Tell me who your friends are and I might be able to tell you what language(s) you speak: Social network analysis, multilingualism, and identity

TLDR

Social network analysis has been used to explain language shift and maintenance in bilingual communities, based on the assumption that language is integral to collective identities, but multilingual contexts challenge these assumptions. This study applies social network analysis to the Filipino community in Oslo to investigate how linguistic and cultural maintenance occur in a newly established multilingual setting. The authors combine social network analysis with language ideology and identity theory to explain language choice and maintenance within this community. Analyses confirm that social networks play a key role in language choice and cultural maintenance, though some exceptions were observed.

Abstract

Social network analysis has proved particularly useful in explaining why speakers in bilingual communities maintain or change their language behavior. Researchers have employed this sociolinguistic tool to investigate language shift and maintenance among longstanding stable bilingual communities. An underlying assumption in this analysis is that language, particularly the first language or mother tongue, is an integral part of collective identities, such as national, ethnic or cultural identities, and that maintenance of language across generations is a key factor to the maintenance of such identities. Certain bilingual communities may maintain this language ideology; however, multilingual communities present a more complex picture of the situation and may thus offer a challenge to the underlying assumptions of social network analysis. This article discusses the application of social network analysis to multilingual communities by taking a point of departure in the Filipino community in Oslo, the capital of Norway, with a view towards understanding linguistic and cultural maintenance. Results from the analyses provide support for the importance of social network in understanding language choice and cultural and linguistic maintenance; however, there were some notable exceptions. In this article we discuss language ideologies and the relationship between language and identity as complementary sources of explanation for language choice and language maintenance in this relatively speaking newly established multilingual community.