Call for contributions to the collective work "Family language policy: verbal interaction and language transmission".

Call for contributions collective work

Family language policy: verbal interaction and linguistic transmission

Preface by
John E. Joseph, The University of Edinburgh

While work in recent years in the field of family language policy has extensively explored methodological and epistemological aspects, particularly those concerning families in stable migratory contexts, to our knowledge, little work has given specific attention to verbal interaction and "the empirical movement of speech" (Cordingley, 2014). The fact that Rampton (2017) largely summons a methodological approach and theoretical framework from Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS) proves the extent to which John Gumperz and Dell Hymes's (1972) innovative approach has enabled the emergence of fundamental work in the field of sociolinguistics; IS, however, seems to be summoned more in the fields of ethnographic linguistics and anthropology. Nevertheless, it is urgent and necessary to review and explore its potential from the point of view of the family language policy paradigm.

The second volume we wish to publish invites researchers to focus on the primordial role of verbal interaction insofar as it opens up new theoretical perspectives regarding, on the one hand, intergenerational linguistic transmission and, on the other, linguistic ideology in the field of family language policy.

Hockett ([1951] 2003) pointed out that "speech always precedes writing both in the lives of individuals and in human history" (Hemphill, 2011:77). In the family setting, verbal interaction must be seen as a dynamic and direct channel of communication between parents and children, and between the children themselves, giving voice to the representation of self and others through the language or languages spoken, sung or even chanted, whether or not the languages have a writing system.

Oral world of imitation
In some civilizations where writing holds little place, communicating orally is still today a powerful tool for transmitting knowledge, cultural and cultic practices (Cohen and Lesley 2015), but also prosody and suprasegmentality such as variations in intensity, length, pitch and rhythm spotted in the voice (see Guberina 1965). Thus Ameziane (2013) emphasizes the primordial importance of orality as the preferred mode of literary expression for Berbers in North Africa. According to Devy and Davis (2021) "Language and orality are two major fronts of the existential struggle that the indigenous peoples of the world have to face". In this sense, as Uzendoski (2012) notes, orality should not be limited to literacy among indigenous peoples for whom the practice of orality is central. He points out that there are rich and complex forms of textuality practiced by non-scriptural cultures in America, Africa and elsewhere (Arnold and Yapita 2006; Finnegan 2007; Hill and Mignolo 1994). By textuality, Uzedonski means multimodal practices based on song, music, dance, narrative, ritual and other human activities. We're talking here about "oral cultures", which encompass tales, epics, myths or "oral texts" and rites in their multiple meanings: folk tales and oral literature (see Goody 2014), for which we'll try to examine their contribution to the transmission of knowledge and language within the family setting. However, following Ndjavé (2013), we note that "the practice of storytelling is being lost in big cities to other types of culture (...), the predominance of written media seems clearly established: a loss of transmission of inherited knowledge or indigenous culture due to the lack of place given to orality within the family". Thus, Nicholas Evans' (2012) "Ces mots qui meurent" documents the multiple factors involved in the invisibilization and extinction of tribal languages often attributable to forced exile and lack of linguistic transmission, as in the case of Australia's aboriginal language, Kayardild.

On the other hand, the ethnographic and sociolinguistic work carried out by Haque (2019) in a Hmong family in France has shown the extent to which the cultic practice of shamanism, accompanied by long chanted recitations, was able to arouse in the eldest child interest in and attachment to the Hmong language and its community, with which the siblings seem to have distanced themselves. Similarly, prayers in Sanskrit, Arabic, Urdu or even Punjabi in families of Indian origin in Europe are not without effect on the constitution of the verbal repertoires of children familiar with these religious practices (Haque 2012, Haque 2021). The techniques for learning sacred texts such as the Koran in Koranic schools, or in yeshiva among Jews, differ little: it's all about repeating word for word and memorizing text. Similarly, within siblings, children learn their parents' language as long as oral communication in the home language is maintained. Several studies have shown that in stable migratory contexts, parents address their elders in their heritage languages: it's thanks to these oral discourses, often made up of different forms of bi-plurilingual speech (codic alternations, code changes, borrowings; cf. Lüdi and Py 2003) and marked by heterogeneity and non-uniformity, the child will acquire the phonemic subtleties of his parents' languages (as well as socially and culturally constructed forms of bodily expression), even if exposure to the language alone is short-lived, as schooling soon follows. Moreover, in the home environment, the presence of the mother tongue from an early age and family conversations are important for "successful" family language policy in raising bilingual children (Vernon-Feagans, Bratsch-Hines and The Family Life Project Key Investigators, 2013: 293).

School context in which verbal interaction will take a back seat to writing since, as Langlois (2007) points out, there is a "denial of orality" by the institution or school culture. Verbal interaction - in other words, direct, spontaneous and credible interaction - seems to us to be one of the central axes in the field of family language policy: numerous studies (the case of Korean families in the USA by Kang 2015) have shown that linguistic transmission is not broken when parents speak their heritage languages. This has also been shown by surveys of monolingual Welsh-speaking parents in Wales (Edwards and Newcombe 2005), or among immigrant families of Indian origin in Norway and Finland (Haque 2012). State governance in the field of language (Eastman 1983) and the rise of language standardization (Joseph 1987), as well as mobility and migration, have further hindered oral storytelling practices in the heritage language.

The proposed texts may address the following questions:
- How can we apprehend the role of verbal interaction for the transmission of heritage languages within the family?
- What place do immigrant families give to verbal interaction and how can it be an instrument of linguistic preservation
- Why is it that the appropriation of the family language to which the child has been exposed may, in some cases, fail to occur?
- How does the decline in verbal linguistic transmission impact on parental languages, and what other languages have taken their place in the verbal repertoires
of children growing up in a migratory context?

We wish to propose a critical examination of the contribution of verbal interaction in the light of reflections and debates pertaining to a sociolinguistic perspective, but also specific to the interdisciplinary scientific community in order to better grasp a holistic approach to its contribution.

Submission procedures
Proposals, in French or English accompanied by a brief curriculum vitae, should be sent to symposiumplf[at]gmail.com

Scientific Committee
Ashraf Abdelhay, Doha Institute of Graduate Studies
Michelle Auzanneau, Université Paris-Descartes
Sophie Babault, Université de Lille
Philippe Blanchet, Université Rennes 2
James Costa, Université Paris
Paulin Djite, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Gilles Forlot, Inalco
John E Joseph, University of Edinburgh
Kendall King University of Minnesota
Isabelle Léglise, CNRS / SeDYL
Tommaso Milani, University of Gothenburg
Miguel Pérez Milans, University College London
Danièle Moore, Simon Fraser University
Sari Pietikäinen, University of Jyväskylä
Brigitte Rasoloniaina, Inalco
Thomas Szende, Inalco
Cyril Trimaille, Université Grenoble-Alpes
Li Wei, University College London

Timetable
Deadline for receipt of papers: October 15, 2022
Notification of decision: January 15, 2023
Returns to contributors.ices: March 15, 2023
Expected publication: October 2023

Editor of the book
Shahzaman Haque, Inalco, France
Françoise Le Lièvre, Université Catholique de l'Ouest, France