Three Generations, Two Languages, One Family: The Case of Turkish in France

According to recent estimates, France is home to approximately 700,000 individuals of Turkish origin, encompassing first-, second-, and third-generation immigrants. Scholars have extensively investigated the language practices, maintenance, and shift, as well as the cultural practices and identity construction, of Turkish migrant families in France, employing both sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic approaches. However, the majority of these studies have examined family members in isolation, focusing separately on young children, adolescents, or parents. The present study aims to investigate language use, choice, and maintenance, as well as identity construction, across three generations of Turkish immigrants in France. Data were collected from two Turkish families, one in the Rouen region and the other in the Paris region: the first family consists of a father, his daughter, and his granddaughter, while the second family includes a mother, her daughter, and her granddaughter. To do this, we used questionnaires and semi-structured interviews tailored to each of the three generations. The data were subsequently analyzed through content analysis. The paper addresses the following interconnected research questions: (i) What intergenerational differences exist within the same family regarding language use and choice, as well as linguistic competence in L1 (Turkish) and L2 (French)? (ii) How do bilinguals’ language choices and usage relate to the construction of family members’ identities? (iii) Is there evidence of language attrition among third-generation immigrants? (iv) Is there evidence of an ongoing language shift toward L2 within Turkish families? The findings indicate robust maintenance of Turkish, even among the third generation. While the first generation predominantly uses Turkish, both the second and third generations identify themselves as bilingual and exhibit positive attitudes toward both languages.