New Approaches to Language and Identity in Contexts of Migration and Diaspora draws together expertise and contemporary research findings in respect of language and identity in migrant and diasporic contexts throughout the world. Over thirteen chapters, contributors examine the intersection between migration, language, and identity through analyses of migration discourses, language practices, and legal policy, as well as the ideologies embedded and revealed within them. A wide range of subject areas and interdisciplinary approaches are represented, with fifteen authors drawn from the fields of education, intercultural communication, linguistics, geography, migration studies, psychology, and sociology. This volume will primarily appeal to scholars and researchers in fields such as migration, intercultural communication, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, multilingualism, and heritage language learning.

"New Approaches to Language and Identity in Contexts of Migration and Diaspora draws together expertise and contemporary research findings in respect of language and identity in migrant and diasporic contexts throughout the world. Over thirteen chapters, contributors examine the intersection between migration, language, and identity through analyses of migration discourses, language practices, legal policy as well as the ideologies embedded and revealed within them. A wide range of subject areas and interdisciplinary approaches are represented, with fifteen authors drawn from the fields of education, intercultural communication, linguistics, geography, migration studies, psychology, and sociology. This volume will primarily appeal to scholars and researchers in fields such as migration, intercultural communication, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, multilingualism, and heritage language learning"--

This volume presents a collection of the latest scholarly research on language, migration and identity. It includes research conducted within both established and emerging methodological frameworks and explores a wide range of contexts and geographical locations, from the language classroom to the migrant experience, and from Ireland to Eritrea.

In the midst of an international crisis in migration policy – widely referred to as a ‘refugee crisis’ – this book brings together timely analyses of the manifold and yet specific ways in which migration affects globalized societies, set against the background of the rise of nationalist and populist movements. The voices of migrants and refugees are rarely heard in this context: usually, they are debated about, summarized and reported but their agency is denied. Each contribution to this volume adds an empirical perspective to our understanding of how language relates to migration in a specific national context. The chapters use innovative combinations of multimodal, qualitative and quantitative analyses to examine a broad range of genres and data related to the voices of migrants and reporting about migrants.

Multilingualism in Italian Migrant Settings investigates the plural linguistic practices of the migrants in a particular refugee centre in Italy, the CAS (centri di accoglienza straordinaria; “extraordinary refugee centre”). This book offers a practical and rigorous study of contact situations surrounding migrants from areas with complex repertoires. Language is inherently connected to migration, especially through its role as a principal tool for communication. This volume places multilingualism in migratory contexts to comprehend how plurilingual migrants move freely between languages, and to evaluate their role in the linguistic landscape of the host country. This monograph will appeal to scholars specialising in sociolinguistics and contact linguistics. The volume will also be informative for postgraduate students in the field of sociolinguistics, with a focus on migration and language use.

This book examines the correlations between language behaviour and happiness amongst communities of migrants, and addresses the overarching question of whether language can affect wellbeing. Zi Wang takes an innovative look at migration and wellbeing by examining the crucial role language – a quintessential part of the international migration experience – plays in migrants’ wellbeing. Drawing on case studies from Chinese and Japanese-speaking communities in Germany, as well as secondary survey data on the general migrant population, Wang shows that proficiency in both host country and heritage languages is associated with robust enhancements of migrants’ subjective wellbeing. He argues that acquisition of host country language and the preservation and promotion of heritage culture should not be portrayed as a zero-sum game by stakeholders in host societies. Instead, we ought to consider the unique experiences of migrants in order to fully comprehend the ways in which they experience, evaluate, and pursue happiness in a host society. Presenting a novel approach to the study of migrants’ wellbeing, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of area studies, education, international migration, sociology of language, and wellbeing research.

This volume highlights the role of language ideologies in the process of negotiation of identities and shows that in different historical and social contexts different identities may be negotiable or non-negotiable.