The English Diary in Turkish Custody Court Files

Abstract

This chapter explores how multilingualism can be instrumental in silencing and disempowerment, but conversely also in empowerment and resilience. The multilingualism of the writer, a native speaker of Turkish and German, became a potential liability when warped and distorted excerpts from her English diary were used in a custody dispute, in an example of “custody stalking” or “paper abuse.” However, the writer's multilingualism was also influential in her ability to withstand the trauma recorded in the diary, and helped her recovery from trauma, as outlined by Herman, through providing her with the means to verbalize her experience, illustrating the conception of Cook and Dewaele of the later-learned language as a tool that liberates and empowers multilinguals, and the theory of Costa and Dewaele that multilinguals' extended vocabulary aids their recovery by helping them to articulate their trauma.