From erosion to fluency: reversing language shift in Chinese Australian households.

ABSTRACT: Since the late 20th century, China-born population has emerged as the third largest source of permanent immigrants to Australia. This study aims to explore the dynamics of heritage bilingualism of twenty-five 1.5-generation Chinese-Australian adolescents and young adults, a cohort that is often overlooked in migration studies. Through family questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, field observations, and linguistic samples, the study explores how the age at migration influences language attitudes, proficiency performance, cultural identity, and socialization patterns among three age-of-migration cohorts. While the study confirms a common trend of language erosion across all age cohorts, it distinctively delineates the varying degrees of language attrition specifically associated with t

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11916325 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature