Language, Space and Identity in Migration

This book explores both theoretical and practical issues of language use in a migration context, using a mixed-method approach. The unique interview data on which the analysis is based (and therefore the lens through which these issues are viewed) stem from the German urban immigrant community in Canada, but the results and findings have implications for situations of migration throughout this increasingly globalized world. Through this transcontinental perspective, this book makes a new contribution to the literature on both language and identity and language and globalization. Drawing on an interactional analysis, the focus in this book is on the relationship between interactional intricacies and larger questions in society addressing the ways in which migrants' moves between places affects the construction of their identities as well as sociolinguistic spaces at large. This includes the dynamic positioning of migrants, the use of multilingual tools as well as non-linguistic resources and the ways in which language attitudes may affect all of these.

Grit Liebscher is Associate Professor of German at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her research in interactional sociolinguistics and conversation analysis focuses on first language use in the second language classroom, language attitudes, post-unification communication among East and West Germans, and intercultural communication. Her previous publications include the co-edited book German Diasporic Experiences: Identity, Migration and Loss.

Jenniger Dailey-O'Cain is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Alberta, Canada. Alongside her work in language, migration and identity in both Germany and German-speaking Canada, her research includes code-switching in the classroom, language attitudes, and the differential use of English in online communication among German and Dutch groups of young people. Her previous publications include First Language Use in Second and Foreign Language Learning (co-edited).