Lost in translation
Parents as medium translators in intergenerational language transmission
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12677635 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Weihong Wang (0000-0002-0594-4532, China University of Geosciences, corresponding author), Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen (0000-0002-8973-5251, University of Bath) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 362-382 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Current Issues in Language Planning (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1466-4208 • E-ISSN: 1747-7506 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14664208.2020.1763022 |
| OpenAlex | W3025190069 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 36 |
This study reports on the role of parents in intergenerational language transmission in a Chinese city. Thirteen families’ everyday communication practices have been collected, including dinner table talks, homework tutoring, and children's playtime interactions. Through comparative conversation analysis, the study reveals a phenomenon of ‘medium translation,’ a de facto language practice ‘brokering’ the communication between grandparents and children in three-generation households who use Fangyans (also known as Chinese dialects) and Putonghua (literally translated ‘common speech for all Chinese people’) in their daily communication. The findings indicate that parents’ role as ‘medium translators’ in intergenerational transmission is one critical factor contributing to the loss of Fangyan when it is passed down from grandparents to children, despite the facts that grandparents play an important role in childrearing and children are exposed to Fangyan from birth. Language shift was, ‘translated into being’ as parents mediated children's language shift from Fangyan to Putonghua. The study has important implications for the maintenance of linguistic varieties such as Fangyan in China and other similar contexts
China · Conversation · Developmental psychology · Grandparent · Linguistics · Sociology · Communication · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology
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Medium request
| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |