Where Languages Meet: Bilingual Lives and Cultural Belonging
Abstract
The aim or objective of this article is to highlight the complex and important relationship between language, bilingualism and identity through an examination of three important works: Maya Khemlani David's Analyzing Cultural Norms through Literary Texts: A Pedagogical Approach (2008), Ika Kana Trisnawati's Maintaining the Identity of Bilingual Individuals in Multicultural/Multilingual Settings (2017), and Judit Navracsics' Living with Two Languages and Cultures: The Complexity of Self-Definition for Bilingual Individuals (2016).This article tends to analyze the complex relationship between language, bilingualism and identity .The relationship between language, bilingualism and identity is complicated because this relationship is complex and it is not easy to analyze and understand it. Conjointly, the study of these works highlights the linguistic and social effects of bilingualism on teaching and learning, culture, and individual identity. Conjointly, the work of these three scholars shows that bilingualism is a tool, it is a mean of awareness of diverse cultures, their adaptability, and its recognition in a world that is becoming more connected day by day, rather than a source of disorder and confusion.
According to Navracsics (2016), bilingual identity is a agreement between demos, or local and social contribution in the society at large, and ethnos, or the emotional and cultural roots of one's lineage. She argues strongly that bilinguals create rich emotional, insightful and cognitive adoptability while constantly managing between these two fields, frequently suffering identity tension. By indicating the sociocultural aspects of bilingualism and explaining the important roles that family, community, and institutions play in protecting heritage and languages of ancestors, Trisnawati (2017) adds in her conversation that adopting a language of dominant may result in the loss of cultural identity, hence she warns against "subtractive bilingualism." Both studies explain how bilinguals' identities are not constant instead their identities are dynamic, situational, and context-dependent, constantly being formed through social interaction and negotiation.
David (2008) takes an informative and instructive position when dealing with the issue of identity. She suggests that classrooms and learning environment can act as secure or protected forums for cross-cultural dialogue, allowing students to analyze the role of power and cultural diversity present in language inherently and students can analyze it by reading literary texts. The idea of Trisnawati is similar to Bhabha's (1994) ideas of the "third space," where people create hybrid identities by managing between various cultural systems. David's pedagogy changes bilingual education into a tool for encouraging social inclusion, empathy, and cross-cultural communication by fostering critical language awareness (Fairclough, 1992).
A most important and repeated theme and idea in these studies is that questions of power, globalization, and cultural politics are deeply linked or connected to language and identity. Navracsics emphasizes and strongly argues in favor of how language preference affects civil or local participation, David reveals how schooling can either support or oppose language inequalities and disparities while Trisnawati talks about how social stratification affect identity maintenance. Conjointly, they demand that bilingualism be redefined as a cultural and cognitive asset rather than as a language issue.
The amalgamation or blend of these three perspectives or ideas focuses on process of bilingualism as ongoing process, these three scholars by using evidence based approach show that bilingualism is a continuous and ongoing process of personal growth and development that connects or links disparate or unequal worlds rather than just the ability to speak two languages. The writings of these scholars promote tolerance, acceptability, create environment where everyone feels valued and respected and acknowledgement for linguistic diversity in both theory and practice in real life situation. Communities or societies can improve tolerance, social harmony, understanding, acceptability of various cultures, and can achieve fairness and equality in education by accepting bilingual and bicultural identities. To conclude, bilingualism is an essential and important asset of humanity, it is a means of communication, creativity, and living together in a multilingual world.
