Transnational multilingual families in China: Multilingualism as commodity, conflict, and in-betweenness

Abstract

Studies on transnational multilingual families and their language planning have mostly investigated their language ideologies and practices in relation to heritage language maintenance without exploring how such families view their multilingualism and how it might affect their language planning. Most studies have also exclusively focused on the experiences of transnational multilingual families residing in Europe and North America, with those living in other regions receiving comparatively little attention. This article reports on a qualitative study involving four transnational multilingual families located in China. Data were collected via a combination of semi-structured interviews and audio/video recordings. The study investigated the extent to which the participating families’ multilingualism mediated their language planning, as well as how they related to their multilingualism in its totality. The findings revealed that the families had a complex relationship with their multilingualism and saw it as a source of opportunities but also anxiety.