Language Attitudes, Cultural Identity, and Minority-Language Maintenance in Multilingual Contexts: A Systematic Thematic Review

Abstract

Language attitudes and cultural identity are often discussed together in research on multilingual communities, but the relationship between them is not always explained clearly. Many studies focus on one part of the issue, such as language maintenance, identity, policy, or digital communication, while fewer bring these dimensions together in a more connected way. This review was carried out to examine how recent research has approached that relationship. It covers studies published between 2018 and 2025 and retrieved from Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science by following PRISMA procedures. Fifteen peer-reviewed studies were included in the final sample. Across the studies, three issues appeared repeatedly: intergenerational language transmission, language policy, and the growing role of digital media. The evidence suggests that language attitudes matter in ways that are not always easy to see. Sometimes their effects appear in obvious forms, such as language choice or institutional support. Sometimes they work more quietly through prestige, social pressure, and speakers' own evaluations of language. Read in this way, language attitudes are better understood as part of the wider social and cultural conditions of multilingual life rather than as a separate individual factor. The review also shows that positive attitudes alone do not guarantee language maintenance. Their effects depend on whether they are supported by family practice, community use, and institutional space. Overall, the studies point to a need for research that follows change over time, compares contexts carefully, and pays closer attention to how language, identity, and inequality interact in multilingual communities.