Language problem or language conflict? narratives of immigrant women's experiences in the US

Anna De Fina, Kendall A. King

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article investigates how Latin American women who migrate to the US frame their language experiences through narratives told in sociolinguistic interviews. As narratives reflect and shape social realities and relationships, narrative analysis can illuminate how individuals position themselves relative to language obstacles and ideologies, thus providing insights into processes that are central to the migration experiences of millions of individuals. We found that women related two types of stories: language conflict narratives, in which language was presented as part of a broader ethnic or social conflict, and language difficulty narratives, which focused on individual, personal problems with language experienced by protagonists. Our analysis illustrates how interviewers' questions, and the interviewees' language conflict narratives in particular, confirm, reproduce, but also contest central language ideologies and dominant discourses about migration in the US.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)163-188
Number of pages26
JournalDiscourse Studies
Volume13
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2011

Keywords

  • Argument
  • Conflict
  • English
  • Hispanic
  • Immigrant
  • Language ideology
  • Latino
  • Narrative
  • Positioning
  • Spanish
  • Women

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