Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the representations held by Francophone migrants about the French language and the Francophone space as they are circulated in Lyon, the site of my fieldwork, as a paradigmatic case of ever increasing cosmopolitan societies.

Paper long abstract:

My analysis is a reflection on the relationship between language and migration, in that it understands the former as a communication tool, but also and most importantly, as cultural difference, a vision of the world and a negotiation of values. As international circulations have transformed today's migrant into a hybrid category defying earlier understandings of the phenomenon, sociological research is now faced with the quandary of paradigm shifts that have moved the debate from issues of integration to those of interaction, while relationships have become increasingly more cosmopolitan and complex. In this light, I intend to bring to the fore the linguistic dimension of the francophone migrant interlocutors in France, whose literacy, different cultural affiliations and metaphors are ontologically inherent to their migratory journey, as well as being negotiated across and beyond language. Ultimately, I analyse the medium by which all that constitutes the migrants' experiences is put into words, transformed, revived or hidden, in order to shed light on wider transformative processes encompassing minority groups and societies the world over.