Family language policy and dialect-Italian dynamics: across the waves of Italo-Australian migrant families

Abstract In this article I adopt a family language policy approach and a diachronic perspective to explore how the dialect-Italian dynamics unfolds differently within different cohorts of Italian migrants due to the hierarchical position of the two heritage languages. I highlight three main issues that emerge across time in the language policies in the home; the relevance of linguistic stratification in the migrants’ repertoires, especially with regard to the interplay between language ideologies, beliefs and practices; the extent to which we can talk of agency of choice vis-à-vis linguistic stratification; and the role of education. The tension between the two languages generally plays out in favour of Italian, in spite of the emotional attachment to dialect that persists across generations. The language policies of Italo-Australian families call attention to the challenges that migrants, and dialect speakers in particular, have to face regarding language maintenance, while the diachronic perspective highlights the dynamic and contextual nature of such policies.