ABSTRACT

The study of family language policy has emerged as a significant domain for multilingual development, language maintenance and cultural continuity. Family Language Policy seeks to connect the studies of child language acquisition with the field of language policy research in its approach to understand language maintenance and shift among different migrant families and communities. However, few studies have been conducted in this area. Through the in-depth analysis of 19 interviews, this article explores family language policy employed by Bangladeshi migrants in South East Queensland. The results show that participants evidence a strong will to maintain their mother tongue for which they resort to strategies from family to social domains. The implementation of their policies is facilitated by what they perceive as helpful macro-level processes. That is, they approve of the Australian policies that promote multiculturalism.

摘要

家庭语言政策的研究已成为多语言发展，语言维护和文化连续性的重要领域。家庭语言政策旨在将儿童语言习得的研究与语言政策研究领域联系起来，以理解语言的维护和在不同移民家庭和社区之间的转移。但是，在这一领域进行的研究很少。通过对19个访谈的深入分析，本文探讨了昆士兰东南部孟加拉国移民所采用的家庭语言政策。结果表明，参与者证明了保持母语的强烈意愿，为此他们诉诸从家庭到社交领域的策略。他们认为有帮助的宏观流程有助于实施他们的政策。