Domestic Workers Talk: Language Use and Social Practices in a Multilingual Workplace

This book explores power dynamics, language policies, and communication within a Brazilian-American cleaning company, highlighting the employer's linguistic capital and the employees' resourcefulness and multicompetence in facilitating communication with customers. It contributes to debates on extra-linguistic modes of communication and thematic analyses of care work, migration, and communication.

Format: Hardback
Length: 168 pages
Publication date: 16 January 2024
Publisher: Multilingual Matters

This captivating book delves into the intricate dynamics of power, language policy, and communication within a multilingual cleaning company catering to Anglophone clients in the affluent suburbs of New York City. Through an ethnographic lens, it explores the perspectives of the Brazilian-American employer, alongside their Hispanophone and Lusophone employees, shedding light on the complex interplay of power relations and linguistic practices.

Power asymmetries emerge within the company's internal communication, exemplified by the employer's legitimate dominance over her employees and her proficiency in L1 Portuguese as a valuable linguistic asset. The employees' resourcefulness and multitasking abilities, rather than mere quantifiable English-language proficiency, play a pivotal role in determining their reliance on language brokering to interact with customers, ultimately shaping their agency.

The book makes significant contributions to ongoing debates surrounding extra-linguistic modes of communication in multilingual contexts and thematic analyses of care work, migration, communication, and the role of English. It offers valuable insights into the complexities of power dynamics, language policies, and the impact of language on individual and collective agency within diverse professional settings.

Dimension: 234 x 156 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781800416758