A1 Journal article (refereed)
Hesitant versus confident family language policy : a case of two single-parent families in Finland (2023)

Vorobeva, P. (2023). Hesitant versus confident family language policy : a case of two single-parent families in Finland. Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 42(4), 589-619. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2022-0055

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Vorobeva, Polina

Journal or series: Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication

ISSN: 0167-8507

eISSN: 1613-3684

Publication year: 2023

Publication date: 19/09/2022

Volume: 42

Issue number: 4

Pages range: 589-619

Publisher: Mouton De Gruyter

Publication country: Germany

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2022-0055

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/85900

Abstract

During the past decade, the field of family language policy has broadened its scope and turned its attention to diverse family configurations in versatile sociolinguistic contexts. The current study contributes to this endeavor by focusing on two single-parent families who live in Finland and who strive to support Russian as a family language. Applying nexus analysis as an epistemological stance and as an analytical lens, the study takes an emic perspective on family language policy. Furthermore, it examines how family language policy is manifested and negotiated during mother–child play and what discourses shape it. The findings reveal two contrasting ways in which family language policy is manifested and negotiated in the families. Confident family language policy in one of the families is informed by the mother’s historical body (i.e., prior experience of raising children bilingually), while in the other family, discourse in place represented by divergent language ideologies plays a significant role in shaping family language policy and is connected with hesitant decisions about language use in the family.

Keywords: multilingualism; bilingualism; use of language; Finnish language; Russian language; families; single-parent families; parent-child relationship; sociolinguistics; nexus analysis

Free keywords: family language policy; nexus analysis; single-parent families

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2022

JUFO rating: 2