ABSTRACT
While Sydney is one of the linguistically and ethnically most diverse cities in the world, this de facto diversity is not always welcome in public spaces. This chapter presents the findings of a small-scale qualitative study which explored the reasons behind the formation of negative attitudes to the use of languages other than English. The respondents were undergraduate students studying at a major Australian university. While the homogenizing language regimes (‘speak English’) are under increasing pressure from new forms of superdiversity, monolingual ideologies continue to survive and potentially impede Australia’s development as a truly multilingual nation. The findings of this study point to the interconnectedness of monolingual ideologies with acts of othering, racism and xenophobia and draw attention to the need to monitor language attitudes, not just language use, as an important research agenda in contemporary multilingual cities.
