What multilingualism? Agency and unintended consequences of multilingual practices in a Barcelona health clinic  

Oleh:

Moyer, Melissa G.

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Journal of Pragmatics: An Interdiciplinary Journal of Language Studies vol. 43 no. 05 (2011), page 1209–1221.
Topik: Multilingualism Language ideologies Migration Health Institutional order Social actors and agency
Fulltext: Moyer_M.G.pdf (694.62KB)

Isi artikel

The present research critically examines the construction of multilingualism and the implementation of multilingual practices in response to the new demands posed to public services by the arrival to the city of Barcelona of migrants fromvarious language and cultural backgrounds. An analysis of the various modes andmodalities ofmultilingualismin a health clinic inthe city ofBarcelona reveals the ideologies behind the practices and it showshowthe reproduction of a particular social and institutional order is accomplished in everyday routine interactions that take place. Following Giddens (1984) on the role of agency it is possible to observe how institutional measures to incorporate multilingualism produce unintended consequences for migrants who come into contact with the health system. Language and communication appear at the center of the tensions and conflicts that arise between social actors within the institution. Ethnographic fieldwork and various types of data show the contradictions of institutional thinking and agency as well as the outcomes.

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