Heritage language maintenance in diasporic communities

Abstract

This study investigates heritage language maintenance among Arabs in Manchester by analysing language choice interaction both inside and outside the home domain. Data were collected from 17 families representing two generations using participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The results show that Arabic is the consistent language of interaction between parents, parents and children, parents and Arab friends, and children and first-generation Arabs. English is consistently used in parents’ interaction with non-Arabs in most social situations such as at work and in the neighbourhood, and in most children’s interaction with their Arabic–English speaking friends. English is used more than Arabic in children–sibling interaction in most families; however, Arabic is sometimes used more in some families in such interactions. It is argued that these intergenerational differences in language choice are related to the difference in both generations’ motivation to use Arabic or English, their abilities in both languages, the domain, and the addressee. However, a demarcation in function is generally maintained between Arabic and English in both generations with varying degrees, which suggests Arabic maintenance. In this regard, parents’ occupation, education, and length of stay in Britain do not seem to influence the functional compartmentalization they keep between Arabic and English and their attempts to impose it at home.