Making “Second Generation,” Inflicting Linguistic Injuries: An Ethnography of a Mainland Chinese Church in Canada

Abstract

Based on a larger ethnography, this article explores intergenerational relationships between First-Generation Immigrants and Second-Generation youth and focuses on psychological damages (Piller, 2016), particularly linguistic injuries, within a new mainland Chinese church in Canada. Specifically, I show why Second-Generation young people were largely separated into the English congregation, with little support from the parent generation in the Mandarin congregation. Drawing on language and non-language ideologies (Bucholtz, 2001) and semiotic processes of differentiation (Irvine & Gal, 2000), particularly fractal recursivity, focusing on relevant practices and discourses, I analyze and delineate linguistic injuries suffered and perpetuated by First- and Second-Generation members. Exploring their origins and manifestations, I tentatively define linguistic injuries as psychological damages caused by judgement based on language or language use at the interpersonal and institutional levels, but originated from “structures” such as ideology and legislation. Implications and future directions of this research are discussed.