1st Edition

Ethnolinguistic Chicago Language and Literacy in the City's Neighborhoods

Edited By Marcia Farr Copyright 2003
    414 Pages
    by Routledge

    416 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book, together with Latino Language and Literacy in Ethnolinguistic Chicago, documents how the future in a globalizing world is not only increasingly multilingual, but that diversity in language use (within one language and across languages) will always be with us. Most of the chapters in Ethnolinguistic Chicago are based on ethnographic studies of language, though several provide historical narratives as well. As a whole, this book offers a richly diverse set of portraits whose central themes emerged inductively from the research process and the communities themselves. All chapters emphasize language use as centrally related to ethnic, class, or gender identities. As such, this volume will interest anthropologists, sociologists, linguists, historians, educators and educational researchers, and others whose concerns require an understanding of "ground-level" phenomena relevant to contemporary social issues.

    Contents: D. Hymes, Foreword. Preface. Part I: Introduction and Background. M. Farr, R. Reynolds, Introduction: Language and Identity in a Global City. E.L. Judd, Language Policy in Illinois: Past and Present. Part II: Within the Family Circle. M. Morgan, Signifying Laughter and the Subtleties of Loud-Talking: Memory and Meaning in African American Women's Discourse. G.E. Cho, P.J. Miller, Personal Storytelling: Working-Class and Middle-Class Mothers in Comparative Perspective. L. Koliussi, Identity Construction in Discourse: Gender Tensions Among Greek Americans in Chicago. Part III: Community Spaces. B.J. Moss, A Literacy Event in African American Churches: The Sermon as a Community Text. R. Reynolds, "Bless This Little Time We Stayed Here": Prayers of Invocation as Mediation of Immigrant Experience Among Nigerians in Chicago. S. Radloff, The Arab Accountant as Language Mediator. C. Isaacson, They Did Not Forget Their Swedish: Class Markers in the Swedish-American Community. G. Nardini, Italian Patterns in the American Collandia Ladies' Club: How Do Women Make Bella Figura? D. Markelis, Lithuanian and English Language Use Among Early Twentieth Century Lithuanian Immigrants in Chicago. J. Lindquist, Class Identity and the Politics of Dissent: The Culture of Argument in a Chicago Neighborhood Bar. J. Rohsenow, Chinese Language Use in Chicagoland. L. Miller, Consuming Japanese Print Media in Chicago. R. Gundlach, Afterword.

    Biography

    Marcia Farr

    "the chapters are accessible to general readers, but the book will prove particularly useful in academic settings as a text in sociolinguistics and language ethnography courses....Students will find this book particularly useful, because the chapters represent a variety of projects, with different methods, research questions, and bibliographic resources."
    CHOICE

    "Farr's book represents an important contribution to the literature on language use in multiethnic metropolitan communities. This book offers insightful discourse analyses of the dynamics of multicultural/multilingual contacts in globalized metropolitan areas such as Chicago. The book will be of great interest to anthropologists, sociologists, linguists, historians, educators and educational researchers."

    GEOLINGUSITICS