8 - A Tangled Tale

Summary

Chapter 8 concludes the book with a recapitulation of how the serial narrative ethnographic method sheds light on theories of language shift and cultural adaptation in general; a consideration of some alternative lenses through which to conceptualize the heritage language repertoire; and a dialectical, dialogical, and ecological take on language shift. It ends with projections regarding the trajectory of the heritage language repertoire; a call for shifts from a focus on discrete heritage languages to heritage linguistic repertoires and from static to dynamic views of diaspora with social justice and multilingualism at the core; and a reminder that heritage languages are not static relics but living narratives that evolve in response to tradition, adaptation, and the interplay between the past and the future.