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Article published In: Multilingualism and Mobility in the Twenty-First Century: New Trajectories and Possibilities in Migration Linguistics
Edited by Ariane Macalinga Borlongan and Lisa Lim
[AILA Review 37:1] 2024
► pp. 10–34

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Concept

Defining migrants

Invisibilities, im/mobilities, integration

ORCiD logo with link | Curtin University | University of Sydney | University of Hong Kong
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Sydney.

Published online: 10 June 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.24007.lim
Abstract
In contemplating multilingualism and mobility in the 21st century, several dimensions warrant attention in the emerging field of migration linguistics. First is the move beyond migration to thinking about mobilities, in particular, the new mobilities paradigm in the social sciences which views human mobility as entailing a complex assemblage of movement, social imaginaries, and experience. Second, a study of the different waves of migration in a particular society, as well as concomitant and official language policies – using Singapore as a case in point – distinguishes the layers of, on the one hand, the older, and thus established migrants, versus newer migrants, in particular, transient populations of foreign workers, and, crucially, the differential statuses that these communities and their languages hold in society – including a potential invisibility of authentic multilingualisms. Such an examination allows the development of a typology of migrants in a statal narrative. Where lines are drawn is dependent on circumstance, with the periphery positioned differentially in times of celebration versus crisis, for example, in risk communication in this pandemic era. This holds significant implications for access and appropriation, and consequent (im)mobilities, and, in the bigger picture, for the crucial intersections – including how society is responding to the role of indigenous languages for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This is particularly timely for this International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032), noted to not be addressing the interactions between language and migration, as well as the challenge of migrant intergration, recognised as a central and important driver of sustainable development.
Article outline
  • 1.On migration and mobilities
  • 2.Waves of migration
    • 2.1The colonial era: Natural immigration and vernacular maintenance
    • 2.2The independence era: Population stabilisation and language institutionalisation
    • 2.3The late modernity era: Foreign manpower and invisible languages
  • 3.A state’s response to its migrants and their languages
    • 3.1In times of celebration
    • 3.2In times of crisis
  • 4.Defining moments, defining migrants
  • 5.Indigeneity, (im)mobility, integration
  • Note
  • References
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2025. Words apart: unravelling the language barrier plight of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. Language and Intercultural Communication 25:3 ► pp. 349 ff. DOI logo

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