Article published in:
Constructing and Negotiating Identity in Dialogue
Edited by Răzvan Săftoiu
[Language and Dialogue 5:1] 2015
► pp. 176–193

Language and identity of migrants

The role of the heritage language in the process of collective identity construction in a migration situation

| Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (Germany)

Collective identity construction as a discursive action is highly dependent on language use. Migration settings offer a wide range of linguistic repertoires to fall back upon in order to mark identity. While the ‘majority’ language is usually neutral in this sense, the use of the ‘minority’ or the heritage language, defined as a language “other than the dominant language (or languages) in a given social context” (Kelleher 2010, 1), can act as a specific means of identity construction. Moreover, the heritage language acts as a vehicle for transmission of collective memory which is also central in the process and will thus be discussed in this paper. These questions will be analysed by drawing on the results of an empirical study carried out in 2010 in Volga German communities in Argentina.

Keywords: collective identity, migrants, social process
Published online: 23 June 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.5.1.09lad
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