Publication details
Multilinguismo digitale in giovani migranti sub-sahariani
| Title in English | Digital multilingualism in young sub-Saharan migrants |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | We present the preliminary results of a study on the multilingual digital writings of ten young migrants who have arrived in Italy in recent years. In particular, the work will consider the use of Facebook both by young people with low and very low schooling (whose digital writing practices have been recently studied by D'Agostino and Mocciaro 2021) and by young people with high schooling. Multilingualism is often seen only in the dimension of orality, while it is also interesting to observe what happens on the writing side when several languages coexist in space and texts. The questions concern not only which languages but also which types of texts are produced and used are involved in this process. The question becomes even more interesting when the examination concerns the behaviour of subjects who experience very different linguistic spaces and are confronted with multiple communication networks. Digital practices are certainly the place where it is possible to observe these new realities of multilingualism and multi-graphism. In this context, particular attention should be paid to digital practices involving young migrants who have recently arrived in Europe from various sub-Saharan African countries. As is well known, this area is characterised by complex forms of multilingualism, in which traditional notions such as 'mother tongue' or 'first language' lose their meaning and consistency (Busch 2017; Lüpke and Storch 2013). The multilingual youth in question are prototypical representatives of the so-called connected migrants (Diminescu 2008), precisely because of the centrality that digital communication practices play in the migration experience. Research on forms of digital communication, including through Facebook, has developed enormously in recent decades. Crucial references on this topic are the studies on networked multilingualism (Androutsopoulos 2015) and on the digital writings of young African migrants (Deumert 2016, 2017; Deumert and Lexander 2013; Lüpke 2015). Through the digital practices in which they are involved, young connected migrants live simultaneously in Africa, Italy, in the European countries they wish to reach (e.g. Germany or France). In this way, the background of their migratory choice - including the linguistic choices made on social media - is not the here and now in which digital communication takes place, but includes a variety of social spaces, both in the context of departure and arrival. Facebook profiles (often opened upon arrival in Europe after having closed previous ones to prevent access to information concerning the migration journey) will be examined at different moments: upon arrival, after a few months, today. The work will examine the following aspects: which languages and writing systems are prioritised by multilingual young people in their digital communication practices (e.g. widely used languages with a Latin alphabet, languages with a Latin alphabet, etc.). which languages and writing systems are prioritised by multilingual young people in their digital communication practices (e.g. widely used languages with Latin and/or Arabic alphabet and/or local languages); how these languages are intertwined in the utterances produced by young migrants (multilingual utterances); what role does multilingual input on Facebook play in acquisition processes (linguistic and/or literacy) (considering that Facebook may constitute, even for long periods, one of the rare contexts of naturalistic exposure to the new languages of migration). |