Toddlers and their translingual practicing homes

Abstract

The number of multilingual families in Norway has increased during the last decades, but there are no official statistics concerning the linguistic situation in Norway today. Immigrants account for 15% of the population. In addition, there are mixed-language families where one of the parents does not have Norwegian as his/her mother tongue. Most toddlers in Norway attend ECEC programmes from the age of one, which influences the language situation in their families. In communities’ communication and linguistic practice, participants use a broad linguistic repertoire; in translingual practice, code-shifts and linguistic hybridity are natural elements in communication. Previous research has discussed this mainly with reference to youth communities; there is little information available about the linguistic environment of the youngest children in domestic settings. In this article, we present three toddlers from multilingual families in their domestic linguistic environments. Analysis of data obtained from parentally administered video recordings of everyday family situations provides information about language use in those environments. We discuss varieties of translingual practice and how they are a natural part of everyday interaction between toddlers, parents, and siblings. Parental attitudes to language practice influence how the children use language, and we note three different patterns in the families’ translingual practice.

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