Italo-Romance Dialects in the Linguistic Repertoires of Immigrants in Italy (Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities)

This edited book brings together experts on the sociolinguistics of immigration with a focus on the Italo-Romance dialects. Sociolinguistic research on immigrant communities in Italy has widely studied the acquisition and use of Italian as L2 by first-generation immigrants, the maintenance of immigrant languages and code-switching between Italian and the immigrant languages. However, these studies have mostly ignored or neglected to investigate immigrant speakers use of Italo- Romance dialects, their awareness of the sociolinguistic situation of majority and minority languages, and their attitudes towards them. Given the important role of Italo-Romance dialects in everyday communication and as a marker of regional identity, this book aims to fill this gap and understand more about the role that these languages play in the linguistic repertoire of immigrants. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociolinguistics, minority languages, multilingualism, migration, and social anthropology. Francesco Goglia is Associate Professor of Migration and Multilingualism at the University of Exeter, UK. Matthias Wolny is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Culture Studies at Tilburg University, The Netherlands Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 1 The Rationale of the Volume 2 The Italian Linguistic Repertoire and Italo-Romance Dialects 3 Use of Italo-Romance Dialects Today 4 Immigration in Italy and Immigrants’ Linguistic Repertoire 5 Sociolinguistic Research and Italo-Romance Dialects 6 The Contributions to this Volume References 2 Palermo 2000–2020: Sicilian in Old and New Migrations 1 Sicilian and Migrants in Palermo 2 Playing Football in Palermo (30 Years Later) 3 New Migration Patterns, Old and New Models of Analysis 4 New Migrants Between Italian and Sicilian: Research Background and New Questions 5 New Interviews: Results 5.1 Learners Two Years Later 5.2 State of the Interlanguages 5.3 The Perceived Sicilian 5.3.1 Questions 1. Perception of Sicilian as a Complementary, Socially Marked Code 5.3.2 Exposure to Input in Sicilian 5.3.3 Sicilian as We Code vs. They Code 6 Looking Forwards References 3 Neapolitan, Regional and Standard Italian in the Linguistic Repertoire of Ukrainian Private Carers in Naples: Sociolinguistic Competence and Attitudes Towards a Complex Linguistic Context 1 Introduction 2 The Linguistic Repertoire of Naples 3 The L2 Acquisition of IRDs 4 Methodology 4.1 The Informants 4.2 Interviewers and Interviews 5 Results 5.1 Code-Switching in Informants’ Speech 5.2 Standard/Regional Variation in Informants’ Interlanguage 5.3 Perceptions and Value Judgements Towards Neapolitan 6 Discussion and Conclusions References 4 The Linguistic Repertoires of Immigrant School Children in Udine: A Sociolinguistic Study 1 Introduction 2 The Context of the Research 3 The Theoretical and Methodological Frame of Reference 4 Italian, Friulian and Immigrant Languages in the Schools of Udine 5 Some Concluding Remarks References 5 New Speakers of Venetan: The Case of Igbo-Nigerians in Padua 1 Introduction 2 Igbo-Nigerians in Padua 3 Language Use in the Veneto Region 4 Methodology 5 Italian as Preferred Language 6 Use of Venetan in Interactions with Local Italians 7 Use of Venetan in the Work Domain 8 Conclusion References 6 Ghanaian Immigrants and the Twofold Potential of Italo-Romance Dialects 1 Introduction 2 Sociolinguistic Background 2.1 Language Use Patterns in the Home Country 2.2 Language Use Patterns in the Immigrant Setting 3 Methodology 4 Language Contact Outcomes in the Speech of 1.5 Generation Ghanaians 5 The Twofold Potential of Bergamasco 6 Conclusion References 7 Language Attitudes of Cameroonian Immigrants Towards Italian Dialects 1 Introduction 2 Sociolinguistic Profile of Cameroon 3 Cameroonian Immigration in Italy: A Demo-Statistical Background 4 Theoretical and Methodological Framework of the Research 5 Structuring of the Linguistic Repertoire of Cameroonian Immigrants 6 Language Attitudes Of Cameroonian Immigrants: The Use of Italian Dialects 6.1 Conclusion References 8 The Senegalese Diaspora in Rome: Romanesco and Other Nonstandard Varieties in the Face of Standard Language Ideologies 1 Introduction 2 Theoretical Approach 3 Language Use in Rome: Romanesco and Other Nonstandard Varieties in the Face of Standard Language Ideologies 4 Empirical Data 4.1 Naza, 36 Years Old, Five Years in Italy 4.2 Ndour, 36 Years Old, Ten Years in Italy 4.3 Keita, 33 Years Old, Ten Years in Italy 4.4 Anta, 26 Years Old, 5 Years in Italy; Ngoné, 23 Years Old, 2 Years in Italy 4.5 Ablaay, 40 Years Old, 5 Years in Italy 4.6 Kati, 27 Years Old, 6 Months in Italy 4.7 Badu, 32 Years Old, 9 Years in Italy 4.8 Isidore, 33 Years Old, Unknown Amount of Time in Italy 5 Discussion References 9 Immigrants as New Speakers of Italo-Romance Dialects: A Study of Sociolinguistic Representations in the Emilia-Romagna Region 1 Introducing the Research on linguae minores and Immigrants 2 Theoretical Issues of the Study 3 The Research Context and Methodological Aspects 4 Analysis: Migrants and Dialects of Emilia-Romagna and Other Dialects 4.1 Intergenerational Language Transmission and Immigrants 4.2 Proportion of Speakers Within the Total Population: Which Place for Migrants? 4.3 Community Members’ Attitudes Towards Their “Own” Language 5 Conclusive Issues: Immigrants as New Italo-Romance Dialect Speakers? References 10 The Venetian Dialect in the Communicative Repertoires of Moldovan Migrant Caregivers 1 Introduction 2 Migration to Venice and the Moldovan Community 3 Private Caregivers in Italy and the So-Called badanti 4 Language Use in the Veneto Region 5 Methodology and Data Collection 6 Theoretical Background 7 Linguistic Preparation of the Migration to Italy 8 Getting Into Contact with the Venetian Dialect 8.1 Communicative Problems Caused by the Dialect—And Possible Solutions 8.2 Observations Regarding the Dialect and Attitudes Towards the Dialect 8.3 Dialect Use—Venetian in the Speakers’ Toolkits 9 Discussion and Conclusion References Index