ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology of Language
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1672423
This article is part of the Research TopicSocial and Affective Domain in Home Language Development and Maintenance Research Volume IIView all 11 articles
Negotiating Language in Family Texts: Case-study of Transnational Families in Finland
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- 2David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem, Israel
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Transnational families face complex language dynamics, particularly when adapting to new linguistic environments. This study examines text messaging practices of six bilingual Russian-Hebrew-speaking parents and their multilingual children living in Finland. Through micro-interactional approach, it investigates how digital translingual practices function as a tool in constructing unique familylects. The study categorizes translanguaging practices by form - isolated insertions, sentence-level switches, and complex multilingual constructs - and by function - local/temporal, phatic, and address terms - which serve to enhance the clarity of practical information, reinforce familial bonds, and reflect multicultural identity. This research contributes to the field of multilingual digital communication by illustrating how messaging language choices serve as contextualization cues, enhancing the overall meaning and emotional resonance of conversations. The findings reveal how transnational families adapt their communicative practices to maintain connections and cultural identity, illustrating the role of text messaging as a locus for linguistic and social negotiation.
Keywords: FLP, Nordic countries, Modern Hebrew, Translanguaging, Multilingual familylect
Received: 24 Jul 2025; Accepted: 05 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bloch. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Gali Bloch, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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