This paper outlines the core contributions that linguistic ethnography (LE) can make to the study of forced migration and integration. LE is an interpretative approach that combines the principles and methods of ethnography with a close analysis of linguistic data to generate insights into the workings of the social world. It thus offers an alternative to empiricist- positivist approaches and the associated quantitative survey methods. The paper starts with an overview of the literature examining the complex interrelationships between language, migration and integration. It then offers a basic outline of LE and discusses some potential areas for research and application. It concludes with specific examples from a two-year LE research project that addressed the impact of multilingualism on forced migrants’ trajectories in Luxembourg
