CLAIRE KRAMSCH:ECOLOGICAL FL EDUCATION 393 encouters below we will look at the way individuals get named,how they greet and take leave from one another and in which language,and how these speech acts index larger social relationships between them and other native and non-native speakers.We will also look for evidence of refractions from one context of language use to another.For example,the way speakers use language in one context might be a fractal of the way they are made to relate to others in the larg ontext of a global e con Let us now look at the data through this ecol logical lens and see how it can illuminate the processes of language acquisition and use in multilingual settings. 3.An example of language ecology in practice The data I discuss here were collected by Anne Whiteside as part of her research on Mava-speaking immigrants from Yucatan.Mexico.now living in San Francisco na Whteside 2006).Auempting to understand patterns ofg these igrants,Whiteside spent o r two years w focal yud catecans following them in their daily lives,helping to organize community events,and exchanging English,Spanish and computer literacy lessons for lessons in Mava.The data are taken from conversations she recorded in stores located in a predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhood. Whiteside found that since ork t and three jobs,and with long-term nented status,learning English often take es a back seat Her informants workedn taurants where s many s iht anguages are poken, with English,if spoken,as the highly accented lingua franca.Spanish use is common,linking Yucatecans with other marginalized Spanish-speaking workers and allowing undocumented individuals to blend with Latino legal residents and citizer ns Yet inforn ants also complained of discrimi ory trea nt b of other r varieties of S nish,and of fellow immigrants to disguise their Yucatecan accents.English provided them with ar escape from such distinctions.It was often seen as portable capital,motivating some to learn it to teach future migrants back in Yucatan.By contrast,Maya can be a social liability, and speakers described a sense of'shame'speaking Maya in public,inhibited by racialized colonial discourse and stereotypes linking Maya with po erty and ignorance.Maya was used among work teams,where it provided a safe code in which to vent about oppressive conditions. In the set of data I discuss here,DF,49 years old,who runs an informal restaurant out of his apartment,is taking the researcher through his neighborhood as he shops for food.He has agreed to help her research project since she has been teaching him to read in Spanish,which he never leamed.As DF chaperon AW around,he is regularly interrupted in Maya and Span ish from fellow townspeople,now Francisco neighbors,who know s The r san francisco bay are a.and some 50,000-80,000 d ng that ha ereplaced entry-ev and social margins of national institutions. CLAIRE KRAMSCH: ECOLOGICAL FL EDUCATION 393 encounters below, we will look at the way individuals get named, how they greet and take leave from one another and in which language, and how these speech acts index larger social relationships between them and other native and non-native speakers. We will also look for evidence of refractions from one context of language use to another. For example, the way speakers use language in one context might be a fractal of the way they are made to relate to others in the larger context of a global economy. Let us now look at the data through this ecological lens and see how it can illuminate the processes of language acquisition and use in multilingual settings. 3. An example of language ecology in practice The data I discuss here were collected by Anne Whiteside as part of her research on Maya-speaking immigrants from Yucatan, Mexico, now living in San Francisco, California (Whiteside 2006). Attempting to understand patterns of language use among these immigrants, Whiteside spent over two years working closely with four focal Yucatecans, following them in their daily lives, helping to organize community events, and exchanging English, Spanish and computer literacy lessons for lessons in Maya. The data are taken from conversations she recorded in stores located in a predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhood.3 Whiteside found that since many Yucatecans work two and three jobs, and with long-term residence uncertain because of undocumented status, learning English often takes a back seat. Her informants worked in restaurants where as many as eight languages are routinely spoken, with English, if spoken, as the highly accented lingua franca. Spanish use is common, linking Yucatecans with other marginalized Spanish-speaking workers and allowing undocumented individuals to blend with Latino legal residents and citizens. Yet informants also complained of discriminatory treatment by speakers of other varieties of Spanish, and noted a tendency of fellow immigrants to disguise their Yucatecan accents. English provided them with an escape from such distinctions. It was often seen as portable capital, motivating some to learn it to teach future migrants back in Yucatan. By contrast, Maya can be a social liability, and speakers described a sense of ‘shame’ speaking Maya in public, inhibited by racialized colonial discourse and stereotypes linking Maya with poverty and ignorance. Maya was used predominantly at home and among work teams, where it provided a safe code in which to vent about oppressive conditions. In the set of data I discuss here, DF, 49 years old, who runs an informal restaurant out of his apartment, is taking the researcher through his neighborhood as he shops for food. He has agreed to help her research project since she has been teaching him to read in Spanish, which he never learned. As DF chaperones AW around, he is regularly interrupted by greetings in Maya and Spanish from fellow townspeople, now San Francisco neighbors, who know 3 There are now an estimated 25,000 Yucatecans living in the greater San Francisco Bay area, and some 50,000–80,000 in California, many of whom left Yucatan over the last decade. Like an increasing number of migrants crossing the Mexico/California border, many arrive without legal papers (Passell, Randall & Fix 2004; Passell 2005), lured by service sector jobs that have replaced entry-level manufacturing jobs in California’s post-industrial economy. Their situation is typical of workers in a global economy that knows no national borders, no standard national languages, and thrives on the informal economic and social margins of national institutions. https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444808005065 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Connecticut, on 01 Nov 2018 at 16:55:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at