Ol problem/s blong transcription How can the ‘flexibly bilingual’ use of English and an English-lexified pidgin best be captured? Fiona Willans King’s College London

Transcription as representation “Transcribers bring their own language ideology to the task. In other words, all transcription is representation, and there is no natural or objective way in which talk can be written.” (Roberts, 1997, p.167) Question: How is my own ideological position, with regard to the use of Bislama and English, reflected in my transcription of focus group data?

Bislama = Melanesian Pidgin (an English-lexified expanded pidgin) Co-official language of Vanuatu (alongside English and French) 1906 – 1980 Vanuatu ruled jointly by Britain and France (the New Hebrides) Current education language policy: Children enrolled in either English- medium or French-medium school. Bislama and all other languages are excluded Approximately 106 other languages spoken in total Bislama (Vanuatu)

‘Language use’ within focus groups As an object of discussion: Language policy within education in Vanuatu – how the different languages are used, taught, learnt, and regulated within schools As metalinguistic data : Discussion about language(s) in the relevant language(s) As representations of data : My own use of linguistic examples and transcripts within my thesis

FOCUS GROUPS School setting and school topics Principal language: Bislama All participants fluent in Bislama & English/French Interviewer: Foreigner, British, former teacher of English in Vanuatu Discussion guides: in English/French Metalinguistic discussion

Language ideology: Common sentiments expressed “Vernaculars are important carriers of culture but international languages bring opportunities” “Bislama is just a ‘language of the road’ – it isn’t suitable for education” “All ni-Vanuatu need to learn both English and French”

My own language ideology “Nasonal Gems hemi wan nasonal ivent we ol lokol atlet blong yumi oli save pruvum olgeta, mo long ples ia nao yumi statem fea seleksen blong ol top athlet blong yumi...” 24/8/12 Sport Agri Sport Rel Agri Art AgriSocLang Agri Art RelArt Sci Agri SocArt Sci Rel ArtSci Soc ArtSci Mat Lang Sci Mat Lang Mat Lang Mat TechLang Mat LangTech Mat LangTech Mat Lang TechRelTech Mat Lang TechSocRel Lang TechSoc Lang RelSoc Lang SocMatSoc Lang SocMat Lang SportSocMat Lang Sport LangMat Lang SportSocLang Mat Lang SportSocLang SportLang The former colonial languages should not be prioritised over all others. Bislama is a systematic, rule- governed language. Multilingual education can incorporate multiple linguistic resources, rather than monolingual blocks of separate ‘languages’. thieberger/ Education Language Policy proposals (2010)

yes long wan uh lanwis polisi summit we i bin take place long Saratamata? olsem (.) gavman hem i reorganise/em lanwis/es blong yumi tijim long ol skul/s nao. wan nao hem i (.) wanem ia vernacular o wanem ia? ol lokol lanwis/es ia? then Inglis mo French. be (.) Bislama oli discourage/im. so hemia nao wan long olgeta samting (.) from why? olsem we mi bin talem finis. i no gat vocabulary blong hem (.) hem i (.) hem i no gat vocabulary. hem i too difficult.

Transcribing bilingual talk amma aami camping-e zaaitaam. aafne last year here disoin aamaare disoinnaa. (Bengali/English, Blackledge & Creese, 2010, p.33 – focus: linguistic resources) “Our transcription avoids creating boundaries between languages by marking them as different. This is in keeping with arguments about translanguaging and heteroglossia which emerge from the data and view the participants engaged in using linguistic resources to make meaning in ways that do not always recognize language boundaries” (Blackledge & Creese, 2010, p.76) andale pues esa cosa we don’t need this no more. (Spanish/English, Reyes, 2004, p.85 – focus: code-switching)

Transcribing Bislama and English : Relevant literature Transcription of non-standard language (e.g. Jaffe 2000, 2008; Androutsopoulos 2000) Writing pidgins/creoles for which no standard orthography exists (e.g. Sebba 2000 on English- lexicon Caribbean creoles) Codification and lexicography of pidgins and creoles (e.g. Crowley 1994 on Bislama; Schieffelin & Doucet 1994 on Haitian Creole) Standard Language Ideology cf. pidgins and creoles in education (e.g. Siegel 2006)

Transcribing Bislama and English LanwisLanguage SaenSign / Shine TingThink Crowley (2003) and MS-Word spell check used to determine if a word is, or could be, Bislama For words that could be either: No Standard pronunciation for either Bislama or Vanuatu/Pacific English Entirely different orthographies

yes long wan uh lanwis polisi summit we i bin take place long Saratamata? olsem (.) gavman hem i reorganise/em lanwis/es blong yumi tijim long ol skul/s nao. wan nao hem i (.) wanem ia vernacular o wanem ia? ol lokol lanwis/es ia? then Inglis mo French. be (.) Bislama oli discourage/im. so hemia nao wan long olgeta samting (.) from why? olsem we mi bin talem finis. i no gat vocabulary blong hem (.) hem i (.) hem i no gat vocabulary. hem i too difficult.

Representations of different ideological positions Transcript 1: The bilingual use of the linguistic resources of Bislama and English (but boundaries are still created by the separate orthographies) Transcript 2: The use of an (educated), Anglicized Bislama (cf. criticisms of politicians and the media) Transcript 3: The use of ‘Broken English’ – “English vocabulary without rules”; “English influenced by Bislama” (cf. criticisms within schools that justify monolingual policies)

A compromise Attempts to establish consistent ‘rules’ to determine when one phrase will be written as Bislama and another will be written as English appear to resist the very essence that an orientation to ‘flexible’ or ‘dynamic’ bilingualism aims to encompass BUT decisions must be made based on (1) consistency; (2) readability; (3) re-use of data?

References Androustopoulos, J. (2000). Non-standard spellings in media texts: The case of German Fanzines. Journal of Sociolinguistics 4(4): 514—533. Blackledge, A., & Creese, A. (2010). Multilingualism: A critical perspective. London: Continuum. Crowley, T. (1994). Practical issues in Bislama lexicography. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, 25, Crowley, T. (Ed.) (2003) A new Bislama dictionary (2nd ed.). Port Vila: Pacific Languages Unit, University of the South Pacific. Jaffe, A. (2000). Introduction: Non-standard orthography and non-standard speech. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4(4), Jaffe, A Transcription in Practice: Non-standard Orthography. Journal of Applied Linguistics 3(2): Reyes, I. (2004). Functions of code switching in school children's conversations. Bilingual Research Journal, 28(1), Roberts, C. (1997). The politics of transcription. Transcribing talk: Issues of representation. TESOL Quarterly, 31(1), Schieffelin, B., & Doucet, R. (1994). The "real" Haitian Creole: Ideology, metalinguistics, and orthographic choice. American Ethnologist, 21(1), Sebba, M. (2000). Writing Switching in British Creole. In K. Jones & M. Martin-Jones (Eds.), Multilingual Literacies: Reading and writing different worlds (pp ). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Siegel, J. (2006). Language ideologies and the education of speakers of marginalized language varieties: Adopting a critical awareness approach. Linguistics and Education, 17,