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13 - Heritage Languages in South America

from Part I - Heritage Languages around the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2021

Silvina Montrul
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Maria Polinsky
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
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Summary

This chapter explores a representative cross-section of heritage languages, in Spanish-speaking Latin American nations and in Brazil. The presentation is organized by the circumstances that gave rise to heritage language enclaves: voluntary immigration, including recruitment efforts by Latin American governments, immigration of religious minorities. Immigration resulting from contract labor, and continent-internal migration, often resulting from economic hardship. None of the heritage languages enjoys official recognition, but some encompass entire communities while others have dwindled to small groups of speakers. Among the heritage languages examined are German and Mennonite Low German, Italian, Ukrainian, Polish, Haitian Creole, Japanese, and American, British, and Creole English as well as transplanted varieties of Spanish and Portuguese. Attitudes toward heritage languages as well as linguistic self-esteem of speakers are equally diverse, ranging from ethnic pride to scorn, and the discussion includes an overview of circumstances that both favor and endanger heritage language maintenance.

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