Crossing the Boundaries of Cultural Diversity through Pluralingualism: Can Interspersed Children Communicate Effectively?
Pangasinan State University
ABSTRACT
The perusal to have a better hold of the effects and intricacies of language and multilingualism in relation to the communicative skills of interspersed children provide the primordial impetus for the study. It goes with the purpose of quelling the anathema between Blommaert and Verschueren’s hypothesis (1998) on the dogma of homogeneism and Betty Birner’s bilingualism perspective (2000) vis-à-vis Notion of Linguistic Relativity, Evelyn Hatch’s Discourse Theory, Howard Giles’ Speech Accommodation Theory, Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis, Language Shock, and Selinker’s fossilization precept. The nexus of language, culture and communication to answer whether the exposure of children to multicultural environment afford them equivalent command of all languages they are exposed to, is to be established. Key participants are the brothers’ Bureau, interspersed children of Filipino-Canadian-French-Pangasinan descent. Qualitative research design is to be adopted, where interview, documentation and experimentation as research instruments are to be utilized both in data gathering and analysis. Language is indeed a cement of the society and a vital part of culture. It goes to say that constant exposure to social constructs provides ways and means to expedite learning of language. It can be surmised that to have equal command in languages exposed to, and to communicate effectively through the use of each, is not farfetched. However, interventions and means should be resorted to, to quell difficulties that may be encountered in the usage of said languages.
KEYWORDS
Pluralingualism, intersperse, language, culture, communication