ABSTRACT

This article examines how power and solidarity in family relations are negotiated along linguistic lines, and in particular, the role of a third language in this negotiation process. It takes as its case study a transnational family in Ireland who practise a strongly pro-Polish FLP and where the parents are seen as authorities in Polish and their daughters are seen as authorities in English, the dominant societal language. The paper takes a microinteractional approach to analysing excerpts where family members engage in language-learning activities using Irish, the national autochthonous minority language. The paper demonstrates how in many ways, Irish operates as a neutral, third space for family members to negotiate power/solidarity alignments, and thus contributes to the family’s maintenance of the power/solidarity equilibrium. The paper also demonstrates the polysemy inherent in how these negotiations play out at an interactional level, especially vis-à-vis the family’s pro-Polish FLP, as well as the polysemy of Irish-as-a-language within the scope of the family’s interactions as a whole.

摘要

本文探讨了家庭关系中的权力和团结如何按照语言进行谈判，特别是第三语言在谈判过程中的作用。它以爱尔兰的一个跨国家庭作为案例研究，他们实行强烈支持波兰的 FLP，父母在波兰语中被视为权威，而他们的女儿在英语（占主导地位的社会语言）中被视为权威。本文采用微交互方法来分析家庭成员使用爱尔兰语（民族本土少数民族语言）参与语言学习活动的摘录。本文展示了爱尔兰如何在许多方面作为家庭成员协商权力/团结联盟的中立第三空间，从而有助于家庭维持权力/团结平衡。