The linguistic trajectories of transnational anglophone parents in Barcelona

Abstract

This study focusses on the language abilities, uses and beliefs of transnational anglophone parents resident in the metropolitan region of Barcelona. It combines a description of language abilities and use with an exploration of how these practices are shaped by each individual’s sociolinguistic trajectory. Quantitative data from 164 parents reveals that this population declares significantly lower ability in Catalan than in Spanish, with greater knowledge of Catalan as length of residence increases. In terms of language use, the parents report considerable use of English and Spanish with their friends, colleagues, partners and children, in contrast with much lower declared use of Catalan. In the 26 semi-structured interviews, parents who had acquired and reported use of Catalan indicated that they had been motivated by mainly social factors. Few expressed a direct rejection of Catalan and those who did stated that they did so because they didn’t find it sufficiently useful. Those few individuals declared scant links with Catalan speakers. The study concludes that sociolinguistic trajectories and the interactions therein established by parents play an important role in the shaping of their language beliefs and, by extension, their language abilities and uses.

Keywords: transnational families, language uses, language transmission, linguistic trajectory.