Aberystwyth Linguistics Forum

April 3 at 6.15 in A14 (Hugh Owen)

Professor Nik Coupland (Copenhagen University and University of Technology Sydney) will speak on 'The (in)authentic bilingual'. All welcome.

 Abstract:

Do some people qualify as 'authentic bilingual speakers'? Possibly, but 'bilingual' is an idealised category, in much the same way as 'authentic' is. For some, bilingualism implies full competence in two (or more) languages, and equivalence between languages, all of which is at odds with most accounts of bilingual sociolinguistic practice. In the context of language policy and planning, for example in Wales, we see strong and explicit claims about authentic bilingualism. The planned future for Welsh is for it to function alongside English as one half of a 'truly bilingual Wales' - a much commented-on phrase. This policy commitment is ambitious and in many ways laudable, but it has unintended consequences. In some cases it increases 'the burden of speakerhood'. I will argue, more generally, that small languages and their speakers nowadays tend to function in conditions of high sociolinguistic reflexivity. Under these circumstances, language use takes on qualities of display and performance, and performances of obviously inauthentic bilingualism can have some special metacultural significance. I consider the case of 'Rhian Madamrygbi Davies', a comedy rugby reporter on S4C performed by Eirlys Bellin. Madamrygbi's persona and style are based on the projection of inauthenticity in different dimensions, and on small acts of transgression and deception. I will examine two of her televised mock interviews. I will argue that Madamrygbi playfully provides a model of post-nationalist bilingual practice that challenges established orthodoxies, while echoing some contemporary norms, especially among young urban speakers. That is to say that something authentic might actually emerge 'behind' or through the performance. Is Madamrygbi perhaps the authentically inauthentic bilingual?