ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter begins the volume by discussing factors that have made heritage language research increasingly popular in recent years. This includes a discussion of the changing views around immigration/emigration and diaspora communities. This chapter then continues into a discussion of popular trends in heritage language research to date. Following this, we define ‘heritage language’ as used in the current volume, and we argue for the importance of including both Indigenous and immigrant/diaspora languages. We then focus specifically on the role that language policy plays in relation to heritage languages around the world, and to this we connect the goals of the current volume. Finally, we provide an overview of each regional and linguistic context covered within and across the chapters.
