The role of the heritage language in the process of collective identity construction in a migration situation
Anna Ladilova | 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.
1991Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London/ New York: Verso.
Appadurai, Arjun
1998 “Globale ethnische Räume. Bemerkungen und Fragen zur Entwicklung einer transnationalen Anthropologie [Global ethnic spaces. Notes and questions on the development of a transnational anthropology].” In Perspektiven der Weltgesellschaft [Perspectives of a global community], ed. by Ulrich Beck, 11–40. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Assmann, Aleida
2011Einführung in die Kulturwissenschaft. Grundbegriffe, Themen, Fragestellungen[Introduction to cultural studies. Fundamental terms, topics and questions]. Berlin: Erich Schmidt.
Assmann, Aleida, and Heidrun Friese
1999 “Einleitung [Introduktion].” In Identitäten[Identities], ed. by Aleida Assmann, and Heidrun Friese, 11–13. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Assmann, Jan
1992Das kulturelle Gedächtnis. Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen[The collective memory. Writing, memory and political identity in early high cultures]. München: Beck.
Auer, Peter
2005 “A Postscript. Code-Switching and Social Identity.” Journal of Pragmatics 371: 403–410.
Bachmann-Medick, Doris
2009Cultural turns. Neuorientierungen in den Kulturwissenschaften[Cultural turns. New orientations in cultural studies]. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag.
Brubaker, Rogers, and Frederick Cooper
2000 “Beyond ‘Identity’.” Theory and Society 291: 1–47.
Cipria, Alicia
2007 “A 250 años de la primera migración: lealtad y auto-estima lingüísticas en comunidades de alemanes del Volga en Entre Ríos [250 years after the first migration: linguistic loyalty and self-confidence in Volga German communities in Entre Ríos].” Southern Journal of Linguistics 311: 1–19.
Davidovic, Antonia
2006“Identität — ein unscharfer Begriff. Identitätsdiskurse in den gegenwartsbezogenen Humanwissenschaften [Identity — a cloudy term. Indentity discourses in the contemporary humanities].” In Soziale Gruppen — kulturelle Grenzen. Die Interpretation sozialer Identitäten in der prähistorischen Archäologie[Social groups — cultural frontiers. The interpretation of social identities in prehistoric archeology], ed. by Stefan Burmeister, and Nils Müller-Scheeßel, 39–58. Münster: Waxmann.
De Fina, Anna
2009Lengua y prácticas sociales en la construcción de la identidad: el caso de una comunidad italo-americana[Language and social practices in the construction of identity: the case of an Italian-American community]. Córdoba: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. [URL] (11.03.2014).
Finke, Peter
2008“Kulturökologie” [Culture Ecology]. In Einführung in die Kulturwissenschaften. Theoretische Grundlagen – Ansätze – Perspektiven [Introduction to cultural studies. Theoretical foundlings - approaches - perspectives], ed. by Ansgar Nünning, and Vera Nünning, 248–279. Stuttgart: Metzler.
Gläser, Jochen, and Grit Laudel
2009Experteninterviews und qualitative Inhaltsanalyse als Instrumente rekonstruierender Untersuchungen[Expert interviews and qualitative content analysis as instruments of reconstructive research]. Wiesbaden: VS.
Graefe, Iris Barbara
1971Zur Volkskunde der Rußlanddeutschen in Argentinien[On Folklore of Russian-Germans in Argentina]. Wien: Schendl.
Gugenberger, Eva
2004 “Sprache — Identität — Hybridität: Ein Beispiel der Galicier/innen in Galicien und Argentinien [Language — Identity — Hybridity: An example of Galicians in Galicia and Argentina].” Grenzgänge[Crossing borders] 22 (11): 115–149.
Halbwachs, Maurice
1991Das kollektive Gedächtnis[The collective memory]. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch.
Hipperdinger, Yolanda H
2005Die Sprache(n) der Wolgadeutschen in Argentinien. Die Kolonisierung des Bezirkes Coronel Suárez[The language of Volga Germans in Argentina. The colonization of the Corones Suárez region]. Wien: Praesens.
Kelleher, Ann
2010 “What is a Heritage Language?” Heritage Briefs. University of California: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Ladilova, Anna
2013Kollektive Identitätskonstruktion in der Migration: Eine Fallstudie zur Sprachkontaktsituation der Wolgadeutschen in Argentinien[Collective identity construction in a migration setting: A case study of the language contact situation of Volga Germans in Argentina]. Frankfurt: Peter Lang
Mayring, Philipp
1995 “Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse [Qualitative content analysis].” In Handbuch qualitative Sozialforschung[A Handbook on qualitative social research], ed. by Uwe Flick, 209–213. Weinheim: Beltz.
Mattheier, Klaus J
1994 “Theorie der Sprachinsel. Voraussetzungen und Strukturierungen [Theory of a language island. Requirements and structures].” In Sprachinselforschung. Eine Gedenkschrift für Hugo Jedig[Language island research. A memorial publication for Hugo Jedig], ed. by Nina Berend, and Klaus J. Mattheier, 333–348. Frankfurt am Main: Lang.
Nünning, Ansgar, and Vera Nünning
2008 “Kulturwissenschaften: Eine multiper-spektivistische Einführung in einen interdisziplinären Diskussionszusammenhang [Cultural studies: A multi-perspectivistic introduction to an interdisciplinary discussion]”. In Einführung in die Kulturwissenschaften. Theoretische Grundlagen — Ansätze — Perspektiven[Introduction to cultural studies. Theoretical foundlings — approaches — perspectives], ed. by Ansgar Nünning, and Vera Nünning, 1–18. Stuttgart: Metzler.
1993Deutsch-spanische Sprachkontakte in Südchile[German-Spanish language contacts in Southern Chile]. Essen: Universität.
Riehl, Claudia Maria
2004Sprachkontaktforschung. Eine Einführung[Language contact research. An introduction]. Tübingen: Narr.
Schlögel, Karl
2003Im Raume lesen wir die Zeit. Über Zivilisationsgeschichte und Geopolitik[In space we read time. On history of civilization and geo-politics]. München: Hanser.
Schmidt, Arnd
1997Kollektive Zweisprachigkeit in einsprachiger Umgebung. Eine wolgadeutsche Sprachinsel in Argentinien[Collective bilingualism in monolingual surroundings. A Voga German language island in Argentina]. Kiel: Westensee.
Straub, Jürgen
2004 “Identität [Identity].” In Handbuch der Kulturwissenschaften[Handbook of cultural studies], ed. by Friedrich Jaeger, 277–303. Stuttgart: Metzler.
Tabouret-Keller, Andrée
2007 “Language and Identity.” In The Handbook of Sociolinguistics, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 315–326. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
Treibel, Annette
2003Migration in modernen Gesellschaften. Soziale Folgen von Einwanderung, Gastarbeit und Flucht[Migration in modern societies. Social consequences of immigration, guest labor and escape]. Weinheim [u.a.]: Juventa-Verlag.
Weyne, Olga
1987El ultimo puerto. Del Rhin al Volga y del Volga al Plata[The last port. From Rhine to Volga and from Volga to Plata]. Buenos Aires: Tesis [u.a.].
Cited by
Cited by 6 other publications
Gubitosi, Patricia & Judy de Oliveira
2020. (Re)negotiation of the cultural and linguistic identities of the Azorean Portuguese in Eastern Massachusetts. Diaspora Studies 13:1 ► pp. 89 ff.
Lipski, John M.
2021. Heritage Languages in South America. In The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics, ► pp. 305 ff.
Mocanu, Mihaela & Anca-Diana Bibiri
2023. Language as an agent of integration: the case study of Romanian immigrants in Belgium. International Journal of Heritage Studies 29:12 ► pp. 1404 ff.
Shwayli, Seham & Melissa Barnes
2018. Reconstructing identities in Australia: Iraqi Muslim women's pursuit of cultural, social and economic capital. Women's Studies International Forum 71 ► pp. 95 ff.
ÁLVAREZ, ALBA ARIAS
2022. Sociophonetic Study of the Backed /r/ in the Puerto Rican Diaspora in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 99:9 ► pp. 815 ff.
[no author supplied]
2021. Heritage Languages around the World. In The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics, ► pp. 11 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.