“It’s not comfortable being who I am” – Multilingual identity in superdiverse Dubai
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Gary Thomas ONeill
Abstract
This ethnographic case study examines the factors that contribute to multilingual choices and the construction of identities in a linguistically diverse family within a linguistically diverse city, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Based on interviews with a female Emirati in her early thirties, the article examines this young woman’s dispositions (habitus), beliefs and practices with regard to the language and literacy resources at her disposal. It describes how she views English and several varieties of Arabic, focusing largely on her language practices, and the role that they play in the construction and management of her identities, within personal and professional relationships and in relation to the various tasks that she performs in daily life. The study finds that in this superdiverse society, existing language ideologies, indexicalities, stereotypes, and gender issues, may render the performance of multilingualism and the construction of identities potentially rewarding but also potentially disturbing, particularly for those individuals who, through birth and/or marriage, are members of several national or ethnic communities, and who may be, in some senses, icons of superdiversity.
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© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- “It’s not comfortable being who I am” – Multilingual identity in superdiverse Dubai
- Students’ orientations to communication across linguistic difference with international teaching assistants at an internationalizing university in the United States
- Is English a Language Barrier to Public Higher Education in Puerto Rico?
- Managing complaints in multilingual care encounters
- Book Reviews
- Philipp Sebastian Angermeyer: Speak English or What? Codeswitching and interpreter use in New York City courts
- Richard Fitzgerald and William Housley: Advances in membership categorisation analysis
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- “It’s not comfortable being who I am” – Multilingual identity in superdiverse Dubai
- Students’ orientations to communication across linguistic difference with international teaching assistants at an internationalizing university in the United States
- Is English a Language Barrier to Public Higher Education in Puerto Rico?
- Managing complaints in multilingual care encounters
- Book Reviews
- Philipp Sebastian Angermeyer: Speak English or What? Codeswitching and interpreter use in New York City courts
- Richard Fitzgerald and William Housley: Advances in membership categorisation analysis
