Language as a Continuity Structure

Research Focus

We explore the concept of language as homeland, arguing that linguistic practices allow displaced individuals to maintain a sense of belonging and continuity beyond physical geography. By integrating migration studies, narrative scholarship, and the Indigenous perspective of Kanyini, we illustrate how stories, voices, and place names carry collective memory across generations. Language functions as a relational ecology, preserving connections to ancestry and heritage even when the original landscape is no longer accessible. We emphasize that heritage languages are not merely tools for communication but are essential for sustaining cultural identity and family cohesion after migration. Our research posits that homeland is a portable, living field of meaning that remains present through the ongoing oral traditions and shared linguistic worlds of global communities.