Publication details
Palermo 2000–2020 : Sicilian in Old and New Migrations
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | By combining sociolinguistic and second language acquisition tools, the paper explores the status and functions of Sicilian, the local language which coexists with Italian in Sicily, in migration contexts over the last twenty years. In the recent past, Sicilian was seen by migrants as a ‘we code’ shared by foreigners and locals who live in the same spaces within the city. In contrast, in the last years, there is a new form of migration characterised by: young age of the migrants, absence of family networks, inclusion in a reception system with strongly segregating aspects. As a consequence, linguistic contacts are extremely difficult because of the absence of shared places and tongues with both the autochthones and the old migration. Low interaction with the local community also means low exposure to Sicilian. In reception centres, most of the verbal exchanges to which migrants are exposed take place with other migrants. Beyond this circuit of communication there is the Italian of the media, the simplified versions of spoken Italian used by professionals in reception centres and, sometimes, the Italian spoken as emerging L2 by other migrants. Sicilian is not in the input and, thus, it does not emerge in migrants’ speech. Rather than revealing a change in the attitude towards the local languages, the lack of Sicilian in new migrants’ repertoires results from the restricted coordinates in which second language(s) acquisition occurs. |
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