This paper reports on a linguistic ethnographic study focusing on multilingual German professionals living in Istanbul. Taking a scalar perspective, the paper seeks to address linguistic inequality as reflected in discourse, and how it relates to the constellation of German-Turkish-English in the multilinguals' repertoires.
Although not comparable to Turkish migration to Germany in size or effect, German migration to Turkey has been steadily continuing for decades, enhancing a "culture of migration" between the two countries (Cohen & Sirkeci, 2011). Particularly since the 1990s, however, there has been a sharp increase in the population of German nationals in Turkey. While most of these individuals immigrate for warmer climate and more comfortable living conditions in later ages, particularly in the case of Istanbul, more internationally oriented, multilingual, highly-skilled Germans have started contributing to the increasing internationalization of the city, as well. Unlike in previous generations, these Germans work in international companies or organizations, and feel attachment to an international community in the city while at the same time affiliating with a more educated class of Turks. This new profile also means fluctuating hierarchies of languages in the German-Turkish-English constellation. Away from the normative German-Turkish hierarchical interface, this constellation brings to the fore a reinterpretation of Turkish as a lingua franca in an increasingly cosmopolitan hub like Istanbul, and layered meanings attached to English across translocal and transnational reinterpretations of social class. These changes have inevitable implications for what Turkish and English can promise for multilingual Germans. As part of the linguistic ethnographic project "Contemporary Linguistic Diversity in Istanbul," (Bogaziçi University Project Code 15561SUP, 2019-2021) this paper seeks to address linguistic inequality in the lives of the professional, multilingual German community in Istanbul. Focusing on one of the participating German women and adopting a scalar approach (Blommaert, 2005), the microethnographic data for analysis will draw on audio-recorded everyday interactions and interviews with the participants. Implications for linguistic inequality as much as scalar interpretations of multilingual interactions will be discussed.
