Språk och känsla : En etnologisk studie om vardagen med andraspråk

Languages are a central aspect of communication, and also strongly related to ideas about belonging and identity. Language is a necessary knowledge to speak, act and make connections with other people, and also seen as an essential aspect of integration. However, as languages are connected to resilient norms in society, there are ideas of “good” and “bad” language use. This study examines migrated academic individuals and their use of acquired Swedish, to see how their language use is experienced as a communication tool and as a marker of inclusion. To live with a second language is different from learning it. A phenomenological perspective is applied to explore the lifeworlds of the individuals, to see how language use and its consequences are embodied and resulting in emotions and strategies. This is done by interviews and observations combined with language portraits and language diaries. The study shows that language is done by languaging (språkande), understood as an action of making language. The making of language includes a range of communicative elements and also the experiences, strategies and emotions that the language experiences result in. With the concept of languaging, the focal point is how language is made meaningful, as a tool that you communicate with, as well as live with.