Migrantsʼ Polyidentity Structure: On the Example of Digital Narratives

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Introduction More than 100 years ago, M. Scheler wrote that ‘over the last ten thousand years of history, we are the first era in which man has become completely ‘problematic;’ when he no longer knows what he is, but at the same time knows that he does not know’ [1. P. 70]. This statement fully reflects the current situation. Indeed, the changing conditions of human society undoubtedly entail changes in the process of self-identification. Discussions about the appropriateness of using the pronouns they/them to refer to single individuals, the revision of employee rights and responsibilities following the emergence of zoomers in the labour market, and the arrival of former migrants in key positions in public administration are just some of the issues related to the essence of such types of identity as gender, professional and ethnocultural. In addition, the specificity of the identification process is manifested, firstly, in the fact that its subject can be an individual, a group, an organisation, a brand, or a territorial entities. Secondly, identity is represented in each subject in different forms simultaneously. Thirdly, it is exposed to changes under the influence of various circumstances and can transform from one type to another. All these properties of identity make it a noticeable social phenomenon, interest in which is steadily growing. For example, a Google search for the phrase ‘identity studies’ returns 570 million results. The theoretical foundations for studying identity are presented in many scientific paradigms and schools. The existence of numerous theories of personal identity and the diversity of identity studies testify to the significance of this pheno- menon in science. Some of the theories arose at the intersection of social sciences and humanities and came from philosophy and logic, and in the 20th century became firmly established in sociology, psychology, anthropology, and communi- cation studies. E. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development considers eight stages of identity formation, from infancy to old age. The theory is based on the premise that identity undergoes various transformations throughout life [2]. In psychology and intercultural communication, the theory of social identity by G. Tajfel and J. Turner has also gained popularity. It focuses on how social groups influence categorisation mechanisms: ‘Social categorisations are conceived here as cognitive tools that segment, classify, and order the social environment, and thus enable the individual to undertake many forms of social action... They create and define the individual’s place in society’ [3. P. 40]. Finally, S. Stryker, defining identity within the framework of identity theory, believes that identity presents itself as ‘parts of a self composed of the meanings that persons attach to the multiple roles they typically play in highly differentiated contemporary societies’ [4. P. 284]. One of the authors of cultural identity theory, M.J. Collier, developing it in subsequent works, also pointed to the dynamic nature of identity, emphasising that identity manifests itself in a whole range of forms of communication ‘including conduct of groups of people, discourse in public texts, mediated forms, artistic expressions, commodities and products, and individual accounts and ascriptions about group conduct’ [5. P. 237]. T.V. Poplavskaya, combining both the cultural and communi- cative nature of identity, interprets multicultural identity as ‘an individual’s entry into the communicative space of more than one culture and the awareness of belonging to them’ [6. P. 214]. The current stage of development of identity studies has revealed a trend indicating the growing interdisciplinarity of the use of the concept of ‘identity’. Technological progress, the digitisation of many aspects of human activity, active migration and social transformations contribute to this. As a result, the peculiarities of the process of identification are considered in sociology and sociolinguistics, psychology, ethnopsychology and anthropology, political science and imageology, communication management and many other fields. Linguist’ interest in the phenomenon of identity is realised, firstly, through attention to culturally marked units that show the inseparable connection between language and culture [7-9], and secondly, to certain types of identity (national, professional, age, gender, etc.). Some studies are devoted to the linguistic explication of ethnic and national identity [10-12], regional identity [13], and professional identity [14]. In the work of P.G. Astashkina, for example, linguistic markers of identity were fixed at the grammatical, lexical, conceptual, and evaluative-conceptual levels when comparing Russian- and German-language media texts [15]. And in the works of I.V. Privalova, based on a comprehensive analysis, linguistic phenomena were identified that explicate the national and cultural specificity of the linguistic consciousness of representatives of Russian and American linguocultures using material from lexicographic publications, texts of various genres, and the results of a psycho- linguistic associative experiment [11]. In the work of A.Yu. Bagiyan, an attempt was made to linguistically model professional identity based on the analysis of the cognitive-discursive matrix [14]. Scientists are also particularly interested in the linguistic expression of bilingual writers who use both the language of the titular nation and that of minority communities in their work [16], showcasing multiple linguistic identities. In general, addressing the linguistic component of various types of identity will help to systematically approach the study of the identification process, single out and describe the main linguistic phenomena that appear as verbal representatives of identity. The aim of this study is to establish the specifics of linguistic representation of various types of identity in migrants’ digital narratives in order to identify the structure of polyidentity. Thus, polyidentity is the object of study. The subject of the study is its structure as a combination of different types of identities (national/ ethnic, gender, professional, religious, age, etc.) and the linguistic means of its realisation as facts of discourse that can be fixed in texts. The research material consisted of YouTube videos in Russian and English in which migrants talk about their lives in a new country. At the first stage of the research, 40 YouTube videos were selected and scripts were compiled either using YouTube’s audio-to-text conversion feature or by the author of the work creating texts based on what was heard. The total length of the video clips was about 800 minutes. The geography in the narratives under consideration is undoubtedly determined by the two languages of the study: Russian and English. Accordingly, the countries of origin of the migrants are mainly China, Israel, Lithuania, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, the USA, Syria, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, while the host countries are Belarus, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Montenegro, the United Kingdom and Norway. In the second stage of the study, various linguistic means singled out through which migrants described either their own identity or the identity of other migrants. Descriptions of representatives of the titular nation were not taken into account. The fixed linguistic means were then grouped according to their lexical and semantic characteristics (toponyms, names of languages, occupations, etc.). In the third stage, the most standard combinations of types of identity (ethno- cultural, territorial, professional, etc.) were defined, which formed the basis for characterising the structure of migrants’ polyidentity. Discussion Analysis of the linguistic means used by migrants in their narratives allows us to determine the social group to which the migrant belongs and, accordingly, to define the type of identity. Our material recorded linguistic means that realise the following types of identity: National/ethnocultural. Linguistic. By profession or occupation. Family and friendship ties. Territorial. By length of residence in the new country. By legal/social status. Age. Racial. Political. By sexual orientation. Gender. Religious. Let us consider the groups of linguistic means that made it possible to define the listed types of identity. The linguistic means of expressing national/ethno- cultural identity are ethnonyms, i.e. single-word lexical units that refer to people by their affiliation with a nation or state: … I am actually American; I am half Norwegian and half German (quote is originally in English). As a rule, migrants indicate this type of identity by their country of origin rather than their country of residence. National or ethnocultural identity is also indicated through culturally specific concepts and items (names of dishes, holidays): So I’ve had a lot of growing up on baboki and some other kind of Slovak meals which I feel make me somewhat connected to that (quote is originally in English); When it was Nowruz, I was invited to an event...; plov is our national dish, but it is not only prepared by Turkmen (quote is translated from Russian); Once I went to visit someone. They were cooking borsch and draniki, which were very tasty (quote is translated from Russian). Migrants give examples of interesting traditions that surprised them in their new country: Belarusians cook national dishes in the forest, unlike in China (quote is translated from Russian). A connection with the country and culture of origin can be traced when contacts with compatriots are mentioned: Before that, I didn’t know about the national community... After I got to know the community council, I said that I wanted to join too... I felt an Asian vibe... that’s how my active life outside of school began; Turkmen people often visit each other, and today we have friends over (quote is translated from Russian). The vast majority of narratives contain information about the language or languages spoken by the migrant, so the name of the language and sometimes the level of proficiency indicate this: Naturally, all Russian speakers who live here complain every year; There is also an interesting point about the Russian language. It becomes your intimate family language; This is such a cool moment in the life of a Russian-speaking migrant in an English-speaking country (quote is translated from Russian); I did speak a little bit of Norwegian when I came to Norway. I had some basic Norwegian skills, but I did not understand what was said on TV or what was written in the newspapers, which was way too advanced, and I did not understand all the dialects (quote is originally in English). Migrants do not always need to learn the local language. Here are some examples to prove this point: ...a bloke who has been living in Budva for five years still hasn’t learned the language and works remotely in Russia (quote is translated from Russian); In Portugal, everyone speaks English, and there is no need to learn Portuguese... I mean, it would be great, but for everyday communication, there is no problem communicating in English at all (quote is translated from Russian); They didn’t care that I was speaking English. Kids here in Norway understand English ... it doesn’t matter if I speak Norwegian or not, it was no problem (quote is originally in English). Some narratives note that the level of proficiency in the language of the host country determines whether a migrant will become ‘one of the natives’ in their new environment: No matter how perfect your English is, the locals have such a keen sense of accents that as soon as you start speaking, they will instantly recognise you as an impostor, and impostors are not trusted here; not everyone manages to become one of their own here (quote is translated from Russian); Almost everyone can speak English here, but there is still some language barrier because, like, the bigger the group you’re around, the more they’re just going to speak Norwegian to each other (quote is originally in English); I have always had a good command of Russian, and it has helped me a lot in life, including in Belarus (quote is translated from Russian). It should also be noted that the language of narration itself is characterised by a significant number of code operations, ranging from switches to insertions. Since video fragments were under study, it was not possible to evaluate the graphic side of code-switching operations, but it was possible to evaluate the pronunciation and morphological characteristics of the lexical units used. In the following example the name of the profession is given in English, i.e. this is a code switch, and the unit в гринлистах is an occasional borrowing that has received the plural prepositional case ending: Моя профессия - это construction project manager. Соответ- ственно, Денис сразу сказал: ‘Ну, ты, дружище, ты в гринлистах...’.1 In general, the use of English words with Russian endings in the appropriate number, case or declension was recorded quite often in the narratives of Russian- speaking migrants who had moved to English-speaking countries: триггерит (‘triggerit’) from English trigger, ассайменты (‘assaymenty’) from English assignment, хитпампы (‘hitpampy’) from English heatpump, два джопофера (‘dva djopofera’) from English job offer, в даунтауне (‘v dauntaune’) from English downtown, на хайвеях (‘na khayveyakh’) from English highway. Code operations based on other languages were much less common: cepelinai Lith. ‘cepelinai,’ памяркоўны Bel. ‘judicious, easy-going,’ Douyin Chinese. 抖音 (Chinese Tik Tok). For the most part, migrants are an example of multiple linguistic identity with a vivid asymmetry towards the dominant position of the titular nation’s language, since interaction in the context of study and work is carried out in that language. The exception was migrants living in countries where English, in addition to the official languages, is also one of the languages of communication (Portugal, Norway). Identification by profession or occupation is achieved through the use of job titles or generalised terms such as specialist, professional, or qualified: И каким- то чудом через нетворкинг мне удалось найти работу и прямо сразу же construction project-менеджером; Новая Зеландия - это страна иммигран- тов из разных стран и иммигрантов квалифицированных; То есть сюда едут специалисты, которые могут здесь устроиться…;2 I have a bachelor’s degree in dance and I am a dance teacher. It should be noted that the names of professions in Russian-language narratives are usually given in the original language, i.e. they are insertions from English: чтобы здесь начать работу в качестве flight dispatcher в авиакомпании.3 Occasionally, companies and 1 My profession is a construction project manager. Accordingly, Denis immediately said: ‘Well, my friend, you’re on the greenlists... 2 And somehow, through networking, I managed to find a job as a construction project man- ager right away; New Zealand is a country of immigrants from different countries and qualified immi- grants; that is, specialists who can find work here come here... 3 To start working here as a flight dispatcher for an airline. organisations are mentioned: I was a full-time cosplayer and collaborated with the Norwegian tech start-up Cosgear other (quote is originally in English); today I hold the position of Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Religious Association in the Republic of Belarus (quote is translated from Russian); This is my institute, the University of Culture and Arts (quote is translated from Russian). In some cases, there is a decline in expectations of finding work in one’s profession, and migrants agree to any unskilled labour: I saw a Slovakian couple post on a job forum looking for work: one had a master’s in education, and the other had a mechanical engineering degree. But after no luck in those fields, they were expecting and open to any work in hospitality, house cleaning or factories (quote is originally in English); I was able to find a job right away, even if it wasn’t the same one I had had there, not as an accountant. Oh well, I work as a salesperson at the “Euroopt” store (quote is translated from Russian). Not all authors of narratives are employed in the labour market. Some of them are students. They describe themselves as follows: I came to Belarus from China to study. Identification with the nuclear family is expressed through the names of family relationships: In previous videos, I have already talked about where I lost my IT specialist husband (quote is translated from Russian); my son is already receiving his visa on the basis of my wife’s visa, which is called a Dependent Child Student Visa, and he has the right to study for free at a New Zealand school (quote is translated from Russian). At the same time, there are also references to relatives who fall under the concept of extended family: My uncle helped me with advice when I was applying to university (quote is translated from Russian). My grand- mother, when she was a child, I believe she came from Czechoslovakia when it was actually a country, she had moved over to the United States (quote is originally in English); my husband’s contract and visa were coming to an end. So he had suggested that maybe I go to Norway with him; in winter, my cousin came to visit our family with her husband (quote is originally in English). In rare cases, migrants mention friendships ties: I found it more difficult to make friends here than in other countries that I had lived in before, but the friends that I did make here, well, only two of them are British; My boyfriend turned in the application for me in Norway; I'm able to keep in touch with my dad and friends fairly well. I’m still part of the friend group chat, which really helps me feel included. They emphasise the importance of socialising with friends: Today, my friends and I gathered at this cosy café called Dushanbe. We often meet here, eat and feel at home... We have been friends for more than three years. During this time, we have become closer, almost like brothers (quote is translated from Russian). Identification with a territory in linguistic terms is achieved through the use of toponyms that refer to various geographical objects: That is, it is incorrect to compare a two-room flat somewhere in Irkutsk, my hometown... (quote is translated from Russian); I want to develop dancing in our city, the city of Lida; I live in the city of Cascais in Portugal. To be more precise, in Estoril, but that is also, so to speak, Cascais (quote is translated from Russian); I’m from a very small town in Germany and now I live in a very big city, London (quote is originally in English). It is also worth mentioning that names of places vary from a country and city to a district, street and local landmark: And people who come from some European countries, from there, I don’t know, from Israel... (quote is translated from Russian); So that you don’t get bored, I will show you a walk around the district or suburb of in italics (New Zealand) called Lincoln, where I live. I’ll show you how everything works here (quote is translated from Russian); Today we won’t be enjoying the sunset over the Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska, Montenegro) (quote is translated from Russian); I loved walking along Independence Avenue (quote is translated from Russian). Although there are also references to continents and large regions: I moved across the planet from North America all the way to Northern Europe (quote is originally in English). The length of time migrants lived in their host country is often reflected in their narratives. Most often, a specific number of years is given: a brief summary of my eleven years in Canada (quote is translated from Russian); I have been living in Portugal for over two years now (quote is translated from Russian); I have also been raising a family here for over six years (quote is translated from Russian); I have lived in the UK for almost 11 years (quote is translated from Russian); I have been living here for 25 years... (quote is translated from Russian); I came here as a teenager, finished school here and got a higher education (quote is translated from Russian); Six years ago, I moved to the Republic of Belarus and live in the beautiful city of Grodno (quote is translated from Russian); I have been living and working in Belarus for 16 years. I came to a foreign country when I was young (quote is translated from Russian). References to the legal and/or social status of migrants are found in all narratives. Not only is the status of the author of the narrative described, but also that of their environment: immigrant, refugee, resident, citizen, permanent residence permit holder, temporary student, etc.: I have acquaintances who obtained residence permits for study, who obtained residence permits under a work contract, who obtained residence permits as digital nomads (quote is translated from Russian); ... a guy who moved from Venezuela to Italy once he got his Italian citizenship (quote is originally in English); my skilled worker visa was. rejected (quote is originally in English). The narratives often note that the social status of migrants declines when they move to a new country: many immigrants, honestly, in any country, will also experience a subjective loss of social status (quote is originally in English). However, there are also many migrants whose status was low in their country of origin: immigrants, especially refugees, are uneducated (quote is originally in English); And there are immigrants who are, let’s say, unskilled, who have arrived and do not add any value to this society; quite a few people with criminal pasts and many fake refugees have arrived (quote is translated from Russian); Identification with race was recorded in only a few cases related to the fact that race can be a cause of discrimination: I benefit from being fair-skinned. I obviously pass visually, so I don’t get the day-to-day issues (quote is originally in English). The authors of the narratives rarely mention their age. Usually, age identity is expressed not by stating the number of years, but by referring to a period of life (youth, adulthood). If age is mentioned, it is only as a starting point for relocation: I moved to Norway when I was 20 years old, so I have spent most of my adult life in Norway (quote is originally in English); And people, accordingly, choose Australia, including young people and professionals. The exact age was mentioned only once: I will satisfy your curiosity and gladly tell you how Zhenya, who was 23 at the time and is now 27, earned enough money for this move without her mum, dad, loans or husband (quote is translated from Russian). Political identity was encountered in few cases. Here is an example: I am not a Democrat and I'm not a Republican. I have been registered through the Green Party because I think I had to put in what I was registered when I was 18. I never went and switched anything out (quote is originally in English). Identification by sexual orientation is implicitly realised through the opposition of they and us, where they are representatives of the LGBT community,4 and we are those who share traditional values and do not attend gay pride parades: Here, people of the same sex can get married... even in church... and sometimes there are pride parades... Well, to be honest, it’s hard to call it a parade I’ve never been to one, to be honest... it triggers a lot of people, oh dear, how our values are being undermined So, think about it, if you have more conservative views, traditional family values and all that are more important to you. (quote is translated from Russian). Since the research material consisted of YouTube videos in which viewers could define the gender of the narrator based on their appearance, there were virtually no linguistic means indicating this type of identity. The exceptions were the names of family members and friends that have components of ‘male/female gender’ in their lexical meaning: mum, uncle, husband, wife, son, boyfriend. Religious identity was also not reflected in the research corpus, with the exception of mentions of the profession of rabbi and the Jewish religious association, as well as the Muslim holiday of Nowruz. Considering the phenomenon of identity depending on the social group with which the subject identifies, we can distinguish such types of identity as gender, ethnic, national, professional, territorial, digital, etc. During the content analysis of the selected material, the most and least representative combinations of types of identity were determined. It is known that in the course of their life, individuals 4 An extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation. belong to several social groups at the same time, i.e. they describe themselves as having several types of identity. Many authors emphasise the multifaceted nature of identity. For example, J. Côté writes about multidimensionality as a property of identity, specifying that its manifestations must be analysed on three levels: the subjectivity of the individual, behaviour patterns specific to the person, and the individual’s membership in societal groups [17. P. 8]. In our opinion, it is appropriate to use the term ‘polyidentity’ when discussing the results of our analysis and the types of identity we have identified, as well as the ways in which it is expressed at the level of the subject, in our case the migrant. We define polyidentity as a phenomenon that encompasses a spectrum of identities based on an individual’s entry into the communicative space of more than one social group. The multidimensionality of polyidentity allows us to distinguish between the core and periphery of its structure. As the research material shows, the most common combination of identity types is a combination of national/ethnocultural, linguistic, professional and territorial identity. This combination is found in all narratives, which indicates its central position and significance. It constitutes the core of polyidentity. Less represented types of identity are the ones based on legal/ social status and length of residence in the host country, i.e. these types of identity are on the semi-periphery. In few cases, migrants realise political, racial, age, religious, gender and sexual orientation identities, which suggests that these types are on the periphery of the phenomenon of ‘polyidentity.’ Conclusion The results of the analysis of digital narratives showed that the structure of migrants’ polyidentity is represented by a whole spectrum of types of identity: national/ethnocultural, territorial, linguistic, professional, political, racial, age, gender, religious, identification with family and friends, legal/social status, period of residence in the host country, and sexual orientation. However, the most repre- sentative types are national/ethnocultural, territorial, professional and linguistic identities, which indicates their particular importance in the process of self- identification and adaptation of migrants. Certain types of identity remain little or completely unrealised (political, religious, age, race, sexual orientation, gender). The linguistic means of expressing various types of identity are ethnonyms, toponyms, names of professions, family ties, languages, code-switching, lexical borrowing, etc. It should be emphasised that the structure of polyidentity is a unique construct for each individual at a certain period of their life, the awareness of who you are here and now, which has certain linguistic means of expression, peculiar markers that help the individual to express their identity, on the one hand, and for those around them to ‘read’ it, on the other. And, naturally, when certain internal (moving, marriage, birth of a child, obtaining an education, a new profession, etc.) and external (political situation, military conflict, media position towards migrants in general and a specific group in particular) life circumstances change, the polyidentity of a particular individual may receive new development. While paraphrasing D.B. Gudkov’s statement that, when studying linguistic consciousness in its individual forms, we refer to that invariant part of the structure of each linguistic personality that is common to all members of the linguistic and cultural community and serves for the self-identification of the latter [18. p. 40], we can conclude that the analysis of linguistic means of explicating the identity of migrants allows us to reach a new level of generalisation and reveal the structure of their polyidentity, highlighting its most significant components.

About the authors

Tatiana V. Poplavskaia

Belarusian State University of Foreign Languages

Email: taniapoplavskaia@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3228-7750

Professor, Doctor of Science (Philology), Professor of the Department of Speech Practice and Theory of Communication

21 Zakharov St, Minsk, 220034, Belarus

Tatiana I. Svistun

Belarusian State University of Foreign Languages

Author for correspondence.
Email: tess17@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9512-0686

Associate Professor, Candidate of Science (Philology), Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and Practice of English

21 Zakharov St, Minsk, 220034, Belarus

References

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