Language maintenance in friendships

Second-generation German, Greek, and Vietnamese migrants

Bibliographic Data

ID5160967
AuthorsJo Winter, Anne Pauwels
Year2006
Volume2006
Issue180
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of the Sociology of Language (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0165-2516 • E-ISSN: 1613-3668
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ijsl.2006.044
OpenAlexW2084097867
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited4

Our contribution explores the language maintenance (LM) patterns of children of migrants (second-generation) to Australia from three ethnolinguistic groups — German, Greek, and Vietnamese — in their same-age peer friendships. Focusing on the affective social relationship of “friendship” imagined as a dynamic fluid site of independence and a locale for identity formation, we scrutinize it as a pressure point for LM. The macro survey trends indicate that languages other than English (LOTE) are used in the friendship domain but with differing participations. Follow-up in-depth interviews reveal subtleties and complexities for LM practices. Co-presence of bilingual others in friendships proves to be a minimum but not sufficient condition for LM, particularly for German men and Greek women. Hyphenated belongings — for example, Vietnamese-, Greek-, German-Australians — construct varying LM alignments that reflect shared histories and authenticities (the migration experience) and the localizing of settlement (Australia)

Art · Friendship · German · Immigration · Linguistics · Political science · Sociology · Vietnamese · Gender Studies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Second Language Learning and Teaching · Social Psychology

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