Koch, Nikolas & Claudia Maria Riehl (with additional contributions by Johanna Holzer & Nicole Weidinger) (2024): Migrationslinguistik: Eine Einführung (Narr Studienbücher). Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto GmbH. 332 p.

The new German textbook Migrationslinguistik: Eine Einführung offers a comprehensive introduction to the interdisciplinary field of migration and language. Migration is a pivotal socio-cultural phenomenon and has always been a major part of human history. Migration is complex, dynamic, and multifaceted, and at its core lies language, the indispensable agent of migration. Koch and Riehl show how migration processes impact societies, communities, and speakers on various levels and address topics such as multilingual and multicultural societies, multilingual language acquisition, use, and maintenance. The authors also discuss education issues in the light of migration, such as access to education and education equality.

Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the reader to the field of migration linguistics, its scope with a focus on Germany, and why migration linguistics needs to be established as a sub-field of linguistics in its own right. Migration linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that tackles issues relevant to many branches of linguistics (e.g. sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, psychology, pedagogy, education) and provides valuable insights into the dynamic nature of language in diverse sociocultural contexts. Important concepts and definitions are introduced, e.g. the concept of migration and why people migrate, the history of migration to Germany, and where migrants predominantly settled. The chapter explores the different aspects of multilingualism and language contact, highlighting variations both within individual speakers and across societal, institutional, and educational contexts.

Chapter 3 starts by introducing different forms of multilingual societies and the role minority languages play in those. When talking about minority languages, one often differentiates between so-called autochthonous (indigenous) and allochthonous (immigrant) minority groups and the authors introduce these terms with a focus on German minority groups, e.g. the Danish minority group in the region bordering Denmark, the Sorbians, the Frisians as well as Turkish and Russian immigrants. This chapter illustrates that (societal and individual) multilingualism is a mosaic rather than a fixed category and that the routes to multilingualism vary substantially.

Language acquisition in migration contexts is influenced and characterized by many different factors such as age of arrival and type of access to the societal language, access to education, employment and socio-economic status. Chapter 4 introduces the reader to bilingual language acquisition scenarios and the distinction between uncontrolled (natural) and controlled acquisition as well as the resulting consequences on the acquisition path. For example, vocabulary development is often marked by contextual factors, e.g. specific words that are only used in an educational setting, and thus are only acquired in one language; something that also holds for monolingual acquisition. Koch and Riehl also discuss early second language acquisition and typical milestones and pitfalls. If children receive enough input in the societal language, e.g. in daycare and kindergarten that support language development, migrant children’s acquisition paths will not differ substantially from monolingual acquisition (see Haberzettl 2014). However, if children acquire their second language after kindergarten, differences become visible in nearly all domains of language, but especially in grammar. Nevertheless, given enough input and time, most children will reach native proficiency in their second language. This is different from second language acquisition in adulthood where very often speakers will not reach native-like proficiency and acquisition is characterized by fossilizing effects and extremely heterogenous speaker profiles.

In chapter 5, the authors approach second language acquisition from a theoretical perspective and how the differing views explain language developmental trajectories, focusing in the end on usage-based approaches (see Tomasello 2003). Unlike traditional views that emphasize innate linguistic knowledge or strict rule-learning mechanisms, usage-based approaches highlight the interplay between usage patterns, cognitive processes, and social interactions in shaping linguistic development.

Whereas the first five chapters concentrate mainly on language acquisition, chapter 6 puts language maintenance and language loss center stage. This chapter is dedicated to the use, acquisition, and promotion of heritage languages within the family and discusses the connection between individual and collective language loss. Important concepts, such as the “three generational rule”, are introduced and explained in detail. Koch and Riehl further outline why certain groups of migrants pass on their heritage languages to the next generation more often than others and how, in general, language loss can be prevented or at least prolonged. Language erosion in the individual speaker is addressed as well and the authors differentiate between first-generation migrants and subsequent generations of heritage language speakers, for whom the heritage language is much less consolidated and only acquired to a limited extent in certain areas (e.g. writing). Koch and Riehl outline how language erosion in one generation and incomplete acquisition in the next can ultimately lead to complete language shift in subsequent generations.

Chapters 7 and 8 focus on multilingual speech and resulting language contact phenomena. Koch and Riehl importantly emphasize throughout the book that multilingual speakers should not be regarded as several monolingual people in one. This monolithic view is a common misconception assuming that each language a person speaks is compartmentalized, as though the person has separate “modes” or “personalities” for each language. Instead, languages are connected and should not be treated as separate systems and in that way, we can offer new explanations to the analysis of code-mixing or other forms of transfer. Realizing that mixing languages is not an unusual and quirky phenomenon but a frequent practice bilingual individuals and communities engage in, researchers from various fields started to investigate code-mixing. Koch and Riehl outline the usefulness of a usage-based approach to explain why children’s code-mixing has the characteristics it has, by specifically focusing on the use of ‘units’ as well as frame-and-slot patterns (e.g. Quick and Backus 2022).

Chapter 9 approaches multilingualism from an individual diaspora perspective focusing specifically on the major immigrant languages in Germany, namely Russian, Turkish, and Italian. For each variety, Koch and Riehl outline how the diaspora languages are influenced by German on lexical, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic levels. Whereas certain aspects are shared, e.g. mixing German words into the heritage variety, differences are also visible on various levels, e.g. morphological simplification processes in the case systems and differences to the standard variety. In general, the authors stress that diaspora varieties can be considered sub-standards from mainland varieties and that tendencies of language change are more prevalent in the diaspora variety.

In chapter 10, Koch and Riehl outline how far German is influenced by immigrant languages. Starting with the definition of pidgin languages, a specific contact variety in Germany, Gastarbeiterdeutsch, is introduced. Whereas initial studies supported the assumption that Gastarbeiterdeutsch shows features of a pidgin, more recent studies have argued that Gastarbeiterdeutsch is better conveived of as a learner variety. The second half of the chapter is concerned with ethnolects, focusing on the Turkish community in Germany. Koch and Riehl point out phonetic, lexical, morphological, and syntactic features as well as morphosyntactic innovations and emphasize that this ethnolect is part of the repertoires of speakers who are very proficient and even fluent in German. Whereas the ethnolect was initially used only by the Turkish community, it developed into a multiethnolect which is today used by many young speakers with diverse migration backgrounds, functioning in this way as an in-group peer stylistic device.

Language, identity, and language biographies are the topic of chapter 11 (written by Johanna Holzer) and these topics show again the interdisciplinary character of migration linguistics. Language biography research provides insight into the speaker’s perspectives and the difficulties and tensions migrants experience concerning language proficiency and societal needs. Holzer outlines how migration linguistic perspectives, as well as language biographies, and interactional-discourse approaches, provide windows to the linguistic reconstruction of identity in the context of migration and multilingualism.

Language planning and language policy with a focus on how migration languages are represented in Germany is discussed in chapter 12. Whereas the previous chapters took a migrant perspective, this chapter looks at how multilingualism features in the public space, e.g. how educational web pages address foreigners, but also analyzing (with the help of linguistic landscape) how visible languages are in public spaces such as streets, buildings, signs, advertisements, and other urban or rural settings.

Chapters 13 and 14 address another important topic in migration situations, namely educational (in)equality. Chapter 13 (written by Nicole Weidinger) addresses the serious social and migration-related disparities in Germany. Many studies have shown that migration and social background influence educational success tremendously and remain ongoing challenges to establishing educational equality. However, it has to be noted that migration itself is not a determining factor for educational success. Weidinger outlines how migration and socio-economic status are intertwined and how social disadvantages influence migrant children’s educational success often forming a vicious circle that is hard to break. In the remainder of the chapter, Weidinger outlines how language testing and language support in educational settings can help migrant children to succeed better.

Chapter 14 also focuses on education, looking specifically at Germany and the role German as an educational language plays. Language is the means by which academic content is transmitted. Poor language skills influence academic proficiency and ultimately educational success. Attending school in the societal language is also often at the cost of literacy in the heritage language of children with a migration background; usually, they acquire literacy only in German. Gogolin (2004) points out that children need support in both languages so that they can also develop literacy in their heritage language. However, the great heterogeneity of the participants, coupled with the frequent lack of appreciation and sometimes precarious working conditions of the teachers, make their success and implementation difficult.

In summary, Migrationslinguistik: Eine Einführung is a valuable source for students and teachers. It comes with a set of well-structured tasks and solutions that can be used in class. The tasks carefully progress with the book’s content and provide handy triggers to stimulate discussion among students and also offer some linguistic analyses that can be implemented in class. The book is well organized and illuminating and can therefore be recommended to students, teachers, and all those interested in language at the interface of migration.