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Introduction: the changing faces of transnational communities in Britain

  • Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Zhu Hua and Li Wei
Published/Copyright: May 7, 2021
International Journal of the Sociology of Language
From the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language Volume 2021 Issue 269

Abstract

In this editorial introduction, we outline the key conceptualisations and overarching questions of this collection of studies on the changing faces of the transnational communities in Britain. Using the nexus of migration and language as our critical lens, we examine the internal diversities within the transnational communities in Britain, evident in the emergence of groups differing on migration trajectories, social and educational backgrounds, linguistic repertories and status assigned to community languages. We also explore how language shapes, and is shaped by, these internal diversities and wider socio-cultural-political dynamics and pay particular attention to the multilingual and translanguaging practices in these communities. We demonstrate how these communities function as sites for contestation of language and identity that can be conflictual as well as a source of othering. The introduction concludes with an outline of the contributions made by the studies in this special issue, highlighting the key claims put forward by the contributors.

Keywords: identity; inequality; internal diversity; multilingualism; social group; transnational community
Corresponding author: Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen, University of Bath, Bath, UK, E-mail:

Funding source: Economic and Social Research Council

Award Identifier / Grant number: ES/N019105/1

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the journal General Editor, Alexandre Duchêne, for his guidance, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. The work is sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of Great Britain (ES/N019105/1).

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Received: 2021-02-09
Accepted: 2021-02-10
Published Online: 2021-05-07
Published in Print: 2021-05-26

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Introducing a Varia section
  3. Introduction: the changing faces of transnational communities in Britain
  4. Living with diversity and change: intergenerational differences in language and identity in the Somali community in Britain
  5. “Pride” and “profit”: a sociolinguistic profile of the Chinese communities in Britain
  6. “Dobra polska mowa”: monoglot ideology, multilingual reality and Polish organisations in the UK
  7. The UK’s shifting diasporic landscape: negotiating ethnolinguistic heterogeneity in Greek complementary schools post-2010
  8. “Talk in Tamil!” – Does Sri Lankan Tamil onward migration from Europe influence Tamil language maintenance in the UK?
  9. A disavowed community: the case of new Italian migrants in London
  10. Language attitudes and language practices of the Lebanese community in the UK
  11. Varia
  12. The functions of language mixing in the social networks of Singapore students
  13. Indigenization in a downgraded continuum: Ideologies behind phonetic variation in Namibian Afrikaans
  14. Book Review
  15. Andrea C. Schalley and Susana A. Eisenchlas (eds.): Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development: Social and Affective Factors
https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2021-0030
Keywords for this article
identity; inequality; internal diversity; multilingualism; social group; transnational community

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Introducing a Varia section
  3. Introduction: the changing faces of transnational communities in Britain
  4. Living with diversity and change: intergenerational differences in language and identity in the Somali community in Britain
  5. “Pride” and “profit”: a sociolinguistic profile of the Chinese communities in Britain
  6. “Dobra polska mowa”: monoglot ideology, multilingual reality and Polish organisations in the UK
  7. The UK’s shifting diasporic landscape: negotiating ethnolinguistic heterogeneity in Greek complementary schools post-2010
  8. “Talk in Tamil!” – Does Sri Lankan Tamil onward migration from Europe influence Tamil language maintenance in the UK?
  9. A disavowed community: the case of new Italian migrants in London
  10. Language attitudes and language practices of the Lebanese community in the UK
  11. Varia
  12. The functions of language mixing in the social networks of Singapore students
  13. Indigenization in a downgraded continuum: Ideologies behind phonetic variation in Namibian Afrikaans
  14. Book Review
  15. Andrea C. Schalley and Susana A. Eisenchlas (eds.): Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development: Social and Affective Factors
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