Translingual phenomena are
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...
s and other aspects of
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
that are relevant in more than one language. Thus "translingual" may mean "existing in multiple languages" or "having the same meaning in many languages"; and sometimes "containing words of multiple languages" or "operating between different languages". Translingualism is the phenomenon of translingually relevant aspects of language; a translingualism is an instance thereof. The word comes from ''
trans-'', meaning "across", and ''lingual'', meaning "having to do with languages (tongues)"; thus, it means "across tongues", that is, "across languages".
Internationalisms offer many examples of translingual
vocabulary
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
. For example,
international scientific vocabulary
International scientific vocabulary (ISV) comprises scientific and specialized words whose language of origin may or may not be certain, but which are in current use in several modern languages (that is, translingually, whether in naturalized, loa ...
comprises thousands of translingual words and
combining forms.
The term also refers to a pedagogical movement and line of research inquiry in
composition studies
Composition studies (also referred to as composition and rhetoric, rhetoric and composition, writing studies, or simply composition) is the professional field of writing, research, and instruction, focusing especially on writing at the college leve ...
and
second-language learning that seek to normalize the simultaneous presence of multiple languages and communicative codes as well as characterize all language use as a matter of mixing and changing these languages and codes. For these teachers and language researchers, the prefix ''trans'' in ''translanguaging'' "indexes a way of looking at communicative practices as transcending autonomous languages". This prefix provides a different lens of looking at languages and the relationships among them. Rather than considering each language as fixed and closed, a translanguaging perspective considers languages as flexible resources that speakers and writers use to communicate across cultural, linguistic, or contextual boundaries.
History
Steven G. Kellman was among the first scholars to use the term translingualism in his 2000 book "The Translingual Imagination."
996 collection ''Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft.''that book was 2003This work presented that translingual writers are authors who write in more than one language or in a language other than their primary one in a way that emphasized freedom from cultural and monolingual restraint.
The translingual writer is an author who has the ability to cross over into a new linguistic identity.
[Cutter, Martha J]
Book Review on the book Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft written by Steven G. Kellman (2003)
/ref> While Kellman is simply among the first to use the term, the phenomena of translingualism may have emerged as a response to the Sapir-Whorf thesis of linguistic relativity
The hypothesis of linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis , the Whorf hypothesis, or Whorfianism, is a principle suggesting that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view, worldview or cognition, and ...
.
In the early 21st century, TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) began to use translingualism as a method of teaching a second language that focuses on unifying language use in defiance of monolingual approaches that treat languages as separate avenues of thought.[Huang, Tung-Chiou]
The Application of Translingualism to Language Revitalisation in Taiwan (2010)
/ref> Supporters of this use of translingualism focus on the liminality of language systems over concepts like "Standard Written English" and unaccented speech.[Horner, B., Lu, M. Z., Royster, J. J., & Trimbur J. (2011) Opinion: Language difference in writing: Toward a translingual approach. College English, 73(3), 303-321.] The past decade, in fact, has seen a gradual increase in the number of second language scholars theorizing about translingualism.[Jain, R. (2014). Global Englishes, Translinguistic Identities, and Translingual Practices in a Community College ESL Classroom: A Practitioner Researcher Reports. TESOL Journal, 5(3), 490-522.] This suggests that a paradigm shift may be occurring in the way we think about language study, language teaching, and language use.
With respect to second-language teaching and research, translingual scholar Suresh Canagarajah has advocated approaches that merge the mother language with the target language. His argument is that the intimation behind speech and words is often more important that the words themselves and that tranlingualism's exploration of the liminal space between languages enables better comprehension and communication between parties.
Critical debates
The term translingualism presents the notion of fluidity between languages, rather than adhering to the static categorizations of bilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
, multilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
, ambilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
, and plurilingualism
Plurilingualism is the ability of a person who has competence in more than one language to switch between multiple languages depending on the situation for ease of communication. Plurilingualism is different from code-switching in that plurilingua ...
. According to Tung-Chiou Huang, "Translingualism is a term from Steven G. Kellman (2000) and David Schwarzer et al. (2006), who see teaching an L2 as bridge building between languages that allow one to retain a unified mind and not be cloven into two for the sake of being multilingual."[ Supporters of this use of translingualism focus on the fluidity of language systems, thoroughly eschewing concepts such as "Standard Written English" and unaccented speech.][ The past decade, in fact, has seen a gradual increase in the number of second language scholars theorizing about translingualism toward a rhetoric of translingual writing.][Canagarajah, S. (2012). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. Routledge.] The paradigm of translingualism utilized in a classroom setting has not had much focus placed upon it, primarily due to its recent immergence into the SLA and ESL
English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL ...
community. However, scholars such as Nathanael John Rudolph, are making the effort to research the adaptation of translingualism into pedagogical practices through the lens of ELT, particularly how translingual experiences can aid in the debates regarding native and non-native speaking roles and identities.
Dichotomy between native and non-native speakers
It is common for translinguals scholars to criticize a monolingual orientation to communication since it assumes that speakers should use a common language with shared norms in order to communicate effectively and successfully. These standards originate from the native speaker's utilization of the language. Proponents of monolingual orientation believe that interlocutors should avoid mixing their own languages with other languages. However, Canagarajah states, "talk doesn't have to be in a single language; the interlocutors can use the respective languages they are proficient in." Recently, researchers have also begun to explore the idea of translingualism as a communicative competence citing the fact that "In multilingual scenarios, mastering the language for the exchange is not as relevant as achieving effective communication by means of strategies that go beyond communicative competence in any given language." In today's global context, most scenarios involve speakers of various languages communicating primarily in English. These speakers will all have different cultural values which will affect their production and interpretation of speech and therefore the speakers will not adjust to any one language or culture but rather to the "common communicative arena".[Canagarajah]
(2013), for instance, identifies translinguals as speakers who demonstrate the ability to use their language(s) successfully across diverse norms and codes in response to specific contexts purposes.
The "translingual fluency" of a writer is determined by their literary works' ability to engage and stimulate a geographically and demographically varied audience. Readers, on the other hand, demonstrate their translingual fluency by being attuned and perceptive to a work's linguistic heterogeneity.
See also
* Interlingual homograph An interlingual homograph is a word that occurs in more than one written language, but which has a different meaning or pronunciation in each language. For example word "done" (pronounced /dʌn/) is an adjective in English, a verb in Spanish (presen ...
* Interlinguistics
Interlinguistics, as the science of planned languages, has existed for more than a century as a specific branch of linguistics for the study of various aspects of linguistic communication. Interlinguistics is a discipline formalized by Otto Jespers ...
* Translanguaging
Translanguaging can refer to a pedagogical process of utilizing more than one language within a classroom lesson or it can be used to describe the way bilinguals use their linguistic resources to make sense of and interact with the world around th ...
References
{{Reflist
Translation
Multilingualism
Second language writing
Writing
Composition (language)