Sign Language Brokering and Heritage Language Maintenance Among Hearing Children of Deaf Migrant Parents

Where children have proficiency in the dominant societal language, but parents do not, children may act as linguistic mediators for their parents. In migration contexts, this practice is known as child language brokering. In the context of Deaf-hearing families, sign language brokering is a common practice for children of Deaf adults (Codas). While these topics have received significant separate attention, little is known about the brokering experiences of children of migrant Deaf adults (Comdas). To fill this gap and explore the language brokering experiences of Comdas, this study addresses two research questions: (1) What language brokering experiences do hearing Comdas have?; and (2) How do these experiences intersect with heritage language maintenance? Data was collected through open-ended semi-structured interviews with 10 Comdas based in the U.S. and Germany. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) guided by the research questions.

It was found that sign language brokering occurs frequently both inside and outside of the home and that these brokering experiences intersect with the heritage language maintenance of Comdas. Inside the family, brokering was emotionally charged and brought about conflicting feelings of pride and burden. Outside of the home, brokering in low-stakes contexts was enjoyable, and grew Comdas’ multilingual repertoires and overall skill set. Brokering in high-stakes contexts, however, resulted in feelings of pressure, and that brokering was no longer an enjoyable task. Positive experiences of brokering in the family, and in institutional low-stakes contexts helped to promote heritage language maintenance. Comdas overcame audism through resilience and possessing a multilingual mindset.

The study has implications for understanding the languaging skills Comdas develop and how migrant Deaf-hearing families can be better supported. It will also form the basis for a sociolinguistic ethnography-based PhD thesis further exploring the intersection of Comdas’ sign language brokering and heritage language maintenance experiences.