Exploring the Family Language Policy of the Kurdish Families

2022-12
Eroğlu, Leyla
This study explored the Family Language Policy of the Kurdish families living in the Republic of Türkiye with regard to the transmission of Kurdish to their children. In order to uncover the Kurdish parents' language ideologies, language practices and language management strategies, Spolsky's Tripartite FLP Model was used as a theoretical framework. Multiple case studies were employed as a qualitative research method and the data were gathered from 7 Kurdish families through semi-structured face to face interviews, observations and field notes. The data were firstly analyzed according to the FLP model and later, thematic analysis was carried out in all data to identify the recurrent and significant themes. The results showed that the Kurdish parents considered Kurdish as an essential part of their life and accordingly made significant efforts for the transmission of the language. Preserving the heritage language, perceiving Kurdish as a marker for ethnic identity, communication with the extended family, espeacially with the monolingual Kurdish grandparents and past language experiences emerged as the driving forces behind the parents' FLP. The parental declared language ideologies were congruent with the reported language practices. Moreover, in order to maintain Kurdish in family conversations, the Kurdish parents employed various internal and external control for language management.

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Citation Formats
L. Eroğlu, “Exploring the Family Language Policy of the Kurdish Families,” M.A. - Master of Arts, Middle East Technical University, 2022.