“Maybe just things we grew up with”: linguistic and cultural hybridity in ELF couple talk

Svitlana Klötzl

doi:10.1515/jelf-2014-0002

Article

“Maybe just things we grew up with”: linguistic and cultural hybridity in ELF couple talk

Svitlana Klötzl
Svitlana Klötzl is currently a doctoral student at the English Department of the University of Vienna. She studied English and Russian at the Precarpathian University in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. She worked as an English teacher at secondary schools, State University of Oil and Gas, and Institute of Law, Economics and Building in Ivano-Frankivsk for 13 years. Her research interests are applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and English as a lingua franca.

Published/Copyright: March 25, 2014

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From the journal Journal of English as a Lingua Franca Volume 3 Issue 1

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of ELF in interactions between people in a romantic relationship (couples) and explores to what extent cultural factors are involved in the process of establishing and maintaining intimacy through ELF, with the main focus on the hybrid forms in their talk. The data (audio recordings of domestic ELF interactions, questionnaires, interviews) came from four European couples representing four different first-language constellations. The data suggest that ELF couples do not conform to conventionalized ENL linguistic and cultural norms. This allows for a creative pragmatic process of hybridization and acculturation of English into the partners' private space, whereby ELF couples will accommodate the language by drawing upon any available resources, and re-load it with their own cultural values for the pretextual purpose of achieving the desired effect of mediating comity.

Аннотация

Статья исследует использование английского языка как лингвафранка (АЛФ) в общении супружеских пар и рассматривает степень влияния культурных факторов на процесс создания и сохранения романтических отношений посредством АЛФ. Основным объектом исследования являются языковые гибридные формы в общении четырех АЛФ пар, в которых партнеры являются носителями различных первых языков. В исследовании использованы следующие методы сбора данных: аудиозаписи домашних разговоров пар на АЛФ, анкетирование и интервью. На основе данных можно сделать вывод, что АЛФ пары приспосабливают АЛФ, часто не придерживаясь языковых и культурных норм, установленных носителями английского как первого языка. Это способствует творческому прагматическому процессу гибридизации и аккультурации английского языка в интимное пространство партнеров. В этом процессе АЛФ пары используют любые доступные им (языковые) ресурсы, и перезагружают АЛФ собственными культурными смыслами c претекстуальной целью достижения желаемого эффекта общности и близости.

Keywords: ELF; culture; ELF couple discourse; hybridity

Ключевые слова: АЛФ; культура; АЛФ супружеский дискурс; гибридность

About the author

Svitlana Klötzl

Svitlana Klötzl is currently a doctoral student at the English Department of the University of Vienna. She studied English and Russian at the Precarpathian University in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. She worked as an English teacher at secondary schools, State University of Oil and Gas, and Institute of Law, Economics and Building in Ivano-Frankivsk for 13 years. Her research interests are applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and English as a lingua franca.

Published Online: 2014-3-25

Published in Print: 2014-3-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jelf-2014-0002

Keywords for this article

ELF; culture; ELF couple discourse; hybridity