Parental language ideologies: the case of indigenous and non-indigenous bilingual families in the chilean context

Abstract

Many different definitions of bilingualism have been proposed by researchers over the years. Some, like Bloomfield (1933), saw bilingualism as an equal mastery of two languages; others have opted for more general definitions, like using two languages interchangeably (Mackey, 1962; Weinreich, 1953); while others completely rejected the idea of named languages (Otheguy et al., 2015). With such a variety of definitions among academics, it is impossible to expect non-linguists to agree on a definition either. Thus, this study aims to characterize both indigenous and non-indigenous parents’ conceptualizations of bilingualism. The focus on parents is because they are the primary caretakers of their children, while also being the main source of socialization during the infants’ first years of life. Not only that, but parents tend to be the main linguistic planners of the family unit, which in turn results in the development of their children’s bilingualism (Wilson, 2020a). Furthermore, the contexts of these families have not been widely studied in Family Language Policy research. Indigenous families are usually at the forefront of studies that focus on language practice, not on their language ideologies, and the English language is usually studied in the context of a majority language, not when it is positioned as a minority/heritage language. So, these families’ language ideologies have been invisibilised in FLP research. These two sociocultural contexts are particularly interesting due to how their different languages are perceived by the majority society, and how they represent two extremes on a spectrum. English being a desired and encouraged language, while Indigenous languages have survived after a history of oppression. This thesis asks whether there are any differences or similarities between the language ideologies and conceptualization of bilingualism between parents of bilingual indigenous and non-indigenous families in Chile. In order to answer this question, ten parents were asked to meet with the researcher in order to go through an interview, create a language portrait, and narrate their linguistic biography. Five parents belonged to a Pewenche community located in the south of Chile, and had Chedungun and Spanish in their repertoires. The other five, lived in the city of Valdivia, Chile, and had at least English and Spanish in their repertoires. The answers given by the participants showed that, due to their different life experiences and sociocultural backgrounds, the different groups of parents had different understandings of what bilingualism is, among other contrasting attitudes and ideologies.