Abstract
The central characteristic of a Dominant Language Constellation (DLC) is its particularity and specificity regardless of whether it exists in an individual or within a community. The uniqueness of a DLC may vary depending on its linguistic, societal, political, or geographical context. These variations can be observed in interrelated factors, such as the prominence of the language, its level of proficiency, and the functions allocated to it.
A detailed analysis of my individual Dominant Language Constellations during important life events offers a better understanding of the interdependent relationship between prominent outside factors -both geographical and societal- and the development and evolution of my unique DLC. For this study, eight different graphs are developed to represent the divergence of my personal DLC using important life events as benchmarks. The personal DLC consist the most important languages in my day to day communication based on their amount of usage. The graphs also investigate my language repertoire while closely looking at the languages that are generally considered insignificant in their usage within the DLC.
The study will not only provide an insight into my non-traditional childhood and adult multilingualism but also shed light on multilingualism in Sri Lankan Society. It closely examines alterations in my DLC provoked by changing schools, making new acquaintances, and geographical changes such as studying in another Country. Furthermore, it reveals that despite other changes within my DLC over time, the prominent role of English remains consistent. This could be explained not simply by the utilization of English as the lingua franca but also in relation to my attitude towards English as an elite language in Sri Lanka. The analysis also manifests the insignificance of the Tamil language in my personal DLC, despite its state recognition as an official language alongside Sinhala in Sri Lanka.
In the light of this information obtained through the analysis of my personal DLCs, it would be interesting to focus moreover on how an individual DLC exist within a DLC or DLCs of multilingual, multicultural and multi-ethnic societies such as Sri Lanka.
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Notes
- 1.
Department of Official Languages Sri Lanka: http://www.languagesdept.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38&Itemid=163&lang=en retrieved 30.04.2019.
- 2.
Even children of Buddhist parents were sent to catholic kindergartens and schools mostly with the intention of exposing their children to the English language and, thereby, creating better opportunities for them.
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Kannangara, S. (2020). The Evolution of Personal Dominant Language Constellations Based on the Amount of Usage of the Languages. In: Lo Bianco, J., Aronin, L. (eds) Dominant Language Constellations. Educational Linguistics, vol 47. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52336-7_9
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