Environmental factors drive heritage language vitality and shift

Abstract

 How does the environment influence heritage language use? In sociolinguistic interviews and cognitive map tasks, 28 heritage-speakers of Albanian and Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian (BCMS) in Switzerland shared with me knowledge on their language use in the environment. In this paper, I provide preliminary insights from my study, focusing on two cases. My hypothesis is that heritage speakers are exposed to environmental pressures which drive shift away from the heritage language to the dominant language of the surrounding society. Findings show that speakers link shift from the heritage to the majority language, as well as post-vernacular reclamation of the heritage language, with experiences of (residential) segregation, physical and perceived distance from heritage country, and structure of diasporic networks. I argue that many of the challenges for language vitality are engrained in environments which are often inaccessible, impoverished or unjust. Further research is necessary to fully appraise the importance of environmental factors in shift ecologies.