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Chapter 9 Provenance and possession: Rethinking the mother tongue

  • Mariana Bono
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The Changing Face of the “Native Speaker”
This chapter is in the book The Changing Face of the “Native Speaker”

Abstract

The seemingly benign notion of mother tongue has always been a strong signifier of provenance and possession. In multicultural, pan-ethnic states, whenever the language of the mother does not coincide with the language of the nation, there is a presumption of foreignness, which installs a problematic geopolitical frame for those who have known several (linguistic) homes in their lives. One of the central tenets of multilingual studies has been the idea that monolingualism is not the norm, but rather an exceptional state of affairs. However, in large swaths of late capitalist societies, monolingualism remains the main vehicle for social promotion, and, as such, it retains all its advantages. Multilingual subjects continue to struggle with the rhetoric of privilege and subordination powered by nativist approaches to language. They must routinely content with the monolingualizing forces that undermine even the most progressive institutions, including our schools and universities, which purport to promote and protect linguistic diversity while remaining a key cog in an apparatus that constructs language as something which is a natural possession and towards which certain individuals can claim proprietary rights. This chapter focuses on the personal narratives of a group of multilingual first-year students at Princeton University. Because subjectivities are negotiated in and through language, I discuss the impact that their languaging experiences have had on their personhood. I pay close attention to the emergent dynamics between tongues and bodies in the semiotic practices of racialized minorities, both in their modes of identification and in their encounters with others.

Abstract

The seemingly benign notion of mother tongue has always been a strong signifier of provenance and possession. In multicultural, pan-ethnic states, whenever the language of the mother does not coincide with the language of the nation, there is a presumption of foreignness, which installs a problematic geopolitical frame for those who have known several (linguistic) homes in their lives. One of the central tenets of multilingual studies has been the idea that monolingualism is not the norm, but rather an exceptional state of affairs. However, in large swaths of late capitalist societies, monolingualism remains the main vehicle for social promotion, and, as such, it retains all its advantages. Multilingual subjects continue to struggle with the rhetoric of privilege and subordination powered by nativist approaches to language. They must routinely content with the monolingualizing forces that undermine even the most progressive institutions, including our schools and universities, which purport to promote and protect linguistic diversity while remaining a key cog in an apparatus that constructs language as something which is a natural possession and towards which certain individuals can claim proprietary rights. This chapter focuses on the personal narratives of a group of multilingual first-year students at Princeton University. Because subjectivities are negotiated in and through language, I discuss the impact that their languaging experiences have had on their personhood. I pay close attention to the emergent dynamics between tongues and bodies in the semiotic practices of racialized minorities, both in their modes of identification and in their encounters with others.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction: The changing face of the “native speaker” 1
  4. Part one: Conceptual discussions
  5. Chapter 1 Why the mythical “native speaker” has mud on its face 25
  6. Chapter 2 The multilingual and multicompetent native speaker 47
  7. Chapter 3 New speakers: New linguistic subjects 71
  8. Part two: Practices and representations
  9. Chapter 4 Is there a native speaker in the class? A didactic view of a problematic notion 103
  10. Chapter 5 On the paradox of being native speakers of two “competing” languages: Turkish as the mother or the father tongue of Greek nationals 133
  11. Chapter 6 What kind of speakers are these? Placing heritage speakers of Russian on a continuum 155
  12. Chapter 7 The out-of-sight of “native speaker”: A critical journey through models of social representations of plurilingual identities 179
  13. Chapter 8 Practice-proof concepts? Rethinking linguistic borders and families in multilingual communication: Exploiting the relationship between intercomprehension and translanguaging 209
  14. Part three: Policies and controversies
  15. Chapter 9 Provenance and possession: Rethinking the mother tongue 233
  16. Chapter 10 The pluricentricity and ownership of English 253
  17. Chapter 11 “I want to be bilingual!” Contested imaginings of bilingualism in New Brunswick, Canada 285
  18. Chapter 12 Questioning the questions: Institutional and individual perspectives on children’s language repertoires 315
  19. Afterword 347
  20. Index 353
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501512353-010

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction: The changing face of the “native speaker” 1
  4. Part one: Conceptual discussions
  5. Chapter 1 Why the mythical “native speaker” has mud on its face 25
  6. Chapter 2 The multilingual and multicompetent native speaker 47
  7. Chapter 3 New speakers: New linguistic subjects 71
  8. Part two: Practices and representations
  9. Chapter 4 Is there a native speaker in the class? A didactic view of a problematic notion 103
  10. Chapter 5 On the paradox of being native speakers of two “competing” languages: Turkish as the mother or the father tongue of Greek nationals 133
  11. Chapter 6 What kind of speakers are these? Placing heritage speakers of Russian on a continuum 155
  12. Chapter 7 The out-of-sight of “native speaker”: A critical journey through models of social representations of plurilingual identities 179
  13. Chapter 8 Practice-proof concepts? Rethinking linguistic borders and families in multilingual communication: Exploiting the relationship between intercomprehension and translanguaging 209
  14. Part three: Policies and controversies
  15. Chapter 9 Provenance and possession: Rethinking the mother tongue 233
  16. Chapter 10 The pluricentricity and ownership of English 253
  17. Chapter 11 “I want to be bilingual!” Contested imaginings of bilingualism in New Brunswick, Canada 285
  18. Chapter 12 Questioning the questions: Institutional and individual perspectives on children’s language repertoires 315
  19. Afterword 347
  20. Index 353
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