Motherhood in migration: A focus on family language planning

• Sociolinguistic perspective on gender discussions of female migrants' experiences
• Examination of language–identity links in exogamous relationships
• Language maintenance role in migrant women's sense of identity and of motherhood
• Gender ideology to reconsider fathers' role in language transmission

SynopsisOver 50% of the Brazilians abroad are women, a proportion which appears to be even higher if we consider the number of mothers whose children attend Brazilian Portuguese language lessons in complementary schools in London. There are schools in which the majority of the mothers are Brazilian migrants married to fathers of different nationalities, thus the relevance of the role these women play in the maintenance of their language. This article explores how their linguistic and cultural identities are affected upon migration and how their sense of identity impacts on their family language planning. I argue that language seems to be essential to the maintenance of group identity in the case of these Brazilian mothers and that their success in passing their language on to their children affects their sense of motherhood. I highlight however that both mothers and fathers should participate equally in family language planning.