ABSTRACT
The greater prominence of transnationalism in our globalizing world is often seen as undermining the nation-state. If the modern nation-state was premised on the nexus of territory, ethnicity, and language, the growing cross-border flows of people, products, and ideas may imply a challenge to that nexus, as it can be seen as leading to a weakening of essentialist ties between language and national identity. One key topic in the research on language and migration has been the extent to which this idea of the weakening nation-state holds true. On the one hand, scholars have revealed how globalization and the new economy have facilitated the delinking of language and national identity through the promotion of global languages and the commodification of language. On the other hand, studies also pointed out how essentialist ties between language and national identity continue to be invoked as a model in the context of transnationalism, for instance, in constructions of authenticity or language policies that regiment the linguistic resources of transmigrants. These discussions show that the relationship between language, nation-state, and transnationalism is one of great complexity, shaped and mediated by multiple ideologies of language that may sometimes appear contradictory and conflicting. Evolving geopolitical conditions and discourses suggest that research on migration and language needs to pay attention to the complex ways in which such ideologies intersect with the material conditions that shape the understanding of nationhood and the process of transnationalism.
