Emotions in Digital Heritage Language Use

Priyanka Bose (0:01)

Welcome to the New Books Network.

Tazin Abdullah (0:05)

Welcome to the Language on the Move Podcast, a channel on the New Books Network. My name is Tazin Abdullah, and I'm a PhD researcher in Linguistics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. My guest today is Dr. Priyanka Bose.

Priyanka is a lecturer in English Literacy Education at the School of Education at Western Sydney University, Australia.

She completed her PhD at the University of New South Wales. Her PhD thesis about digital media communications amongst Bengali-speaking transnational families in Australia is the winner of the 2026 Michael Clyne Prize. The Michael Clyne Prize jointly administered by the Australian Linguistics Society and the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia is awarded for outstanding postgraduate research into immigrant bilingualism and language contact. So I am very excited today to learn about Priyanka's outstanding research on heritage language maintenance with a special focus on her 2026 article, Ole Babale, Exploring Emotions and Digital Language Practices in Family Language Policy Among Bengali Transnational Families, A Multimodal Approach, that she co-authored with Professor Sue Starfield and Dr. Nirukshi Perera. Priyanka, welcome to the show and thank you so much for joining us today.

Priyanka Bose (1:31)

Thanks very much, Tazin, for inviting me to the podcast. It's really exciting for me too.

Tazin Abdullah (1:38)

Well, firstly, congratulations on winning the Michael Clyne Prize. What an achievement. Would you begin by telling us a little bit about yourself, your research and how you came to be interested in heritage language maintenance?

Priyanka Bose (1:52)

Yeah, sure.

First of all, I say receiving this Michael Clyne Prize award is very meaningful to me, particularly because as you know, Michael Clyne's work has had such a lasting influence on research into migration, language maintenance and multilingualism, you say. In regard to my academic journey, it has been influenced by a kind of, I say, a long-standing interest in literacy, language, education, and multilingualism. I myself am also an immigrant, came from an immigrant families, and I grew up in a multicultural environment, firstly in India, and then part of my schooling is in India, and also I later immigrated to Canada. So and then, and after that, I come down later conducting research in Australia. I said, I became fascinated by the ways language actually influence people's identities, family relationships, opportunities, learning experiences.

Also, I should say that a very important influence in my life was my maternal grandfather, the late Sir Ravindranath Palodhi, Bengali grammarian, linguist and teacher in West Bengal, India. So from an early age, he introduced me to language literature. So when I was very young, just the child, I just got the knowledge of the structures of Bengali grammar, also the English, how actually the grammar operates. That influenced me. Not only that, he also influenced me to literature, all sorts of literature, philosophy and critical thinking. So that has helped me in the sense to see language is actually, not only, I think, I say a means of communication, but also as a way to understand the society and human experience. So those interests led me to the applied linguistics and more to the heritage language maintenance.

In regard to my doctoral research at UNSW, I explored how immigrant families in Australia maintain their heritage languages through digital communication among transnational family members. While digital communication was one of the focus of the study, I was more broadly interested in understanding how the factors such as emotion, culture, religion, identity, family relationships, all those things, and transnational connections influence language practices among these multilingual families. What drew me to the heritage language maintenance was the recognition that language is connected to belonging, culture, and intergenerational relationships. For many immigrant families, maintaining a heritage language is about much more than preserving linguistic skills. So to these families, it is about cultural knowledge and family bonds across generations and across borders. So my research seeks to understand these complex realities and to highlight these such linguistic resources that such multilingual families bring to their contemporary society, I see. Wow.

Tazin Abdullah (6:01)

I mean, what an interesting journey. Thank you for sharing the story of your grandfather. It looks like you were meant to be an applied linguist, Priyanka.

Priyanka Bose (6:10)

Thank you.

Tazin Abdullah (6:12)

But that is a lovely story.

I love how you have told us about your personal investment into your research journey and how you view language. I'd like to turn to your paper now about digital language practices in family language policy. Would you explain to us what family language policy, FLP, is? In your paper, you refer to NFLP, Networked Family Language Policy. What do these terms mean in the context of heritage language maintenance?