Based on Spolsky's (2004) tripartite framework for language policy, this study explores language practices, language ideology, and language management in relation to minority languages, Putonghua, and English in ethnic minority families in Yunnan, China. Through observations of and interviews with nine interethnic marriage families in Kena Village…

This study is a sociolinguistic exploration into the survival of a transnational language in the United States - a multilingual and multicultural environment. Using an adapted General Ethnicity Questionnaire, it interrogates the social dimensions of heritage language use and the diverse linguistic experiences of 120 first-generation Yorùbá-English…

This paper provides a qualitative account of Vietnamese language maintenance in Manchester. Through ethnographic observations of distinctly Vietnamese locations, Vietnamese language practices are shown to create spaces in which Vietnamese is the dominant language, and in which Vietnamese norms and expectations, or scales, are able to influence and…

This paper reports on a study that examined patterns of language maintenance and use -- standard Persian as well as dozens of dialects spoken by Jews in provincial towns -- among three generations of Israeli residents of Iranian origin. Issues of identity, acculturation, and the immigration experience were explored through a language prism as well…

This paper investigates language practices, language attitudes and identity belongings of East Timorese in the Netherlands. Data were gathered through a limited orally conducted sociolinguistic questionnaire and two in-depth interviews on the sociolinguistic trajectories of our participants. The questionnaire shows that second-generation East…

This article discusses the Belarusian case of post-communist development and the role and status of Belarusian ethnicity in Belarus' nation-formation process. "Nationalizing nationalism" (Brubaker), as realised by the Belarusian state through various social and cultural practices, is aimed at the creation of a Belarusian national entity…

This paper explores family language policy in Turkish-speaking families in Sweden. Questionnaires were administered to the parents of 105 Turkish/Swedish children (age 4-7), targeting family language practices (including parent-parent, parent-child, child-parent, child-and-sibling conversation and language-fostering activities such as joint book…

We assess the sociolinguistic vitality of Romeyka, the only Asia Minor Greek variety, which, albeit endangered, is still spoken in the Black Sea region, Turkey (historically known as Pontus), by means of nine extralinguistic (i.e. sociological) and sociolinguistic factors, specially tailored for the situation of Romeyka. Our current vitality…

The end of the cold war prompted most of the former Soviet republics to face ethnic issues that had remained latent or intangible for decades. Whilst some ethnic groups were actively campaigning for their rights, some others seemed uninterested in being represented politically. The recent theory of hot and cold ethnicity has been conceived to…

Educational issues in relation to ethnicity and language education policies have been underexplored in Asian contexts. In particular, issues related to ethnic and linguistic minority students have not received much attention in the post-colonial context of Hong Kong. This paper highlights challenges and tensions faced by Nepali ethnic minority…

Scholars have consistently theorised that language ideologies can influence the ways in which bilingual speakers in minority language settings identify and engage with the linguistic varieties available to them. Research conducted by the author examined the interplay of language use and ideologies among a purposive sample of adults who started in…

Nepali, the official language of administration of Nepal, has been privileged through systematic political manoeuvres throughout its history. English also enjoys special status and privileges, and despite the fact that it is officially only a "foreign" language, in practice it is one of the most dominant languages in educational and…

This paper explores language shift cases in three Malawian languages using Fishman's Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS) in order to gain some insight into the extent to which these languages should be regarded as threatened and therefore in need of reversal support. The paper shows that Chingoni, in its current state of attrition, is…

In this paper, I analysed Korean ESL immigrants' ethnic name changing phenomena. The interpretive discourse analyses of the 15 interview data obtained from six new immigrants, documented that four of them maintained their Korean names, whereas others anglicised their names depending upon their subjective identity positionings in a new society. In…

Argues that, despite being the second most common mother tongue in Australia, Greek's existence in a dynamic bilingual environment and function restriction in a high-contact situation is causing language simplification and reduction that may lead to creolization, pidginization, and, eventually, language death. The role of ethnicity and religion in…