Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Volume 10, Issue 2, 1989, Pages 129-143

Mother tongue maintenance in lebanese immigrant families in australia (Article)

Taft R. , Cahill D.
  • a Emeritus Professor of Social Psychology, Monash University, Australia
  • b Principal Lecturer in Multicultural Studies, Phillip Institute of Technology, Coburg Campus Aloa Grove Coburg Victoria, 3058, Australia

Abstract

Maintenance of mother tongue (LI) by immigrants implies both competence in the language and the use of it. A study was conducted on the maintenance of LI by 10- to 11-year-old children of Lebanese immigrants in Melbourne. While most of the 62 subjects could speak Lebanese well, few could read or write it. It was found that the children’s competence in LI was largely a function of the literacy level of their parents and their interest in the quality of their children’s language, while the actual use of LI by the children reflected their opportunities to speak it and the necessity for them to do so, rather than their competence in it or their linguistic and ethnic attitudes. © 1989 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84929066795&doi=10.1080%2f01434632.1989.9994369&partnerID=40&md5=786eea043e5f0b411b1bee60b8cefaf7
DOI: 10.1080/01434632.1989.9994369
ISSN: 01434632
Cited by: 11
Original Language: English