Maintaining Brazilian Portuguese as a Heritage Language in a Bilingual French - English Environment

This study investigated thirty-six native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese – eighteen husband-and-wife couples –, with children between the ages of 1 and 13 years old, who have arrived in Montreal within the last ten years. The aim of the study was to find out these participants’ attitudes toward the maintenance of their heritage language, Brazilian Portuguese, their reasons for, and the strategies that were used for maintaining Brazilian Portuguese in Montreal, and whether there is a relation between child-raising styles and the maintenance of Brazilian Portuguese as a heritage language. Data were collected via a questionnaire given to each participant individually. Analyses revealed that participants find it important that their children maintain the family language and that they have been successful in maintaining their mother tongue inside their homes. The home is the most important strategy in helping these Brazilian parents’ children to learn Brazilian Portuguese. My research project shows, along with other things, that some of these parents’ disciplinary strategies could contribute to the preservation of their heritage language.