Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Turkish Heritage Language Acquisition and Maintenance in Germany

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

Abstract

This chapter discusses the case of Turkish as a heritage language in Germany, considering the factors affecting heritage language maintenance and education, including parental and institutional perspectives. We contextualize this within a brief review of the history of Turkish migration to Germany, highlighting the relationship between the challenging integration process experienced by many Turkish immigrants to Germany, and the social, educational, and linguistic journey of the Turkish language within the Turkish community. Data from a recent research study presents empirical data examining associations between parental perspectives, including maintaining literacy, on Turkish heritage language maintenance in Germany and the linguistic outcomes of heritage language competence within the younger generation, presented here within the formalisms of Processability Theory (Pienemann 1998). We finish with a discussion on the lack of a uniform approach from German governments toward accommodating Turkish language within the mainstream education system and how this may affect the future of Turkish as a heritage language in Germany.

Fatih Bayram is funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, REF: B.14.2. TBT.0.06.01-21514107-020-155999

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 359.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aarssen, J. (1996). Relating events in two languages: Acquisition of cohesive devices by Turkish-Dutch bilingual children at school age, Studies in multilingualism (Vol. 2). Tilburg: Tilburg University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abadan-Unat, N. (1985). Identity crisis of Turkish migrants, first and second generation. In I. Baggöz & N. Furniss (Eds.), Indiana University Turkish studies. Volume 5: Turkish workers in Europe. An interdisciplinary study (pp. 3–22). Bloomington: Indiana University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akinci, M.-A., Jisa, H., & Kern, S. (2000). Influence of L1 Turkish on L2 French narratives. In L. Verhoeven & S. Strömqvist (Eds.), Narrative development in a multilingual context (pp. 189–208). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aksu-Koç, A., & Slobin, D. I. (1985). The acquisition of Turkish. In D. I. Slobin (Ed.), The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition. Volume 1: The data (pp. 839–878). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amelina, A., & Faist, T. (2008). Turkish migrant associations in Germany: Between integration pressure and transnational linkages. Revue européenne des migrations internationales, 24(2), 91–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auernheimer, G. (2006). The German education system: Dysfunctional for an immigration society. European Education, 37(4), 75–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Backus, A. (2004). Turkish as an immigrant language in Europe. In T. K. Bhatia & W. C. Ritchie (Eds.), The handbook of bilingualism (pp. 689–724). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Backus, A. (2015). Not dead yet: The slow road to heritage status of immigrant Turkish. In Lost in transmission? The role of attrition and input in heritage language development. Reading: Reading University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bagci, O. (2012). Acculturation orientations of Turkish immigrants in Germany. Tilburg: Tilburg School of Humanities. Available from: https://pure.uvt.nl/portal/en/publications/acculturation-orientations-of-turkish-immigrants-in-germany(06e7400d-f970-4319-9b48-c95d426616a0).html

  • Bale, J. (2010). Arabic as a heritage language in the United States. International Multilingual Research Journal, 4(2), 125–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayraktaroglu, A. (1999). Non-standard uses in the mother tongue by the Turkish diaspora adolescents in England. In A. Bayraktarotlu (Ed.), TASG news. Newsletter of the Turkish Area Study Group (pp. 28–39).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayram, F. (2013). Acquisition of Turkish by heritage speakers: A processability approach. Unpublished PhD thesis, Newcastle University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayram, F., Pascual y Cabo, D., & Rothman, J. (forthcoming). Why formal linguistic approaches to heritage language acquisition should be linked to heritage language pedagogies. In P. P. Trifonas & T. Aravossitas (Eds.), Springer international handbooks of education. Research and practice in heritage language education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayram, F., Pascual y Cabo, D., & Rothman, J. (forthcoming). Cross-generational attrition contributions to heritage speaker competence. In B. Kopke, & M. Schmid (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of attrition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, E. (1999). Language rights and Turkish children in Germany. Patterns of Prejudice, 33(2), 3–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bresnan, J. (2001). Lexical-functional syntax. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S. (1980). The social time-bomb: Education of an underclass in West Germany. Race and Class, 21(4), 369–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daller, M., & Treffers-Daller, J. (2014). Moving between languages: Turkish returnees from Germany. In B. Menzel & S. Engel (Eds.), Rueckkehr in die Fremde? (pp. 185–211). Berlin: Frank & Timme Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Biase, B., & Kawaguchi, S. (2002). Exploring the typological plausibility of processability theory: Language development in Italian second language and Japanese second language. Second Language Research, 18(3), 274–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doomernik, J. (1995). The institutionalization of Turkish Islam in Germany and the Netherlands: A comparison. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 18(1), 46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, E., Gogolin, I., & Clyne, M. (2010). The Janus face of monolingualism: A comparison of German and Australian language education policies. Current Issues in Language Planning, 11(4), 439–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission. (2012). Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and their languages. Brussels: European Commission. Available online at: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf

  • Faas, D. (2008). From foreigner pedagogy to intercultural education: An analysis of the German responses to diversity and its impact on schools and students. European Educational Research Journal, 7(1), 108–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federal Statistical Office of Germany. (2015). Year book 2015: Extract of statistical yearbook (English version of the chapter as “Population”). Available online at: https://www.destatis.de/EN/FactsFigures/SocietyState/Population/Population.html

  • Fishman, J. A. (2001). 300-plus years of heritage language education in the United States. In J. K. Peyton, D. A. Ranard, & S. McGinnis (Eds.), Heritage languages in America: Preserving a national resource (pp. 81–97). Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics/Delta Systems.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaebel, M. K. (2011). The failed project of multiculturalism: The case of Turkish immigrants. The Journal, 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gogolin, I. (2005). Bilingual education – The German experience and debate. In J. Söhn (Ed.), The effectiveness of bilingual school programs for immigrant children (pp. 133–146). Berlin: WZB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosjean, F. (2010). Bilingual: Life and reality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hackett, S. (2011). A learning curve: The education of immigrants in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Bremen from the 1960s to the 1980s. In Z. Beckerman & T. Geisen (Eds.), International handbook of migration, minorities and education: Understanding cultural and social differences in processes of learning (pp. 349–364). Springer, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haig, G., & Braun, F. (1999). The state of the Turkish language in Germany. Newsletter of the Turkish Area. Study Group. Special Edition: Turkish Language in the Diaspora, 49, 13–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hashimoto, K., & Lee, J. (2011). Heritage-language literacy practices: A case study of three Japanese American families. Bilingual Research Journal, 34(2), 161–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hatch, E., & Lazaraton, E. (1991). The research manual: Design and statistics for applied linguistics. New York: Newbury/Harper Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herkenrath, A. (2012). Receptive multilingualism in an immigrant constellation: Examples from Turkish-German children’s language. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16(3), 287–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herkenrath, A., Karakoc, B., & Rehbein, J. (2003). Interrogative elements as subordinators in Turkish: Aspect of Turkish-German bilingual children’s language use. In N. Müller (Ed.), Vulnerable domains in multilingualism (pp. 221–270). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hoff, H. (2011). Fifty years after the invite, turks are still outsiders in Germany, Time, p. 3. Available at: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2098464,00.html

  • Hottmann, L. (2008). Turkish language provision in Berlin. Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Manchester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johanson, L. (1999). Frame-changing code-copying in immigrant varieties. In G. Extra & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Studies on language acquisition. Volume 14: Bilingualism and migration (pp. 247–260). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalter, F., Granato, N., & Kristen, C. (2007). Disentangling recent trends of the second generation’s structural assimilation in Germany. In S. Scherer, R. Pollak, G. Otte, & M. Gangl (Eds.), From origin to destination (pp. 215–242). Frankfurt/New York: Campus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaya, A. (2011). Euro-Turks as a force in EU-Turkey relations. South European Society and Politics, 16(3), 499–512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawaguchi, S. (2005). Argument structure and syntactic development in Japanese as a second language. In M. Pienemann (Ed.), Cross-linguistic aspects of processability theory (pp. 253–298). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kıray, M. (1976). The family of the immigrant worker. In N. Abadan-Unat (Ed.), Turkish workers in Europe 1960–1975 (pp. 210–234). Brill: Leiden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kupisch, T., & Rothman, J. (2016). Terminology matters! Why difference is not incompleteness and how early child bilinguals are heritage speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism, 1–19. doi: 10.1177/1367006916654355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Küppers, A., Schroeder, H., & Gülbeyaz, E. I. (2015). Languages in transition. Turkish in formal education in Germany. Analysis and perspectives (Vol. 27). Istanbul: Istanbul Policy Center. Available from: http://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/en/publication/languages-in-transition-turkish-in-formal-education-in-germany-analysis-and-perspectives/.Zugegriffen

  • Li, X. (1999). How can language minority parents help their children become bilingual in familial context? A case study of a language minority mother and her daughter. Bilingual Research Journal, 23(2&3), 113–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucassen, L. (2005). The Immigrant Threat: The integration of old and new migrants in western Europe since 1850. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luchtenberg, S. (2002). Bilingualism and bilingual education and their relations to citizenship from a comparative German-Australian perspective. Intercultural Education, 13(1), 49–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mansouri, F. (2005). Agreement morphology in Arabic as a second language. In M. Pienemann (Ed.), Cross-linguistic aspects of processability theory (pp. 117–253). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H. K., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50(4), 940–967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, M. (1969). Frog, where are you?. New York: Dial Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montrul, S. (2008). Incomplete acquisition in bilingualism. Re-examining the age factor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montrul, S. (2011). Interfaces and incomplete acquisition. Lingua, 121, 591–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montrul, S. (2016). The acquisition of heritage languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nesteruk, O. (2010). Heritage language maintenance and loss among the children of Eastern European immigrants in the USA. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 31(3), 271–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oner, S. (2014). Turkish community in Germany and the role of Turkish community organisations. European Scientific Journal, 10(29), 72–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orendt, M. (2010). The integration of the Turks into the German society: Turks on their way to parallel societies or to true integration? Bilge Strateji, 1(3), 141–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Özcan, V. (2004). Germany: Immigration in transition. Available at: www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?id=235

  • Özsoy, S., & Erguvanlı-Taylan, E. (1989). Belirtilik ve kavrami ve yabanci dil olarak Turkce. In F. Ö. Ekmekc ̧i & V. Ulku (Eds.), Dil Bilimi Uygulamaları (pp. 187–203). Adana: Cukurova University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pallotti, G. (2007). An operational definition of the emergence criterion. Applied Linguistics, 28(3), 361–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, S. M., & Sarkar, M. (2008). Parents’ attitudes toward heritage language maintenance for their children and their efforts to help their children maintain the heritage language: A case study of Korean-Canadian immigrants. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 20(3), 223–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascual y Cabo, D., & Rothman, J. (2012). The (Il)logical problem of heritage speaker bilingualism and incomplete acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 33, 450–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfaff, C. W. (1993). Turkish language development in Germany. In G. Extra & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Immigrant languages in Europe (pp. 119–146). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfaff, C. W. (1994). Early bilingual development of Turkish children in Berlin. In G. Extra & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), The cross-linguistic study of bilingual development (pp. 75–97). Amsterdam: Koninklijke Academie van Wetenschappen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfaff, C. W. (1997). Contacts and conflicts: Perspectives from code-switching research. In M. Pütz (Ed.), Language choices (pp. 341–360). Amsterdam: Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pfaff, C. W. (1999). Changing patterns of language mixing in a bilingual child. In G. Extra & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Studies on language acquisition. Voume 14: Bilingualism and migration (pp. 97–121). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfaff, C. W. (2011). Multilingual development in Germany in the crossfire of ideology and politics: Monolingual and multilingual expectations, polylingual practices. TRANSIT, 7(1), 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pienemann, M. (1998). Language processing and second language development: Processability theory (Vol. 15). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pienemann, M. (Ed.). (2005). Cross-linguistic aspects of Processability theory (Vol. 30). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pienemann, M. (2011). Studying processability theory: An introductory textbook. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rauch, D. P., Naumann, J., & Jude, N. (2012). Metalinguistic awareness mediates effects of full biliteracy on third-language reading proficiency in Turkish–German bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16(4), 402–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, C. J. (2009). Perennial outsiders: The educational experience of Turkish youth in Germany. American University International Law Review, 24(4), 685–710.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothman, J. (2007). Heritage speaker competence differences, language change and input type: Inflected infinitives in heritage Brazilian Portuguese. International Journal of Bilingualism, 11(4), 359–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothman, J. (2009). Understanding the nature and outcomes of early bilingualism: Romance languages as heritage languages. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13(2), 155–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothman, J., & Treffers-Daller, J. (2014). A prolegomenon to the construct of the native speaker: Heritage speaker bilinguals are natives too! Applied Linguistics, 35(1), 93–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothman, J., Tsimpli, I., & Pascual y Cabo, D. (2016). Formal linguistic approaches to heritage language acquisition: Bridges for pedagogically oriented research. In D. Pascual y Cabo (Ed.), Advances in Spanish as a heritage language (pp. 13–26). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schaefer, S. (2005). Germany: A case study of failed integration. In S. Schaefer, G. Austin, & K. Paker (Eds.), Turks in Europe: Why are we afraid? (pp. 1–18). London: Foreign Policy Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Söhn, J., & Özcan, V. (2006). The educational attainment of Turkish migrants in Germany. Turkish Studies, 7(1), 101–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song, S. (2011). Second-generation Turkish youth in Europe: Explaining the academic disadvantage in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Economics of Education Review, 30, 938–949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soysal, L. (2008). The migration story of Turks in Germany: From the beginning to the end. In R. Kasaba (Ed.), Turkey in modern world (Vol. 4, pp. 199–225). Cambridge, UK/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treffers-Daller, J., Özsoy, A. S., & van Hout, R. (2007). (In)Complete acquisition of Turkish among Turkish-German bilinguals in Germany and Turkey: An analysis of complex embeddings in narratives. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 10(3), 248–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verhoeven, L. (2004). Bilingualism and narrative construction. In S. Stromqvist & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Relating events in narrative, volume 2: Typological and contextual perspectives (pp. 435–454). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallraff, G. (1988). Lowest of the low (trans: Chalmers, M.). New York: Mandarin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wegmann, K. M. (2014). Shaping a new society: Immigration, integration, and schooling in Germany. International Social Work, 57(2), 131–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willard, J. A., Agache, A., Jaekel, J., Glück, C. W., & Leyendecker, B. (2015). Family factors predicting vocabulary in Turkish as a heritage language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36(4), 875–898.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yağmur, K. (2004). Language maintenance patterns of Turkish immigrant communities in Australia and Western Europe: The impact of majority attitudes on ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 165, 121–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yurdakul, G., & Bodeman, M. (2006). ‘We don’t want to be the Jews of tomorrow’: Jews and Turks in Germany after 9/11. German Politics and Society, 24(2), 44–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zawilska-Florczuk, M. (2010). Germany’s policy towards immigrants – From integration to naturalisation. Centre for Eastern Studies Commentary, 32, 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y. (2005). Processing and formal instruction in the L2 acquisition of five Chinese grammatical morphemes. In M. Pienemann (Ed.), Cross-linguistic aspects of processability theory (pp. 155–177). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, D., & Slaughter-Defoe, D. T. (2009). Language attitudes and heritage language maintenance among Chinese immigrant families in the USA. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 22(2), 77–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ordu, Ordu, Turkey

    Fatih Bayram

  2. The School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Fatih Bayram & Clare Wright

  3. University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Clare Wright

Authors
  1. Fatih Bayram
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Clare Wright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fatih Bayram .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. OISE/University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Peter Pericles Trifonas

  2. CERES/University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Themistoklis Aravossitas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Bayram, F., Wright, C. (2018). Turkish Heritage Language Acquisition and Maintenance in Germany. In: Trifonas, P., Aravossitas, T. (eds) Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44694-3_49

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation