Transmission d’une langue minoritaire: les pratiques langagières des jeunes de la troisième génération en Suisse

This article deals with the transmission of migrants’ language of origin, both as a repertory and an identity marker. The text is based on a study of grandchildren of immigrants of Italian and Spanish origin, the two groups whose settlement in Switzerland is old enough to have a grown-up third generation. It describes language usages of those potentially bilingual teenagers and the sense that such bilingual practices have in their urban environment. The study identifies also the factors influencing such practices, especially the investment of grandparents in the transmission.