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Negotiating networks of communication in a superdiverse environment: Urban multilingualism in the City of Southampton

Negotiating networks of communication in a superdiverse environment: Urban multilingualism in the City of Southampton
Negotiating networks of communication in a superdiverse environment: Urban multilingualism in the City of Southampton
This article explores the impact of superdiversity on linguistic practices in Southampton, UK. Our focus seeks to identify what these practices are in an environment that we describe as superdiverse, and what is influencing, determining, shaping and contributing to these practices. Southampton is characterised by twenty-first century social mobilities typical of a port city, with a workforce that consists both of those who have settled here for decades, as well as others who are part of the European “new” migration, or who belong to the large international university student population. Our findings arise from a series of linked studies exploring social and linguistic cohesion in Southampton. These provide us with data on the negotiations implicit in the networks that structure urban multilingualism, and allow us to focus above all on examining the impact of our research on the language sensitisation of these communities. We explore the workplaces in a range of sites (public and private, large and small), comprising many nationalities, ethnicities and languages, and representing microcosms of complex, social hierarchies. Our approach is a grassroots, participatory one, seeking to involve our informants with our findings and sharing our analyses and recommendations.
0167-8507
505-524
Mar-Molinero, Clare
07b0f9ce-15ba-443a-896f-708327bb4e0c
Cadier, Linda
0ddab937-dcaa-48b8-a4d7-723a6d026178
Mar-Molinero, Clare
07b0f9ce-15ba-443a-896f-708327bb4e0c
Cadier, Linda
0ddab937-dcaa-48b8-a4d7-723a6d026178

Mar-Molinero, Clare and Cadier, Linda (2014) Negotiating networks of communication in a superdiverse environment: Urban multilingualism in the City of Southampton. Multilingua, 33 (5-6), 505-524. (doi:10.1515/multi-2014-0026).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article explores the impact of superdiversity on linguistic practices in Southampton, UK. Our focus seeks to identify what these practices are in an environment that we describe as superdiverse, and what is influencing, determining, shaping and contributing to these practices. Southampton is characterised by twenty-first century social mobilities typical of a port city, with a workforce that consists both of those who have settled here for decades, as well as others who are part of the European “new” migration, or who belong to the large international university student population. Our findings arise from a series of linked studies exploring social and linguistic cohesion in Southampton. These provide us with data on the negotiations implicit in the networks that structure urban multilingualism, and allow us to focus above all on examining the impact of our research on the language sensitisation of these communities. We explore the workplaces in a range of sites (public and private, large and small), comprising many nationalities, ethnicities and languages, and representing microcosms of complex, social hierarchies. Our approach is a grassroots, participatory one, seeking to involve our informants with our findings and sharing our analyses and recommendations.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 2 September 2014
Published date: September 2014
Organisations: Modern Languages

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Local EPrints ID: 394065
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/394065
ISSN: 0167-8507
PURE UUID: 43f8e76f-542d-4c1f-b16a-41fc04bd0dd2

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Date deposited: 11 May 2016 08:39
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 00:15

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Author: Linda Cadier

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