ABSTRACT
While there is a considerable body of literature and growing interest in Spanish as a heritage language in the US, heritage speakers of other contact varieties of Spanish have been given comparatively little attention. This chapter addresses the research gap on the language processes of Spanish-speaking exile communities. It shows that the Chilean diaspora is one group meriting greater linguistic study. Similar to the Spanish-speaking panoramas of Canada and Australia, Chileans represent the most numerous Hispanic minority in Sweden, a nation hosting the third largest population worldwide of emigrant Chileans. The Spanish speakers with whom Chileans in Sweden primarily interact are fellow Chileans, although there are other notable Spanish-speaking groups, including Colombians, Peruvians, Bolivians, and Spaniards. Linguistic research to date in the Chilean-Swedish community has examined different facets of ethnolinguistic identity among Chilean youth as well as the linguistic consequences of Spanish-Swedish contact.
