Abstract
Most current language maintenance and shift research has focused on investigating immigrants’ experiences and attitudes in their host countries only. Recent research has shown that additional insights can be gained from a multi-perspective approach to language maintenance that includes “spatio-temporal” frames. Transit experiences (representing extra spaces and multiple phases) offer important information which has been overlooked in most language maintenance and shift research. Drawing on a data set of 30 semi-structured interviews with Wellington Iraqis and 13 with Iraqi refugees preparing to move to New Zealand from their transit point in Jordan, this article argues for the significance of transit experiences to language maintenance research. Analysis of the data suggests the significance of transit experiences in explaining the variations in Iraqis’ linguistic preferences and competencies and elucidates differences in language ability, use and attitude between older and younger generations. The data provides evidence for the importance of transition as a focus within language maintenance and shift study.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor Bernadette O’Rourke for detailed comments on a previous draft of this article. I am also grateful to my supervisors Dr Meredith Marra and Professor Janet Holmes for their guidance, advice and constructive feedback on the research which this article is based on.
Appendix: List of some Arabic phonemic symbols and their transliterations
| IPA | Letter(s) | Description | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|---|
| ʔ | ء | Voiceless glottal stop | ʔ |
| Θ | ث | Voiceless dental fricative | th |
| ʤ | ج | Voiced palatal affricate | j |
| ħ | ح | Voiceless pharyngeal fricative | h |
| X | خ | Voiceless velar fricative | kh |
| ð | ذ | Voiced interdental fricative | dh |
| sˤ | ص | Voiceless emphatic alveolar fricative | s |
| d̪ˤ | ض | Voiced emphatic dental stop | d |
| t̪ˤ | ط | Voiceless emphatic dental stop | t |
| ðˤ | ظ | Voiced velarized dental fricative | z |
| ʕ | ع | Voiced pharyngeal fricative | ʕ |
| ɣ | غ | Voiced uvular fricative | gh |
| Q | ق | Voiceless uvular stop | q |
The remaining symbols are standard
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Building a field: translation policies and minority languages
- Translation policy and indigenous languages in Hispanic Latin America
- Official bilingualism meets de facto multilingualism: public service interpreting for the Chinese in Catalonia
- Translation as a sub-set of public and social policy and a consequence of multiculturalism: the provision of translation and interpreting services in Australia
- The dialect(ic)s of control and resistance: intralingual audiovisual translation in Chinese TV drama
- La nécessité des traductions. Translating legislation in a young parliamentary regime. The case of Belgium (1830–1895)
- Multilingual information for foreign residents in Japan: a survey of government initiatives
- Language, translation and interpreting policies in prisons: Protecting the rights of speakers of non-official languages
- Book Review
- Gabriel González Núñez: Translating in linguistically diverse societies. Translation policy in the United Kingdom
- Small Languages and Small Language Communities 84
- Transition as a focus within language maintenance research: Wellington Iraqi refugees as an example
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Building a field: translation policies and minority languages
- Translation policy and indigenous languages in Hispanic Latin America
- Official bilingualism meets de facto multilingualism: public service interpreting for the Chinese in Catalonia
- Translation as a sub-set of public and social policy and a consequence of multiculturalism: the provision of translation and interpreting services in Australia
- The dialect(ic)s of control and resistance: intralingual audiovisual translation in Chinese TV drama
- La nécessité des traductions. Translating legislation in a young parliamentary regime. The case of Belgium (1830–1895)
- Multilingual information for foreign residents in Japan: a survey of government initiatives
- Language, translation and interpreting policies in prisons: Protecting the rights of speakers of non-official languages
- Book Review
- Gabriel González Núñez: Translating in linguistically diverse societies. Translation policy in the United Kingdom
- Small Languages and Small Language Communities 84
- Transition as a focus within language maintenance research: Wellington Iraqi refugees as an example