engleski

Spatial translocality and linguistic multifocality in the context of migration

In a globally connected world, the extensive migrations of people for economic, political or other purposes create circumstances that have a substantial impact on their sense of identity. The migrants' arrival and settlement in a place with different cultural background usually shifts this sense of identity and affects its gradual transformation. The assimilation of migrants into the new surrounding is often partial, insofar as they continue to use their native language, as well as maintain physical connections with their place of origin. In terms of geography, this can mean their more or less frequent movement to and from their place of origin. The process applies to both their sense of place and identification with place (from regional to transregional identity) and their language use (a shift to language multifocality). The talk presents the preliminary results of a project which aims at a) proposing a unique way of mapping the identities of translocally and transnationally oriented migrants, and b) describing properties of the respective migrants' language use in terms of linguistic multifocality. The newly introduced, theoretical notions of spatial translocality and linguistic multifocality are conceptually defined and methodologically discussed. Then, an innovative way of mapping the translocal movements of the respective individuals is presented on the basis of a qualitative case study. These data are backed up by a survey study which aimed at quantifying the translocal and multilingual self-perceptions of an exemplary group of contemporary migrants, i.e. Croats of Croatian and Bosnian background that live or have lived in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Space ; Language ; Migrations ; Croats ; Germany ; Translocality ; Multifocality

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