Language change and persistence within Turkish mosques in Germany – Transnational ties and domestic demands

ABSTRACT

Based on fieldwork done in two German states between 2018 and 2020, this article analyses linguistic changes and persistence within mosques established by Turkish immigrants. So far, few studies have focused directly on language as a key topic, including practical arrangements, preservation strategies and the consequences of both within local mosques. Germany constitutes an interesting example since unlike in the US, France or Britain, German Muslims – in particular the Turkish community­ – are more likely to retain their heritage language in mosques and families. Drawing on assimilation and diaspora theories, research on mosques in Europe and studies on transnationalism and bilingualism, the empirical analysis discusses whether mosques are custodians of heritage language and whether generational change leads to a shift from the heritage to host country's language usage within these institutions. Rather than being on a unidirectional pathway towards language assimilation, the investigation reveals complex and multi-layered negotiations between host country and heritage languages in relation to generational and organisational changes within these religious institutions. Hence, politicians and policymakers would be well-advised to take bilingualism and linguistic diversity more seriously, ensuring sustained communication with and appreciation for future generations of German Muslims, rather than insisting on monolingual assimilation.

KEYWORDS:

• Turkish mosques
• language assimilation
• diaspora
• transnationalism‌
• Islam in Germany

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Irfan Ahmad, Masooda Bano, Luisa Enria, Matthias Koenig, and Steven Vertovec and the two anonymous reviewers for their support and detailed comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Non-Turkish Muslims, which are numerically weaker and more decentralized, are associated with faster language assimilation (Kuppinger 2014).

2 Notably, these figures are from before the so-called “refugee crisis.” From 2015 onwards, Germany has witnessed an influx of more than 1.5 million predominately Muslim asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan, which put more pressure on established mosques to include the newcomers.

3 The development of Islamic religious education in schools within Germany’s federal system is complicated with several independent and state-supported institutions, promoting Islamic literacy beyond universities. Germany’s first and only full time Islamic school was founded in Berlin in 1989. Berlin’s city council also introduced German Islam education in schools in the late 1990s (Niehaus 2010; Spielhaus 2014).

4 Scholars on transnationalism convincingly showed how migrant loyalties to host nations compete with allegiances to heritage culture, language, religions or even foreign states (Rosenow 2013). Despite evidence that bilingual identities and transnational networks can have a positive influence on integration and wellbeing, host countries regularly aim to domesticate and nationalise migrant, especially Muslim, communities (Laurence 2011). Although these migrant institutions adapt to host country expectations to increase public legitimacy, they rarely cut ties to the country of origin (Rosenow 2014).

5 For more background on the Islamic theology degree in Turkey and training of diaspora imams, see Bruce (2020).

Additional information

Funding

The research leading to these results has received funding from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity as well as the European Research Council (ERC) Start-up Grant: European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement no. [337108].