Clarkston Linguistic Affections and Cosmopolitan Orientations: A Study of Migrant Language Attachments in a Densely Multilingual Ecology

Clarkston, Georgia, is frequently described as one of the most linguistically diverse square miles in the United States. This article analyzes interview data from thirty-six refugee and migrant residents to examine how they speak about the languages they “love the most.” These interviews form part of a larger sociolinguistic survey of the Clarkston area, in which the research team encountered 663 people (Lukkarila 2025). Drawing on recent scholarship on cosmopolitanism, diasporic literacy, and religious multilingualism, the analysis groups the loved-language responses into three orientations, reports descriptive counts alongside respondents’ education, religious affiliation, and length of residence in the United States, and integrates qualitative excerpts that display how language affection participates in affective cosmopolitanism, diasporic literacy and access, and intergenerational language imaginaries within Clarkston’s densely multilingual ecology.