Globalization, hybridity, and vitality in the linguistic ideologies of New Zealand Sign Language users
Temas
Detalles
Language recognition has supported a discourse of NZSL vitality, yet the imagined boundaries of NZSL are blurring as foreign sign languages are more present in the digital landscape and absorbed into NZSL repertoires. In ‘superdiverse’ conditions, identities, ideas and language styles travel digitally across unconventional networks (Blommaert 2010). This prompts ideological tension between the “revival of regional languages and cultures… spread of international lingua francas, and new extents and forms of language hybridization” (Wendel and Heinrich 2012: 157). This article explores how NZSL users perceive the intersection of global influences, (especially ASL), with the identity of NZSL as a national language. While linguistic hybridity may suggest convergence, we found that many NZSL users see it as a source of vitalising local linguistic and cultural resources.