Cooperative sesquilingualism as a peaceful communication strategy. A study based on the experience of young pacifists

Abstract

This research focuses on the sociolinguistic practices of a group of young people with different linguistic-territorial profiles (monolinguals, bilinguals from Catalonia and bilinguals from Valencia). The research was carried out in the course of a training activity organized by Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau on peace culture and global disarmament. Taking into account that all the attendees considered themselves “pacifists” to a greater or lesser degree, our main objective has been to describe the communication strategies of these young women. This research is interdisciplinary by nature since it has used the theoretical framework of sociolinguistics and peace studies. The research methodology is qualitative and participant observation has been used as a data collection method. As a result, it was found that there were three communication strategies: (1) total lasting code change, (2) total momentary code change, and (3) partial code change or cooperative sesquilingualism. Although certain social norms were reproduced in linguistic use in favor of the monolingual group, a certain inclination towards the third strategy was observed in the activity. It was also determined that there is a close relation between cooperative sesquilingualism and peace culture, on the basis of two main factors: firstly, this is the only communication strategy in which both speakers must play an active role in the conversation, and secondly, it does not oblige bilingual speakers to abandon their preferred language to the detriment of another.