Multilingual Awareness in South African Language Portraits: Exploring the Usefulness of a DMM and DLC Framework

Language portraits have been used by scholars to study the language awareness of multilingual people. In this study, we use the definitions of language awareness coined by (Jessner, 2008) as codes to analyse selected language portraits within a DMM and DLC approach. A total of 55 language portraits created by multilingual South African students were included in the analysis. The main finding is that the approach (using language portrait data from a DMM and DLC perspective) did not result in many references to metalinguistic awareness. However, the approach yielded a fine-trained analysis of crosslinguistic awareness and its functioning in specific DLCs for identity and communication if approached from the DMM framework. The findings provide new insights into the tacit awareness of the interaction of languages in the repertoires of the participants. Participants are aware about the “size” of the languages in their repertoires, different levels of proficiency and contexts of acquisition and learning, the hierarchy of languages in the repertoires, the functions and roles performed by languages in the repertoires and an awareness of the “size” or share of the language in the society. The approach overall enabled a more fine-grained analysis of the crosslinguistic awareness of these language portrait participants.