MOBILIZING LINGUISTIC AND SEMIOTIC RESOURCES, CONSTRUCTING IDENTITIES IN LOCAL LIFE WORLDS: MIGRANT WORKERS FROM TIMOR-LESTE AND THEIR FOOTBALL CLUBS

ABSTRACT This paper is based on research of a sociolinguistic and ethnographic nature, which was carried out with young migrants from Timor-Leste, who were based in a small town in Northern Ireland (CABRAL; MARTIN-JONES, 2017). Through this research we traced their migration trajectories (via Portugal or England), and we documented the agentive ways in which they were dealing with local conditions of settlement and employment, and, at the same time, creating new spaces of solidarity and conviviality within local life worlds. We focus here on one particular life world – that of sport – and on the nine football clubs formed for Timorese men and boys in this local Irish setting. We describe and analyse three different aspects of the communicative practices that were developing around the football: (1.) The linguistic, cultural and semiotic practices involved in the naming and branding of the clubs e.g., practices that indexed different Timorese identities (from different regions of Timor-Leste) and practices that indexed different globalised cultural worlds of football; (2.) the language resources of the Timorese club managers (including Tetum, Portuguese and English), and their organisational practices, their ethos and their funds of knowledge; (3.) the significance of the scheduling of football tournaments around key dates in the establishment of the nation of Timor-Leste – a regular practice that indexed an orientation to a shared national origin.

摘要 本论文基于一项社会语言学与民族志维度的研究，该研究针对定居于北爱尔兰一小镇的东帝汶青年移民展开（CABRAL; MARTIN-JONES, 2017）。通过本次研究，我们追踪了这些移民经葡萄牙或英格兰辗转的迁移轨迹，并记录下他们应对当地定居与就业环境的主体性行动方式，同时在当地生活场域中搭建起兼具团结性与共融性的全新空间。本次研究聚焦于其中一类特定生活场域——体育领域，以及在此爱尔兰本地语境下为东帝汶男性与青少年组建的九家足球俱乐部。我们将围绕足球活动中逐步形成的三类传播实践展开描述与分析：1. 俱乐部命名与品牌塑造环节涉及的语言、文化与符号实践：例如，彰显东帝汶不同地域身份的实践，以及彰显足球领域各类全球化文化语境的实践；2. 东帝汶俱乐部管理者所运用的语言资源（包括德顿语（Tetum）、葡萄牙语与英语），以及他们的组织实践、精神气质与知识储备；3. 以东帝汶建国关键日期为节点举办足球赛事的意义：这类常规实践彰显了参与者对共同民族起源的身份认同与归属感。