This research cluster explores the diverse languages of the Asia-Pacific region – their structures, use in context, roles within society, and how they are taught and acquired.
Overview
How do people use language to creatively represent their multiple socio-cultural identities? How do people use language to communicate their immediate interactional needs and goals?
Languages are intimately linked to the dynamic nature of societies and are themselves dynamic. In the linguistically diverse Asia-Pacific region, people combine multiple identities – local, regional, and national – in their everyday use of language. Approaching all aspects of languages as firmly grounded in social activity, this research cluster aims to deepen understanding of the dynamic nature of the diverse languages in the region.
Some of the key issues and research topics relevant to this cluster include:
- Intercultural communication, translation and translanguaging related to mobility, diversity and transcultural flows
- Tensions and synergies between local, national and transnational identities and the dynamic relationship these have with language use
- Language shift and maintenance of local/ ethnic languages
- The role of language and culture in negotiating and maintaining relationships
- The use of multiple language varieties
- Language ideologies
- Language education and language policy
Image: Tevaprapas. Samut Khoi Wat Kungtapao Folk Museum. Wat Khung Taphao 2010 CC BY-SA 3.0
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Publications
Discourses of Disruption: Creating and Contesting Meaning in the Time of COVID-19. Leiden: Leiden University Press.
Edited by Ikuko Nakane, Claire Maree and Michael Ewing, Disourses of Disruption emerged from collaborative work in the LDAP cluster. It features chapters by LDAP members and AI colleagues, past AI students and colleagues from universities internationally.
About the book: Discourses of Disruption in Asia: Creating and Contesting Meaning in the Time of COVID-19 makes a unique contribution to research on meaning making in times of crisis. Using diverse analytical approaches to the study of languages in societies from the Asia-Pacific region, this volume explores the struggles over national identity and manifestations of socio-political issues in the context of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each chapter interrogates how social actors in diverse communities across the Asia-Pacific region draw on discursive resources to address communication issues, particularly in relation to minoritized groups, claims for accountability, solidarity formation, national identities, government policy announcements, translation, and the efficacy of health-related discourses. This volume will be of interest to students and researchers in fields such as Language and Gender, Linguistic Anthropology, Sociolinguistics, Translation Studies, Social Semiotics, Media Studies, Political Science, Public Health, and Asian Studies.