14 Translanguaging and written nonstandard language: Heterographic literacy in and outside school

Abstract

Translanguaging and written nonstandard language: Heterographic literacy in and outside school It is difficult to imagine formal education in the European context without a standard language and its written form.In our project site in Tiszavasvári, both standardisation and writing are linked to a majority language, Hungarian, and in Szímő (Zemné) to Hungarian and Slovak.The translanguaging project introduced local non-standardised linguistic practices into new domains, namely to learning and the world of school, by dispensing with standardisation efforts.But writing is part and parcel of the world of school, and for participants in our project writing in Romani was a key factor in the emancipation of Romani and their speakers.Based on this insight, participants were looking for solutions where both Romani and the majority language have a status recognised by learners, their families, school teachers, school management, local publics and scholarly discourses as vehicles for school literacy.In order to achieve this, we have attempted to uncouple standard language practices and writing, usually seen as inseparable in Europe and the Global North.We turned our attention to heterographic, grassroots writing activities in the locality and explored their potential role in school-based education.Our starting point was the observation that local youth write (not much, but regularly) in Romani on social media.This chapter describes the ways in which such existing writing practices can be made part of school work, and the dilemmas that emerged in workshops with teachers and researchers.We argue that this kind of literacy does not weaken the opportunities for learning Hungarian spelling but supports students in their learning.14.

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