Programm 79. StuTS

This presentation traces the development of a Berlin University Alliance-funded student project from "Metrolingualism in Berlin: Decline or Change in Mother Tongues?" (2023) to the current study "Heritage Speaker Status: Supporting Berlin’s Language Communities" (2026). Situated in Berlin, one of the world’s most linguistically diverse cities, the project examines how heritage languages are used, maintained, and supported in an urban context where support structures remain uneven and often difficult to access.
The first phase of the project explored attitudes towards heritage languages, whether they are actively spoken in Berlin, and the domains in which they are used. Based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with speakers of thirty-five heritage languages, the study revealed highly differentiated patterns of language use: while some speakers continue to use their heritage languages actively across multiple domains, others use them only in more restricted contexts.
A key finding was that many speakers and communities create and maintain events, networks, and spaces for language use on their own initiative, often in the absence of formal recognition or institutional support. This shifted our focus from asking whether heritage languages are still spoken to examining how language maintenance is socially sustained despite structural inequalities.
The follow-up study investigates how heritage language communities in Berlin organise their activities and what kinds of institutional support are currently lacking or difficult to access. Its central aim is to develop concrete ideas for how these communities could be better supported through policy measures, NGOs, and more accessible funding structures, framed as a proposal for a "Heritage Speaker Status". Methodologically, the project combines interviews with organisers of grassroots initiatives in Berlin, speakers of minority and heritage languages, and international NGOs supporting multilingualism, such as the Endangered Language Alliance in New York, with participation in outreach events such as Karneval der Kulturen and 48 Stunden Neukölln.

Info

Tag: 16.05.2026
Anfangszeit: 15:20
Dauer: 00:30
Raum: DOR 24 1.101
Track: Sociolinguistics
Sprache: en

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