Eight Dollar Blog

As Pavlenko and Lantolf (2000) suggest, the second phase of these late bilinguals’ linguistic journey is the recovery and reconstruction of their selves. This phase consists of four states: (1) appropriation of others’ voices, (2) emergence of one’s own new voice, (3) translation therapy or reconstruction of one’s past, and (4) continuous growth into new positions and subjectivities. One of the first symptoms of this phase is the “appropriation” of other people’s voices in the L2, a phenomenon called “ventriloquation” by Bakhtin (Wertsch, 1991).

Through the new language, these individuals construct a new “me.” They reinvent themselves with a new voice, but in order not to lose their old self they need to reconstruct it (sometimes re-write it) in the new language. Pavlenko and Lantolf (2000) call this stage “translating oneself into the L2, a necessary step to unite the two selves together. As this occurs, the individual finally finds him/herself more and more comfortable in his/her new self and develops full identity with the new language.

Pavlenko and Lantolf s research offers a lot of insights-and prompts a lot more questions-into the interrelatedness of inner speech and the “self.” Is language identity defined by the nature of one’s inner speech? How does inner speech develop with more L2 acquisition and participation? Certainly, the study of late bilinguals’ development brings to surface the issues of change, shift, incrementation, attrition, and levels of inner speech. What is the inner speech of a bilingual like? In the case of these late bilinguals, who have suffered considerable loss of their LI, can we say they continue to be “bi-linguals,” or have they become more like “mono-linguals of an L2″?
And what does that imply for their inner speech? Obviously, the study throws into serious question the notion of “native speaker.” After having adopted a new L2 identity and having been “re-born,” so to speak, into the new L2 culture, are not these late bilinguals “native” speakers of the L2 to some extent? Of course, as Pavlenko and Lantolf also explain, there are levels of bilinguality, and not all learners achieve the ultimate attainment of the late bilinguals depicted in the study. As the authors cogently argue, attaining full competence and building a new L2 identity is to a great extent a
matter of personal choice. Learner agency is an important factor in the acquisition of the various levels of the L2 language and culture. Agency and choice, it will be argued, are also factors that determine the nature of an L2 learner’s inner speech.

Taken From:Inner Speech – L2 hinking words in a second langunge

‘Good grief, Julian’s become a drill sergeant,’ I silently thought. Being curious and wishing to keep my cup empty, I complied.

“Now do as many push-ups as you can possibly do. Don’t stop until you truly are certain that you cannot do any more.” I struggled with the exercise, my two-hundred-and-fifteenpound frame not being used to much more than walking to the nearest McDonald’s with my kids or meandering through a round of golf with my law partners. The first fifteen push-ups were pure agony. With the heat of that summer evening adding to my discomfort, I started to sweat profusely. However, I was determined not to show any signs of weakness and carried on until my vanity started to give way along with my arms. At twentythree push-ups I gave up.

“No more, Julian. This is killing me. What are you trying to do
here?”
“Are you certain that you can’t do any more?”
“I’m sure. C’mon, give me a break. The only lesson I’m going to learn from this is what to do for a heart attack.”
“Do ten more. Then you can rest,” commanded Julian.
“You’ve got to be kidding!”
But I continued. One. Two. Five. Eight. And finally ten. I lay on the floor in total exhaustion.

Taken From:THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI

In this case, Hoffman is quite transparently alluding to what Vygotsky calls sense in inner speech. The senses of the word “river” are the “things” the word stands for in her native Polish. On the contrary, words in her L2, English, do not have senses; that is, they are empty labels with no referents. Her inner speech has “no accumulated associations” for English words, no “aura.” Her English does not “evoke” senses.

The last stage of the loss phase in L2 learning is LI attrition. Learners at this stage have difficulty remembering words in their LI, as the new language takes over as the means to name things and experiences in the new environment. The process is often accompanied by strong feelings of guilt, embarrassment, and failure, as John-Steiner (1985b) had observed. The following excerpts from writers Jan Novak and Kyoko Mori describe these feelings:

My Czech had begun to deteriorate. There were times now when I could not recall an everyday word, such as “carrot,” “filer,” or “sloth.” I would waste the day probing the labyrinthine recesses of my memory because to get help from the dictionary seemed only to legitimize the loss. (Novak, 1994, p. 263)

Trying to speak Japanese in Japan, I’m still thinking in English . . . . Flustered, I try to work out a quick translation, but my feelings are untranslatable and my voice is the voice of a foreigner. (Mori, 1997, p. 16-17)

Taken From:Inner Speech – L2 hinking words in a second langunge

“Initially, I too had trouble with the notion of selfimprovement.
After all, I was a tough, Harvard-trained legal gunslinger who had no time for New Age theories forced on me by what I thought were people with bad haircuts who hung out at airports. I was wrong. It was this close-mindedness that was holding my life back all of those years. The more I listened to Yogi Raman and the more I reflected on the pain and suffering of my former world, the more I welcomed the philosophy of kaizen, constant and never-ending enrichment of the mind, body and soul, into my new life,” Julian asserted.

“Why am I hearing so much about the ‘mind, body and soul’ these days? It seems I can’t even turn on the tube without someone making mention of it.”

“This is the trilogy of your human endowments. To improve your mind without the cultivation of your physical gifts would be a very hollow victory. Elevating your mind and body to their highest level without nurturing your soul would leave you feeling very empty and unfulfilled. But when you dedicate your energies to unlocking the full potential of all three of your human endowments, you will taste the divine ecstacy of an enlightened life.”

“You’ve got me pretty excited, pal.”
“As to your question about where to start, I promise that I will give you a number of ancient yet powerful techniques in a few moments. But first I must share a practical illustration with you. Get into push-up position.”

Taken From:THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI

From the above excerpt, Pavlenko and Lantolf deduce that the narrator has suffered a loss of her LI inner speech-the rich inner voice in one’s own native language that draws from dense personal meaning and that one uses to organize and make sense of the world-and has no language to make sense of her new experiences:

In the above passage, Hoffman seems to be in a semantic twilight zone in which her inner speech in Polish has ceased to function, while the inner speech sparked by English, her new language, has yet to emerge. From a sociohistorical perspective, then, she has no way of organizing and making sense of her experiences. In some sense, she has no experiences, because, as both Vygotsky and Bakhtin agree, it is through inner speech that we create our experiences; that is, in inner speech we organize and integrate the events that occur in space and time into the plot of our life narrative. Without inner speech, this organization and integration are impossible. (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000, p. 165)

Another passage by Hoffman illustrates one of Vygotsky’s major points about the semantic nature of inner speech, that is, its reliance on (personal) sense rather than (public) meaning.

The words I learn now don’t stand for things in the same unquestioned way they did in my native tongue. “River” in Polish was a vital sound, energized with the essence of riverhood, of my rivers, of my being immersed in rivers. “River” in English is cold-a word without an aura. It has no accumulated associations for me, and it does not give off the radiating haze of connotation. It does not evoke. (Hoffman, 1989, p. 106)

Taken From:Inner Speech – L2 hinking words in a second langunge

I nodded in full agreement. This was the first time I had given any serious thought to the importance of improving myself. I had always thought that all those people I would see on the subway reading books with titles like The Power of Positive Thinking or MegaLiving! were troubled souls desperate for some form of medicine to get them back on course. Now I realized that those who took the time to strengthen themselves were the strongest and that it was only through improving one’s self that one could ever hope to improve the lot of others. I then started to reflect on all the things I could improve. I really could use the added energy and good health that exercising would surely bring. Ridding myself of my nasty temper and my habit of interrupting others might do wonders for my relationship with my wife and kids. And erasing my worry habit would give me the peace of mind and deep happiness I had been searching for. The more I thought about it, the more potential improvements I saw.

As I started to see all the positive things that would flood into my life through the cultivation of good habits, I grew excited. But I realized that Julian was talking about far more than the importance of daily exercise, a healthful diet and a balanced lifestyle. What he had learned in the Himalayas was deeper and more meaningful than this. He spoke of the importance of building strength of character, developing mental toughness and living with courage. He told me that these three attributes would lead one not only to a virtuous life but to a life filled with achievement, satisfaction and inner peace. Courage was a quality everyone could cultivate and one that would pay huge dividends over the long run.

“What does courage have to do with self-leadership and personal development?” I wondered aloud. “Courage allows you to run your own race. Courage allows you to do whatever you want to do because you know that it is right. Courage gives you the self-control to persist where others have failed. Ultimately, the degree of courage you live with determines the amount of fulfillment you receive. It allows you to truly realize all the exquisite wonders of the epic that is your life. And those who master themselves have an abundance of courage.”

“Okay. I am starting to understand the power of working on
myself. Where do I start?” Julian returned to his conversation with Yogi Raman high atop the mountains, on what he remembered as a remarkably starry and gloriously beautiful night.

Taken From:THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI

Self-Reconstruction and Reconceptualization through the L2
The process of developing two (or more) languages in an individual’s mind is complicated, as John-Steiner suggests. Pavlenko and Lantolf (2000) and Pavlenko (1998) add another angle to the issue of development by focusing on the role of the LI and the L2 in self (re)construction. In their research, Pavlenko and Lantolf highlight the role of inner speech, as a point of convergence of thought and language, in the formation of a personal identity. For their studies, the researchers analyzed self- narratives of late bilinguals in which the writers depicted their L2 acquisition experiences. Unlike other L2 learners, who do not achieve full mastery of the L2, the writers of these narratives, who started learning the L2 in their adulthood or
adolescence, were able to achieve “ultimate attainment” (p. 169) of their L2. In this process of developing very advanced levels of attainment in the L2, these bilingual/bicultural individuals (all writers, mostly of East European origin, learning a prestigious language, such as English or French) underwent a multilayered and conflicted process of self-reconstruction, largely characterized by loss of an LI identity and creation of a new L2 one.

For these individuals, learning a second language involved first a series of losses related to the native language. This phase is characterized by five stages: (1) loss of one’s linguistic identity, (2) loss of all subjectivities, (3) loss of the frame of reference and the link between the signifier and the signified, (4) loss of the inner voice, and (5) first language attrition. Some of the changes experienced during this phase are poignantly narrated by the writer Eva Hoffman (1989):

I wait for that spontaneous flow of inner language which used to be my nighttime talk with myself. . . . Nothing comes. Polish, in a short time, has atrophied, shriveled from sheer uselessness. Its words don’t apply to my new experiences, they’re not coeval with any of
the objects, or faces, or the very air I breathe in the daytime. In English, words have not penetrated to those layers of my psyche from which a private conversation could proceed, (p. 107)

Taken From:Inner Speech – L2 hinking words in a second langunge

Julian was agile in his response. “In our society, we all too often label the ignorant as weak. However, those who express their lack of knowledge and seek instruction find the path to enlightenment before anyone else. Your questions are honest and show me that you are open to fresh ideas. Change is the most powerful force in our society today. Most people fear it, the wise embrace it. Zen tradition speaks of a beginner’s mind: those who keep their minds open to new concepts — those whose cups are always empty — will always move to higher levels of achievement and fulfillment. Never be reluctant to ask even the most basic of questions. Questions are the most effective method of eliciting knowledge.”

“Thanks. But I still am unclear about kaizen.”
“When I speak of improving your inner world, I am simply speaking of self-improvement and personal expansion and it is the best thing you can do for yourself. You might think that you are too busy to spend time working on yourself. This would be a very big mistake. You see, when you have taken the time to build a strong character full of discipline, energy, power and optimism, you can have anything and do anything you want in your outer world.

When you have cultivated a deep sense of faith in your abilities and
an indomitable spirit, nothing can stop you from succeeding in all
your pursuits and living with great rewards. Taking the time to master your mind, to care for the body and to nourish your soul will put you in a position to develop more richness and vitality in your life. It is as Epictetus said so many years ago: ‘No man is free who is not a master of himself.’”

“So kaizen is actually a very practical concept.”
“Very. Think about it, John. How could a person possibly lead a corporation if he cannot even lead himself? How could you nurture a family if you haven’t learned to nurture and care for yourself? How could you possibly do good if you don’t even feel good? Do you see my point?”

Taken From:THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI

What John-Steiner is saying is that what we commonly call “thinking in a second language” is actually just the planning stage of producing an utterance, a process that is subvocal. This is, according to her, a simplified notion of thought. To her, verbal
thought is a much more complex issue than just planning in one’s L2. John-Steiner’s reasoning echoes that of A. A. Leontiev (1981), who also believes that the popular idea of “thinking in a language” is limited in that it merely focuses on the precommunicative stage of coding thoughts in linguistic form.

On the relationship between language and thought among dual language learners, John-Steiner concludes that, as learners develop competency at the production level, “the two languages are increasingly separated into autonomous systems of sound and
structure, while at the level of verbal meaning and thought the two languages are increasingly unified” (p. 368). This finding supports Vygotsky’s claim that “the processes of the native and foreign language have between them a great deal in common . . . they are internally united” (cited in John-Steiner, 1985b, p. 349). John- teiner illustrates her hypothesis about the unification of languages at the level of verbal meaning and thought with some developmental data showing the note-taking behaviors of adults studying in their non-dominant languages. At first, the learners tried to translate and write their notes in the LI as they heard the L2, or they used a mixture of both languages. Their next strategy was to take notes in the language of the speaker, as rapidly as possible, even if they didn’t understand everything that was said. Finally, they were able to listen carefully and write down in the L2 only the core concepts of what they heard. “Thus, as learners are increasingly able to comprehend, condense, and store information in their weaker language, they start the process of weaving two meaning systems together” (p. 365).

In the process of integrating the two languages, it is also frequent for individuals to experience difficulties in production in either language. They seem to undergo “temporary losses” and “inhibition” (p. 366) in their language behavior.40 Eventually the learners overcome their verbal losses, inhibitions, and fears, and the consolidation of the two languages as a unified conceptual system takes place. One learner comment reported by John-Steiner exemplifies this level of development: “It is interesting, now that I speak some English as well as Hungarian, I am no longer sure which language I am thinking in” (p. 366).

Taken From:Inner Speech – L2 hinking words in a second langunge

“Sounds like a bad Godzilla movie.”
“I used to love those when I was a kid.”
“Me too. But don’t let me distract you,” I replied.
“The sumo wrestler represents a very important element in the life-changing system of the Sages of Sivana. Yogi Raman told me that many centuries ago in the ancient East, the great teachers developed and refined a philosophy called kaizen. This Japanese
word means constant and never-ending improvement. And it’s the
personal trademark of every man and woman who is living a soaring, fully awakened existence.”

“How did the concept of kaizen enrich the lives of the sages?”
I asked.
“As I mentioned earlier, John, success on the outside begins with success on the inside. If you really want to improve your outer world, whether this means your health, your relationships or your
finances, you must first improve your inner world. The most effective way to do this is through the practice of continuous selfimprovement.
Self-mastery is the DNA of life mastery.”

“Julian, I hope you don’t mind me saying it, but all this talk about one’s ‘inner world’ sounds more than a little esoteric to me. Remember, I’m just a middle-class lawyer from the leafy suburbs with a minivan sitting in the driveway and a Lawn-Boy in the garage.

“Look. Everything you have told me so far makes sense. As a matter of fact, much of what you have shared with me appears to be common sense, although I know that common sense is anything but common in this day and age. I must tell you though, I’m having a little difficulty with this notion of kaizen and improving my inner world. What exactly are we talking about here?”

Taken From:THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI