation that code-switching is often discouraged in foreign language schools, where the target language and native language are strictly separated, with the target language designated as the 'official' language of instruction. The study sought to examine instances of code-switching in English as a First Additional Language (EFAL) acquisition among Sesotho native speakers in the Intermediate Phase in South Africa. Furthermore, it sought to illustrate the application of tag-code-switching, inter-sentential code-switching, and intra-sentential code-switching in English First Additional Language (EFAL) education for Sesotho native speakers in the Intermediate Phase in South Africa. This paper studied a particular multilingual phenomena, code-switching. While other linguistic behaviours exist, code-switching is the most popular in additional language contexts in South Africa. This research was founded on a literature review of code-switching in additional language situations. The paper examined the three roles of code-switching: repetition, emotional, and floor-holding. It also provided instances of how tag-code-switching, inter-sentential code-switching, and intra-sentential code-switching might be utilised by Sesotho home language learners to improve their comprehension of EFAL. One finding of the study is that, similar to translanguaging, code-switching fosters a sense of belonging and ownership among learners, and it is generally more accessible for the EFAL student to acquire knowledge from familiar concepts to unfamiliar ones. Another conclusion is that learners' restricted engagement in academic activities, attributable to their inadequate language proficiency, also impacts their motivation. The study advocates for the implementation of code-switching to improve learners' classroom involvement by allowing them to utilise their native language in the acquisition of a second language. The impact of code-switching on Sesotho home language learners' comprehension of EFAL in the Intermediate Phase in South Africa remains undetermined, necessitating further investigation into this important issue.
For Finland-Swedish Young Readers, in Their Language: The Evaluation of Literary Multilingualism in Reviews of Finland-Swedish Young Adult Novels from the Early 2000s The article is a study of the evaluation of literary multilingualism in reviews of Finland-Swedish YA novels from the early 2000s. It investigates the evaluation of multilingualism in the literary field and, furthermore, contributes to the field of research into children’s literature reviews. The material consists of reviews of Annika Luther’s Ivoria (2005) and Brev till världens ände (Letters to the end of the world, 2008), as well as of Marianne Backlén’s Kopparorm (Copper snake, 2008), in Finland-Swedish newspapers and periodicals. The novels all feature literary multilingualism, for example instances of Finnish, specific Finland-Swedish linguistic traits, and/or multilingual slang, and these features are discussed in the majority of the reviews. With a theoretical background in literary multilingualism studies, children’s literature research, and studies of literary reviews, and by using textual analysis, the article shows that classic questions regarding literary multilingualism, authenticity, and comprehensibility, as well as different readerships, feature heavily in the material. There are also new elements to the discussion regarding the temporal durability of literary multilingualism and the age gap between author and readers. The reviewers’ evaluation of literary multilingualism is mixed; however, literary multilingualism is recognized as a valuable and multifaceted literary device in Finland-Swedish YA literature of the early 2000s.
This article explores the terminology of literary multilingualism employed by Czech literary scholars and compares how the discourse produced with this terminology corresponds with current developments in translingual studies in the broader international context. The first part is a brief probe into the current development of multilingualism research abroad conducted in English, which provides an opportunity to broaden the theoretical base that in the Czech context interacts more with the German scholarly community. The concept of post-monolingualism is taken into account and the term exophony is also introduced, followed by reflections on whether and to what extent it might be useful for Czech literary studies, if at all.
In their attempt to reposition Germany in an international context after World War II, actors from both the fine arts and the literary scene turned to the idea of art as a universal language. Two major projects that shaped the West German cultural sphere in the 1950 s and 1960s – the contemporary art exhibition documenta 2 and Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s anthology Museum der modernen Poesie – placed this idea at their conceptual core. The debates surrounding these projects show, however, that the notion of art as a universal language was as contested as it was compelling. In close readings of paratexts, including previously overlooked archival material, it becomes evident that very different conceptualizations of monolingualism and community are attached to the idea in each context. Evaluating these differences through the lens of translation studies, curatorial studies, and political theory enables a more nuanced discussion of the concept’s post-war renaissance and its ideological implications.
A return to earlier forms of distant reading multilingual corpora allows us to reflect on the monolingual authorial position that manages and mediates the language diversity and linguistic specificity (literariness) of multilingual corpora with the objective of fostering supranational (imagined) communities of readers (Anderson, 1983). Revisiting the distant-reading practices of fin-de-siècle Britain can help us identify historiographical focal points and priorities, provide an understanding of the scope and circumference of the corpus, and reveal the conceptions of gain and loss perceived as integral to distant reading. The tension between enrichment and dispossession inherent in the practice of literary historiography is acute when it comes to multilingual corpora, compiled to facilitate a crossing and re-weaving of the boundaries of language, understanding, and community. In the 12-volume series Periods of European Literature, edited and, in part, written by the journalist, literary historian, and Chair of Rhetoric and English Literature at Edinburgh University, George Saintsbury (1845–1933), Anglophone comparatists represent the multilingual corpora of exemplar works, gauging the necessity for, or dispensability of, translation, and managing the “great unread”, which, in this case, equates the “great unreadable”. In their desire to build imagined communities of readers of European literature, Saintsbury and his contributors tend to operate in a monolingual supralinguistic sphere in which languages, authors, and works are named, passages are occasionally quoted, but in which no reading of literature, neither on the side of the comparatist, nor of the reader, takes place. Literary language is thus only tangentially part of literary historiography.
This Forum, appearing in each issue of the Journal of Literary Multilingualism , aims to continue the conversation started in the very first issue, where we collected articles which assessed and debated the field of Literary Multilingualism Studies. The Forum is a space for shorter, more informal reflections on the field and its future: position papers, dialogues between scholars, roundtable discussions, responses to articles within the journal, and responses to recent multilingualism conferences or events. We welcome proposals for contributions, particularly from marginalized perspectives or on neglected aspects of literary multilingualism. Please contact us directly to discuss ideas.
For this Forum, we invited Lawrence A. Rosenwald to review his thoughts on the role of what he calls “linguistic accuracy” in multilingual literature through an ethical lens. To what extent does it matter whether literary works accurately represent how languages are used, such as in the representation of protagonists’ speech? In his analysis of a wide range of examples, Rosenwald argues that accuracy does indeed matter – with inaccuracy immediately raising problems of cultural representation.
— Juliette Taylor-Batty and Till Dembeck, Forum Moderators
This study delves into the realm of translingual poetics by examining the works of two Italian-Australian authors: Paolo Totaro and Enoe Di Stefano. Having migrated to Australia at different times—Di Stefano in 1949 and Totaro in 1963—both authors have developed remarkable literary paths that foreground their ability to move fluidly across different languages and cultures. This research adds to the ongoing critical discourse surrounding the relational and transformative nature of translingual writing, which has gained increasing recognition in literary scholarship. More specifically, this study aims to make theoretical-critical contributions in two key areas. First, it seeks to advance the discussion on literary translingualism in settler colonial contexts, and specifically in the Australian one. Second, it aims to further explore the translingual trajectory that historically permeates the landscape of Italophone and Australian literatures. This contribution aims to advance the analysis of the generative potential of translingual dynamics within the poetic field and across a transnational and transcultural trajectory.
This article analyses three recent works by second-generation Australian writers—Peter Polites’ Down the Hume (2017), Tracey Lien’s All That’s Left Unsaid (2022) and Omar Sakr’s Son of Sin (2022)—examining the ways in which these authors represent and engage with the reality of multicultural and multilingual Australia. Each of the novels speaks from the perspective of a young Australian for whom English is the native language, while the parents’ home language can be a marker of identity or provoke feelings of clumsiness, inadequacy or alienation. Polites and Sakr intersperse their writing with words and phrases in Greek, Arabic and Turkish in a realistic depiction of code-switching and complex cultural identities. Meanwhile, Lien unpacks some of the complexities of child language brokering and the struggle for language maintenance in her exploration of the intense familial and linguistic pressures that stem from intergenerational trauma in the Vietnamese community.
Der Beitrag möchte anhand der aktuellen Romane der israelischen Autoren Tomer Gardi und Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus zeigen, wie beide neue Perspektiven eines postmigrantischen Schreibens eröffnen, indem autobiographische und autoethnographische Aspekte in den Hintergrund treten und fiktionale Entwürfe angeboten werden, in denen Räume, Zeiten, Sprache und kulturelle Identitäten verflüssigt und eindeutigen Zuschreibungen entzogen werden. Ein besonderes Augenmerk gilt der den beiden Autoren gemeinsamen Tendenz zum Fabulieren und zum Erzählen fantastischer Geschichten, verbunden mit dem Entwurf fiktionaler Räume zwischen Utopie, Heterotopie und Dystopie, in denen nationale kulturelle Zuschreibungen in Frage gestellt werden. Schließlich fällt der besondere Umgang mit der Sprache und mit Mehrsprachigkeit auf, der sprachliche Normen hinterfragt.
Throughout the twentieth century, Azeri Turkish was intermittently banned, occasionally tolerated, but always marginalized in relation to Persian, which was perceived as the unifying, defining, essential language of the nation. Despite the substantial population of Azeri Turkish speakers in Iran—the largest linguistic minority—any attempt to teach the language publicly or to publish in Azeri Turkish has often been regarded, even to this day, as a highly political act of dissidence. Historical analysis of Azeri Turkish texts and a review of policies in language teaching, publication, and censorship within Iranian Azerbaijan reveal a symbiotic but simultaneously paradoxical interaction between this mother tongue and the official master language.
This article examines the poetry of feminist writer Dolo Trenzadora (b. 1985, Buenos Aires) and queer author Franco Rivero (b. 1981, Corrientes), two new voices in Argentine poetry who write in both Spanish and Guarani and reflect multilingual experiences emerging against the backdrop of a monolingual imaginary of nationhood. The analysis seeks to identify, within these writers’ most recent works, particular forms of “fragmentary intratextual self-translation” and to observe how, along with code-switching, these expressions of self-translation: (1) develop a nonnormative heterolingual discourse that defies monolingualism and troubles notions of national, gender, and sexual identity; and (2) resist monolingual models of Translation Studies.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.