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Language usage and culture maintenance: a study of Spanish-speaking immigrant mothers in Australia

journal contribution
posted on 2024-11-01, 18:35 authored by Glenda MejiaGlenda Mejia
This article discusses the usage of the Spanish language by Hispanic mothers with their children, their views on language maintenance and culture within their bilingual families and their opinions on the benefits of bilingualism in a globalised world. Drawing upon detailed case studies of 16 native Spanish-speaking mothers married to English-speaking fathers in Australia, this article explores how mothers retain their language and culture in their adopted country in order to pass them on to their children. The analysis of personal opinions made by the participants in this study revealed a positive commitment to the maintenance of Spanish language and culture by the majority of participating mothers. This study also found that the majority of mothers see the importance of bilingualism for their children in that it enables them to have a fuller relationship with their relatives overseas, promotes broad-mindedness and potentially creates future opportunities that an ability to speak another language brings.

History

Journal

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

Volume

37

Issue

1

Start page

23

End page

39

Total pages

17

Publisher

Routledge

Place published

United Kingdom

Language

English

Copyright

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

Former Identifier

2006053009

Esploro creation date

2020-06-22

Fedora creation date

2015-05-20

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