The aim of my current research is to detangle various components which comprise the linguistic identity of a broader migrant group within Germany. In my talk, I will focus on migrant languages from the Ex- Yugoslav region in Germany over three generations. This will include an analysis of interviews and Subjective Vitality Questionnaires of first wave migrants from the 1960ies who are now in their late 70ies/ 80ties and their successor generations as well as later waves of immigrants from the same region. Thematically, these will cover linguistic biographies, their views on their heritage language and their understanding of ‘ordinaries’ - be it in terms of a strict following of set standard rules concerning their heritage language within their German linguistic setting or in the understanding of and attitude towards ‘their’ heritage linguistic community.

There has been a long history of divergence and convergence in Balkan linguistics leading to various sets of linguistic mental maps, which again lead to various ways of language maintenance or loss in the respective communities abroad.

The linguistic biographies of the questioned with today Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian backgrounds unveil a heterogenous web of influences regarding their linguistic realities which must be assessed cautiously without preset boundaries. German South Slavic linguistics has often failed this attempt by focusing on set national boundaries, ignoring ambiguities, thus promoting divergence and biases towards the national languages in question: Cultural affiliation, stigma and hierarchy do play a role within this migrant context – as shown in attitudes towards the languages mirrored by the communities themselves. However, mutually understandable language still serves as one of the most prominent unifying factors abroad: a conclusion which was already drawn previously by the late Michael Clyne regarding other polycentric languages – however in this particular case within an Australian context.