Dynamic language repertoires: The case of an Italian-Turkish couple in Istanbul
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Nazlı Deniz Barutçuoğlu
Abstract
Even though the Italian community in Istanbul has never been a large one, the Italian presence in Istanbul dates to medieval times (Oban 2007; Özkan 2018). Recently, Italian immigrants have also started moving to Istanbul for different purposes such as studying abroad, employment or marriage. They have become members of the international and local community in Istanbul as they take part in both professional and social life. This leads them to experience situations in which they need to use English and Turkish for day-to-day communication, and this results in the gradual development of a dynamic communicative competence in multiple languages. They acquire this communicative competence not only through formal learning situations but also via informal learning opportunities outside the classroom. These informal learning environments include public contexts in different parts of social life, and private contexts such as intercultural couple interactions. In the framework of the linguistic ethnographic project “Contemporary Linguistic Diversity in Istanbul”, this chapter draws on data from observations and audio-recordings of naturally occurring conversations by one Italian-Turkish married couple. The chapter examines how the couple’s language repertoires of Italian, Turkish, and English languages are gradually shaped by their experiences in this multicultural city, and it aims to provide first-hand accounts of the phases the couple goes through in order to become competent communicators via informal language learning opportunities in an ever-changing setting.
Abstract
Even though the Italian community in Istanbul has never been a large one, the Italian presence in Istanbul dates to medieval times (Oban 2007; Özkan 2018). Recently, Italian immigrants have also started moving to Istanbul for different purposes such as studying abroad, employment or marriage. They have become members of the international and local community in Istanbul as they take part in both professional and social life. This leads them to experience situations in which they need to use English and Turkish for day-to-day communication, and this results in the gradual development of a dynamic communicative competence in multiple languages. They acquire this communicative competence not only through formal learning situations but also via informal learning opportunities outside the classroom. These informal learning environments include public contexts in different parts of social life, and private contexts such as intercultural couple interactions. In the framework of the linguistic ethnographic project “Contemporary Linguistic Diversity in Istanbul”, this chapter draws on data from observations and audio-recordings of naturally occurring conversations by one Italian-Turkish married couple. The chapter examines how the couple’s language repertoires of Italian, Turkish, and English languages are gradually shaped by their experiences in this multicultural city, and it aims to provide first-hand accounts of the phases the couple goes through in order to become competent communicators via informal language learning opportunities in an ever-changing setting.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Setting the scene: Informal language learning and socialization in additional languages 1
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Part I: Informal language learning in private contexts
- The impact of family and media on L2 development in early childhood in a multilingual society: The case of the Seychelles 19
- ELF and other languages in the family: Portraying multilingual repertoires at dinner tables across Europe 51
- Dynamic language repertoires: The case of an Italian-Turkish couple in Istanbul 87
- A multimodal perspective on communicative competence in multilingual Afro-Surinamese speaker communities 111
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Part II: Informal language learning in public contexts
- Communicative competence in the virtual breathing space: Minoritized language learning in social media 149
- Researching the benefits of integrating language and museum education on students’ linguistic, cognitive, affective, and intercultural development 171
- Bringing the outside in: Attitudes towards multilingual competence in Zambia and Tanzania 199
- Student teachers’ attitudes toward translanguaging in formal learning vis-à-vis informal interaction: A survey of a university in Kenya 231
- About the contributors 261
- Index of subjects 265
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Setting the scene: Informal language learning and socialization in additional languages 1
-
Part I: Informal language learning in private contexts
- The impact of family and media on L2 development in early childhood in a multilingual society: The case of the Seychelles 19
- ELF and other languages in the family: Portraying multilingual repertoires at dinner tables across Europe 51
- Dynamic language repertoires: The case of an Italian-Turkish couple in Istanbul 87
- A multimodal perspective on communicative competence in multilingual Afro-Surinamese speaker communities 111
-
Part II: Informal language learning in public contexts
- Communicative competence in the virtual breathing space: Minoritized language learning in social media 149
- Researching the benefits of integrating language and museum education on students’ linguistic, cognitive, affective, and intercultural development 171
- Bringing the outside in: Attitudes towards multilingual competence in Zambia and Tanzania 199
- Student teachers’ attitudes toward translanguaging in formal learning vis-à-vis informal interaction: A survey of a university in Kenya 231
- About the contributors 261
- Index of subjects 265
