Bakhtin’s ‘Borrowed’ Voices in the Narratives of Polish-born Adolescents Living in the UK

Young, Sara

doi:10.17651/SOCJOLING.34.14

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Title: Bakhtin’s ‘Borrowed’ Voices in the Narratives of Polish-born Adolescents Living in the UK

Abstract:

Bakhtin’s theory of ‘heteroglossia’ has often been used in sociolinguistics to examine questions of multilingualism. However, his concept of ‘borrowed’ voices is also useful for work that investigates identity, especially in the investigation of participant narratives. In my study of ethnic-linguistic identity construction of Polish-born adolescents living in the UK, I draw on the concept of borrowed voices to explore how the adolescents shape their narratives of their experiences. The findings suggest that the adolescents’ accounts are informed by the voices of others around them and that they borrow from discourses on Polish identity as they attempt to make sense of their experiences in their new environments.