Heritage language transmission in families of the Japanese Language Supplementary School of Barcelona (2004-2014)

Abstract

This paper focuses upon the language transmission of Japanese in the families of the Japanese Language Supplementary School of Barcelona. Basing on the data collected in two studies conducted in 2004 and 2014, we seek to identify various language use patterns and to explore the position occupied by Japanese, examining whether there has been any change in the transmission of this language during this decade. The most striking finding of this study is that during these ten years the Japanese language has been well maintained in the home. In Japanese-Catalan families, the non-establishment of any common family language seems to protect Catalan and Japanese from the predominance of Spanish in the home. Heritage language transmission and its maintenance depends mainly on the family’s effort, although thisstudy has proved that the supplementary school also plays a significant or even decisive role. Likewise, the positive consideration of the Japanese language in Catalonia also helps to favour its transmission.

Keywords: language uses, linguistic transmission, heritage language, Japanese, multilingual families.