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Citizenship status, heritage language use, and cultural attitudes

Evidence from Switzerland

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Abstract
This paper examines the association between immigrants’ citizenship status, heritage language (HL) use, and attitudes towards cultural diversity. Using data from the 2019 Swiss Survey on Language, Religion, and Culture, we estimate linear probability models with a rich set of controls. We find that naturalized individuals are less likely to use their HL daily and less likely to view cultural diversity as enriching. Although these associations are modest relative to the influence of family and social environment, they suggest that citizenship status reflects broader patterns of integration and attachment to the host country. While the results are not causal, they highlight how non-language policies may be linked to language use and point to broader societal implications of integration processes.
Résumé
Cet article examine le lien entre le statut de citoyenneté des immigrants, l’utilisation de leur langue d’origine et leurs attitudes à l’égard de la diversité culturelle. À partir des données de l’Enquête suisse sur la langue, la religion et la culture de 2019, nous estimons des modèles de probabilité linéaire en intégrant un large éventail de variables de contrôle. Nous constatons que les personnes naturalisées sont moins susceptibles d’utiliser leur langue d’origine au quotidien et moins enclines à considérer la diversité culturelle comme un enrichissement. Bien que ces liens soient modestes par rapport à l’influence de l’environnement familial et social, ils suggèrent que le statut de citoyenneté reflète des tendances plus générales d’intégration et d’attachement au pays d’accueil. Si ces résultats ne sont pas de nature causale, ils mettent en évidence la manière dont les politiques non linguistiques peuvent être liées à l’usage de la langue et soulignent les implications sociétales plus larges des processus d’intégration.
Resumo
Civita statuso, uzo de hereda lingvo kaj kulturaj sintenoj: indicoj el Svislando
Tiu ĉi artikolo ekzamenas la rilaton inter la civita statuso de enmigrintoj, la uzo de hereda lingvo (HL) kaj la sintenoj al kultura diverseco. Uzante datumojn el la Svisa Enketo de 2019 pri Lingvo, Religio kaj Kulturo, ni aplikas linearajn probablajn modelojn kun riĉa aro da kontrolvariabloj. Ni konstatas, ke naturigitaj individuoj malpli verŝajne uzas sian heredan lingvon ĉiutage kaj malpli verŝajne konsideras kulturan diversecon kiel riĉigon. Kvankam tiuj rilatoj estas modestaj kompare kun la influo de la familia kaj socia medioj, ili sugestas, ke la civita statuso reflektas pli ampleksajn skemojn de integriĝo kaj sento de aparteno al la gastiga lando. Kvankam la rezultoj ne estas kaŭzaj, ili substrekas, kiel nellingvaj politikoj povas esti ligitaj al lingvouzo, kaj indikas pli vastajn sociajn implicojn de la integriĝaj procezoj.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Conceptual framework and literature
    • Citizenship and immigrant integration
    • The economics of language use
    • Sociolinguistic perspective on heritage language maintenance
    • Institutional context: Ordinary naturalization in Switzerland
  • Data
    • Data source
    • Sample construction
  • Variables
    • Dependent variables
    • Heritage language
    • Independent variables
    • Descriptive statistics
  • Empirical strategy
  • Results
    • Heritage language use
    • Attitudes towards cultural diversity
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (25)
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