The concept of identity in linguistics and related diciplines: theoretical explorations

Ovaj diplomski rad imao je zadatak iz teorijske perspektive proučiti način sagledavanja koncepta identiteta u lingvistici te njoj srodnim disciplinama. Preciznije rečeno, koncept identiteta sagledao se iz perspektive sociologije, psihologije, filozofije, sociolingvistike, analize diskursa te iz područja ovladavanja inim jezikom. Orijentirajući se na dostupnu domaću i stranu literaturu, kao i na mnogo provedenih istraživanja vezanih uz tematiku, nastojalo se prikazati kako se koncept identiteta proučava u prethodno navedenim disciplinama koje su izabrane s namjerom da se istraži osobni, društveni, diskurzivni i identitet u kontekstu usvajanja drugog jezika. Ovdje bismo istaknuli kako je broj pristupa i modela u proučavanju identiteta znatno veći, no ovim radom prikazali su se zanimljivi, a u isto vrijeme i reprezentativni načini proučavanja ove višedimenzionalne kategorije. Jasno je da se pojedinac s određenim aspektima identiteta (tjelesnim, duhovnim, mentalnim itd.) rađa te da je segment ili obilježje koje je usko povezano s identitetom osobe jezik. Jezik je sastavnica identiteta osobe koja omogućuje identifikaciju pojedinca s obzirom na društveni status, etnicitet, nacionalnost, spol i itd. S obzirom na to da je glavni cilj ovog rada bio utvrditi odnos između jezika i identiteta, sa sociolingvističkog gledišta, koristeći dva Labovljeva istraživanja (1963, 1966) utvrdili smo da pojedinac uporabom određenog jezičnog varijeteta zapravo odašilje informacije o svojoj društvenoj pripadnosti te na takav način ističe svoj (društveni) identitet. Eckertova (2000) je uočila da demografske kategorije poput dobi, spola etniciteta i društvene klase nisu dovoljne da objasne odnos između jezika i identiteta. Drugim riječima, svojim je etnografskim istraživanjem u Detroitu istaknula važnost definiranja grupa u smislu društvene prakse u kojima pojedinci sudjeluju. Osim toga, novija sociolingvistička istraživanja proučavaju proces prilagodbe migranta novoj društvno-kulturnoj sredini, štoviše kako kontakt između dvaju kultura (migranta i domaćina) utječe na razvoj jezika te na društveno-kulturni identitet migranta. Budući da je identitet i diskurzivna pojava, u radu isti se proučio sa stajališta analize diskursa. Primjerima je utvrđeno da je identitet aspekt koji se očituje u komunikaciji s drugima te da način na koji komuniciramo utječe na konstrukciju, odnosno rekonstrukciju identiteta. Posljednja disciplina unutar koje je istražen koncept identiteta je područje ovladavanja inim jezikom. Identiteti višejezičnih govornika posebno su zanimljivi za istraživače jer pružaju uvid na koji način govornik percipira sebe u odnosu na drugi jezik kojemu je (iz njemu bilo kakvih razloga) podvrgnut. Slijedom svega navedenog u radu, ustanovili smo da je koncept identiteta prikladan i zanimljiv za istraživanje u jezikoslovnim disciplinama.This thesis had the task from a theoretical perspective to study the way of perceiving the concept of identity in linguistics and related disciplines. More precisely, the concept of identity was viewed from the perspective of sociology, psychology, philosophy, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and from the field of second language acquisition. Focusing on the available domestic and foreign literature, as well as on many researches related to the topic, we tried to show how the concept of identity is studied in the above disciplines, which were chosen to explore personal, social, discursive and identity in the context of second language acquisition. Here we would like to point out that the number of approaches and models in the study of identity is much higher, but this paper presents interesting and at the same time representative ways of studying this multidimensional category. Furthermore, it is clear that an individual with certain aspects of identity (physical, spiritual, mental, etc.) is born, and that a segment, or rather a feature that is closely related to a person’s identity is a language. Language is therefore a component of a person's identity that enables the identification of an individual with regard to social status, ethnicity, nationality, gender, etc. Given that the main goal of this paper was to determine the relationship between language and identity, from a sociolinguistic point of view, using two Labov's research (1963, 1966) we found that an individual using a certain linguistic variety actually transmits information about his social affiliation and thus emphasizes his (social) identity. Eckert (2000) observed that demographic categories such as age, gender, ethnicity and social classes are not enough to explain the relationship between language and identity. In other words, her ethnographic research in Detroit has highlighted the importance of defining groups in terms of the social practices in which individuals participate. In addition, recent sociolinguistic research investigates the process of adaptation of migrants to the new socio-cultural environment, moreover, how contact between two cultures (migrant and host) affects language development and the socio-cultural identity of migrants. Since identity is also a discursive phenomenon, in this paper it was studied from the point of view of discourse analysis. Examples have shown that identity is an aspect that manifests itself in communication with others, and that the way we communicate affects the construction or reconstruction of identity. The last discipline within which the concept of identity has been explored is the second language acquisition. Identities of multilingual speakers are of particular interest to researchers because they provide insight into the way a speaker perceives himself in relation to another language to which (for whatever reason) he is subjected. Following everything presented in the thesis, we found that the concept of identity is a suitable and interesting construct for research in linguistic disciplines