Abstract
Several researchers using biographical methods have explored the use of visual representations when conducting qualitative interviews. Busch’s (2017) language portraits and Purkarthofer’s (2017) use of LEGO to represent social spaces are two brilliant examples, as well as Adriansen’s (2012) use of timeline interviews, where participants draw their timeline as they narrate their life story. Adriansen (2012) explains how timeline interviews stand out as a method that provides in-depth data, and one of the advantages of the method is that it challenges the classical researcher/participant dynamic, giving the participant more analytical power and the possibility to explore their life story as they draw.
One of the overarching aims of the SPEAKERS project is to investigate key life moments that make a person transition from learner to speaker of an indigenous language. These salient moments are called linguistic mudes (Pujolar & Puigdevall, 2015), and the method of timeline interviews seemed especially suitable to research and understand the role of mudes in revitalization efforts. During the past semester, the SPEAKERS group has tested and adapted this method. Although Adriansen (2012) emphasizes that the timeline method should not be interpreted as an implication of time as linear or a life story as chronological, we took this a step further. To avoid a Western notion of time, we renamed the method language trajectory drawings and developed a guide of carefully formulated questions and directions that are consistent in Norwegian, English and Spanish.
As part of the SPEAKERS project, Briksdal works on a PhD-project that aims to examine the revitalization efforts occurring in Sámi homes, and more specifically, parenthood as a muda in this context. The family is a crucial site for language maintenance. Fishman (1991) asserts that a language is considered safe when it is transmitted between generations. Due to colonial and oppressive policies, many indigenous communities worldwide have experienced a language shift, where children grew up speaking only the national language (Lane, 2010). In recent decades, there have been increasing efforts to revitalize Sámi and other indigenous languages. Although the family is an important arena for language reclamation, it has been somewhat overlooked in research compared to the equally central arena of school and indigenous educational programs (Hinton, 2012).
In this talk, Briksdal will discuss how she has implemented the method of timelines/trajectory drawings when adding to the research field of family language reclamation, along with reflections and experiences gained from using and adapting this method within the SPEAKERS group. She will also share some preliminary data for input on method and analysis.
References:
Adriansen, H. K. (2012). Timeline interviews: A tool for conducting life history research. Qualitative Studies, 3(1), 40–55. https://doi.org/10.7146/qs.v3i1.6272
Busch, B. (2017). Expanding the notion of the linguistic repertoire: On the concept of spracherleben – the lived experience of language. Applied Linguistics, 38(3). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/amv030
Fishman, J. (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Multilingual Matters.
Hinton, L. (2012). Revitalization of endangered languages. In P. K. Austin & J. Sallabank (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages (pp. 291-311). Cambridge University Press.
Lane, P. (2010). “We did what we thought was best for our children”: A nexus analysis of language shift in a Kven community. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2010(202), 63-78. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2010.014
Pujolar, J., & Puigdevall, M. (2015). Linguistic mudes: How to become a new speaker in Catalonia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2014-0037
Purkartofer, J. (2017). Building expectations: Imagining family language policy and heteroglossic social spaces. International journal of bilingualism. Vol. 23 (3). https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006916684921.
Bio:
Anette Briksdal is a PhD-candidate in the SPEAKERS project - Indigenous language resilience: from learners to speakers, where she is researching the role of parenthood in Sámi revitalization.