Mother-Tongue Maintenance in Canada: The Role of the Coethnic Community and Coethnic Resources

Abstract

Much of our understanding of language attainment among immigrants and their descendants focuses on the US with substantial evidence of mother-tongue loss within a few generations. However, these patterns may differ in Canada given its unique linguistic context, such as continuous migration, multicultural policy, two official languages, and a skilled migration policy. Thus, this study focuses on several contexts under which immigrants and their children are received. Specifically, this article examines the role of the coethnic community and coethnic resources on unofficial and official language proficiency among the first, 1.5, and second generations in Canada. Using data from the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Study and 2001 Canadian microdata, this study finds that simultaneous proficiency in non-official and official languages is structured by the availability of coethnic resources and the average size and education of the coethnic community. Specifically, individuals with greater access to coethnic resources and many coethnic neighbors are more likely to maintain the mother tongue with the official language(s).

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