This paper aims to illuminate the role of sub-state languages in the integration process of migrants in two sub-state regions: Wales in the UK and the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain. We investigate how language and the idea of 'belongingess' based on language learning and knowledge are constructed in the integration policies in these two officially bilingual regions. We analyse policy documents on the topic of integration of migrants in the respective state and sub-state regions, as well as exploring how the role of language is in turn understood, accepted or contested by migrants. Using ethnographically oriented methods of enquiry such as observations of linguistic practices as well as semi-structured interviews with migrant learners of Welsh and Basque, this analysis seeks to contribute to the growing field of LPP as a multifaceted area of study, and in this case, position migrants as agents in policy-making processes. We find that despite distinctive and ambiguous roles ascribed to the respective official languages of each region, migrant new speakers ascribe certain values and roles to each language, which are not necessarily acknowledged or envisaged as such in integration policies. We propose that taking the voice of migrant new speakers learners into account would improve language and integration policymaking in these two sub-state regions and help to redefine the role of language resources in national 'belongingess' according to the needs of the stakeholders involved.

Language issues related to identity negotiation in minoritised language contexts, including those related to the category of “new speakers”, have often been studied in relation to local language dichotomies and national populations. This paper will examine identity construction among migrant learners of Basque from outside of Spain, looking at migrants as a diverse population and as a particular group of new speakers of Basque. By analysing the ways in which migrant learners position themselves as (not) belonging to “Basqueness” as a group identity, it points to the underlying language ideologies that guide language and identity categories, such as native Basque speakers or new speakers, within the essentialising and non-essentialising ideological influences. It will aim to answer how migrants employ identity categories or contest their use in discourse and establish the extent of the relation between perceived linguistic competence in Basque, the use of Basque by migrants and the ideologies of authenticity, legitimacy and ownership. The methodology applied is ethnographically oriented and linguistic data analysis is performed through a thematic discourse analysis.