The management of multilingualism in public, private and non-governmental institutions

Authors

  • Melissa Moyer Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v4i2.267

Keywords:

MULTILINGUALISM, MIGRATION, LANGUAGE AND INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

This paper examines from a critical sociolinguistic perspective the management of multilingualism in private, public and non-governmental institutions in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Data obtained from a multi-sited ethnography at a private call shop or locutorio, a public health clinic and a religious inspired non-governmental organisation show the different ways institutional ideologies about language and communication account for the way multilingualism is put into practice in each case. The distribution and valorisation of professional and lay knowledge, along with migrant agency and participation in the everyday interactions in the settings provide additional support for the concrete ways multilingualism gets managed.

Author Biography

  • Melissa Moyer, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
    Melissa G. Moyer ([email protected]) is Titular de Universitat [associate professor] in English Linguistics at the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain. Her research interests include multilingualism and migration in institutional contexts, sociolinguistics, and language contact. She has published numerous articles and invited chapters on sociolinguistics, and Spanish-English code-switching in Gibraltar. Her most recent edited book is The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism with Li Wei and language, Migration and Citizenship: New Challenges in the Regulation of Bilingualism’ with Luisa Martín Rojo in M. Heller (ed.) Bilingualism: A Social Approach (Palgrave, 2007).

Published

2011-01-16

How to Cite

Moyer, M. (2011). The management of multilingualism in public, private and non-governmental institutions. Sociolinguistic Studies, 4(2), 267-296. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v4i2.267