Intergenerational transmission of Japanese in Argentina

Paper presented at ITML3 http://latllab.canterbury.ac.nz/intergenerational-transmission-japanese-argentina/Intergenerational transmission of Japanese in ArgentinaMigration movements are the driving force behind language contact situations, which in turn may produce a change in linguistic behavior, oftentimes towards language shift. In point, the intergenerational transmission of language offers itself as a critical aspect in the ethnolinguistic vitality of immigrant languages. As Haque (2010) suggests, language transmission and language practices are often subjected to issues related to national, family and local language(s) policies. This communication presents a number of aspects affecting the intergenerational transmission of Japanese as an immigrant language in Argentina, namely the role of family language planning, language ideologies in the host country and educational language policies. Following Onaha (2012), a distinction is made between Pre-war and Post-war period in the history of the community, WW2 being a crucial event as from permanent settling in South America became the norm and, with it, a relative loosening of the immigrant language transmission practices. Through sociolinguistic and ethnographic research, an outline of the results of in-depth interviews, and archive resources consulting is offered.