Spatial contexts of language shift and heritage language retention within a highly diverse population: Sydney, Australia

In immigrant countries like America, Canada and Australia, heritage language retention and language shift (to the language of the receiving society) have long been associated with classical spatial theory, of initial segregation into inner city ethnic enclaves and subsequent intra-urban migration into majority ‘white’ or ‘mainstream’ residential suburbia, respectively. First through third generation spatial dynamics of shift and retention in Sydney are analysed for the ten largest post-1945 labour workforce immigrant streams from Europe and the ten post-1960s mainly skilled immigrant streams from the Middle East and Asia. Quartile and diversity analyses show that the association of intergenerational heritage language retention with spatial concentration and language shift with spatial dispersion has been superceded by a new set of spatial dynamics. Instead, patterns of retention and shift are responding to high levels of population diversity and minority majority suburbs where culturally hegemonic mainstream and minority cultural groups are intermixed across 80 per cent of Sydney's suburbs.