Standardisation and heritage language maintenance: preliminary interdisciplinary considerations with a case-based approach

Mattia Zeba

doi:10.18543/djhr.1899

Mattia Zeba University of Trento

Keywords: language, minority rights, new minorities, interdisciplinarity, language maintenance, migration

Abstract

Over the last few decades, emerging hybrid understandings of multilingualism and language belonging have contributed to a more inclusive perspective on language rights and policies. However, it is still debated how similar challenging views on language itself can also contribute to constructing inclusive policies of language maintenance, especially in a kaleidoscopic linguistic landscape such as that shaped by migratory phenomena. Against this background, this paper highlights a series of preliminary considerations regarding the interlocking dynamics among standardisation processes, language variation and international migration. Through an analysis of several relevant cases, it aims to identify how a hybrid understanding of language and its internal variation can contribute to a more effective, sensible and inclusive perspective on heritage language maintenance.

Received: 26 February 2020
Accepted: 06 November 2020

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