Some exciting news...
On language, motherhood and multilingualism coming soon...in a book!
I started jotting down notes for a “book idea” during my MA linguistics classes just over a year after my first child was born nine years ago. So many of the margin notes I wrote had to do with both language and motherhood, the intersection and overlap of my day-to-day life as a new mother and linguistics student. My MA dissertation was about multilingualism and empathy in children, and I finished writing it after my second baby was born (I meant to finish before but you know, life). Maybe it was the emotionality of new motherhood again, or because my son, now a toddler was starting to talk more and more and I desperately wanted him to be bilingual and with that came a lot of heavy feelings, I became consumed with finding out how other mothers raising multilingual children felt about their experience.
If I was to pursue further academic research, I thought, it had to be about mothers. I applied to a PhD program part-time, and began researching language and emotions with a focus on family language policy and specifically, the emotions of mothers raising multilingual children. I probably should have concentrated solely on my thesis, but during the first year of COVID, I also began working on a book proposal, separate, but as you can tell, connected to my academic research. I knew I wanted the book to be called Mother Tongue Tied since those days writing notes in margins nearly a decade ago, because not only does mother tongue evoke so many emotions and ideas around mothers, especially in the context of language, but tongue tied, in its metaphorical meaning (a.k.a. speechless) is exactly how I felt about the emotions I was experiencing both about motherhood but also, about raising bilingual children in my non-dominant language. The literal tongue-tie (ankyloglossia) is also fitting considering its association with breast- and chest-feeding.
A couple of years ago, I started an Instagram account to share and explore some of the things I was thinking about on all of these topics and also, to share the work of other amazing writers, artists, creators. I got some incredible messages from other mothers who were also trying to make sense of not only mothering but multilingualism, cultural and linguistic identity post motherhood, and so much more. Everyone’s experience is different, but there are also many similarities, and it is pretty awesome not to feel so alone whether you’re mothering and caregiving in one, or multiple languages. Language, multilingualism, multiculturalism and linguistic prejudice affect us all in some way because language is political, words matter, all languages and ways of languaging are equal and important.
And so, I am thrilled (and petrified!) to announce a forthcoming book, or at least the plan as I am still fervently writing. Thank you to the wonderful team who made this happen, and as always, thank you for reading this newsletter and all the other stuff I write.
I will share updates here about timing and all that but for now, here is more about the book from the official Bookseller announcement this week:
Footnote Press pre-empts 'revelatory' book from linguist Gudowska
RIGHTS SEP 15, 2023 BY KATIE FRASER
Footnote Press has pre-empted Mother Tongue Tied, a "revelatory" book on multilingualism and motherhood, from linguist Malwina Gudowska.
Commissioning editor Rose Green acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, including audio, from Kate Evans at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop. The book will be published in spring 2024.
The publisher wrote: "It takes one generation for a family language to die. One generation – like mother to child. Mother Tongue Tied is about the emotional weight of raising multilingual children while grappling with your own identity and notions of home. Ultimately, Mother Tongue Tied explores at what cost does a mother save a language? Or does she let it slip away and, with it, a part of herself her children may never know."
Gudowska commented: "Mother Tongue Tied is about the intersections of motherhood and language, multilingualism and identity, and about the power of language in shaping our lives. Rooted in my own highly emotional experience of raising multilingual children, it is about navigating linguistic prejudice, exposing harmful myths around bilingualism, and exploring how our own linguistic and cultural identities affect our caregiving."
Green added: "Mother Tongue Tied sits at the perfect centre between gender, migration and linguistic identity, not only exploring multilingualism as an agent for social change but also looking at the deeply emotional aspects of both motherhood and language as markers of cultural identity. As Malwina observes in the book – the task of handing down language overwhelmingly falls to mothers, even more so when it comes to teaching children a heritage language. Mother Tongue Tied reveals what is often a private, gendered struggle, taking it into the light with care and compassion. Meticulously researched and exquisitely written, Mother Tongue Tied is a book that spoke to me and will speak to so many people."
Congrats!
Hooray! Congrats!!