1. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH OF IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION & STRATEGIES OF ALLOPHONES IN BELGIUM D ASSARGUES Alix P ERREZ Julien University of Liège Groningen, March, 28th 2014

2.  To be French-speaking in Flanders  To be Dutch-speaking in Wallonia

3. MAIN METHODOLOGY (WORK-IN-PROGRESS)  Qualitative method (sociological interviews)  Characteristics of informants  Proximity with the linguistic border  Age (-50, from 50 to 65, more than 65)  Age when the immersion in an allophone regio begins  Since generations, birth, basic/high school, after studies, or after professional experiences

4. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH OF IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION & STRATEGIES 1. Semantic study 1.1. New categorizations 1.2. Semantic registers of categorizations 2. Sociological & psychosocial study 2.1. Sociology of identity construction 2.2. Interactional linguistic & identity strategies

5. 1. SEMANTIC STUDY 1.1. New categorizations  Double identification  “Flamands Flamands”, “Flamands Francophones”, “Waalse Vlaming”  Expressions, fixed items  “pointus Flamingants”, “Flamands petits esprits”  Identification + adjective  “Flamands tolérants”, “Flamands intellectuels”, “Echte Belgen”, “Grens-Belgen”, “Domme Belgen”

6. 1. SEMANTIC STUDY 1.2. Semantic registers of categorizations  Social marks register  Cultural register  Personality, mentality, comportment register  Political register “Politiek vluchteling”  Linguistic register “Dus in mijn dialect of in mijn taal zitten heel veel Franse woorden, dat is echt ja “Merci”, “trottoir”, allemaal dingen die voortdurend terugkomen. […] daar is echt wel een band tussen de twee talen en de twee bevolkingsgroepen ”

7. 2. SOCIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOSOCIAL STUDY 2.1. Sociology of identity construction  Establish a typology of identity constructions  Dubar’s sociological theory of identity (2013) identity for oneself/ identity for the others  Analysis of deictics « […] comme les Flamands étaient minoritaires, je parle des petites classes [école primaire], et que les Francophones étaient majoritaires, on devait faire très attention parce que [dans] les batailles on se faisait attraper », « …because the Flemish people were in the minority, I’m talking about the primary school, and the French-speaking people were in the majority, we had to be very careful, because in the fights we were caught. »

8. 2. SOCIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOSOCIAL STUDY 2. 2. Interactional linguistic & identity strategies  Code-switching  To make the communication process easier “Als iemand, [in de Ardennen], garçons of serveurs of iets tegen mij zegt: “Meneer wat kan ik voor u doen dan zeg ik “Euh on peut peut- être passer au français, fin… je peux parler français donc fin… j’aime autant le faire en français comme ça vous vous fatiguez pas et moi… » Dus ik zal mij altijd aanpassen aan de situaties, wat ik moet, vind ik, ik bedoel. […] voor mij is het even gemakkelijk de éne en de ander dus, je vois pas pourquoi je dois fatiguer le Monsieur… Dus gewoon, maar ja… Ik doe maar in het Nederlands of in het Frans” NW1

9. 2. SOCIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOSOCIAL STUDY 2. 2. Interactional linguistic & identity strategies  Code-switching  To make the communication process easier  As part of a face-protection strategy (to avoid identity reproaches) « A l’heure actuelle, comment les autres vous identifient ? - Ben à l’heure actuelle, on sait difficilement me reprocher quelque chose, si je rencontre des Flamands je parle Néerlandais si je rencontre des Francophones je parle Français » (FF4) « - Right now, how are you identified by the others? - Well, right now, one can hardly reproach me anything, if I meet Flemish people, I speak Dutch to them, if I meet French-speaking people, I speak French to them »

10. 2. SOCIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOSOCIAL STUDY 2. 2. Interactional linguistic & identity strategies  Code-switching  To make the communication process easier  As part of a face-protection strategy  To act, following a mental program  One person, one language  One place, one language  One territory, one language « and Brussels, each time we talk about what do we do when we arrive in Brussels, we talk in French? Flemish naturally! It was… there was no other… so we knew well that daddy was pro Flemish » FF3

11. 2. SOCIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOSOCIAL STUDY 2. 2. Interactional linguistic & identity strategies  Code-switching  Code-switching between language varieties  To preserve social identity « - Est-ce que tu essayais d’imiter l’accent des autres ou… - Non ! Non non je parlais correctement mais sans… je roulais mon r plus que maintenant mais pas au point que [ma sœur] le faisait, [ma sœur], elle savait vraiment prendre le patois anversois mais ça j’avais nulle envie de le parler moi non-plus » (FF3) « - Were you trying to imitate the accent of the others or …? – No! No! No! I was speaking correctly but without … I was rolling my r’s to a larger extent, but not as much as my sister did, my sister was able to use the Antwerpian dialect but I didn’t want to speak it myself»

12. 2. SOCIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOSOCIAL STUDY 2. 2. Interactional linguistic & identity strategies  Code-switching  Code-switching between language varieties  To preserve social identity  To protect oneself from linguistic reproaches « Donc j’dis toujours, ‘Je viens de Tongres, je suis néerlandophone’ donc […] néerlandophone c’est juste pour préciser que voilà, des fois, il y aura des fautes, si j’ai un accent ben ça vient de là. » (NW1) « So, I always say, I’m coming from Tongeren, I’m Dutch-speaking, so that’s just to say that that might be the reason why I make some mistakes or why I have an accent. »

13. IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION & STRATEGIES OF ALLOPHONES IN BELGIUM  1. Semantic study Cognitive construction of identities, new identification systems  2. Sociological & psychosocial study Typology of main identity evolutions and typology of contextual identities

14. Groningen, March 28th, 2014 Dassargues Alix  alix.dassargues@ulg.ac.be Perrez Julien  julien.perrez@ulg.ac.be