A disavowed community: the case of new Italian migrants in London
-
Giulia Pepe
Abstract
This paper reports on a study of the language ideologies and practices of the post-2008 crisis Italian migrants in London. It explores how the traditional idea of a national migrant community is challenged by these practices. While the Italian post-2008 crisis migration continues a long tradition and has captured the attention of the media, it is understudied from a sociolinguistic point of view. Using a qualitative research approach, two sets of data were collected: recordings of social interactions in spontaneously organised gatherings, and interviews with 15 post-crisis migrants. The data show the multilingual practices of post-2008 migrants and their attitudes towards these practices. Participants recognise translanguaging as the main practice defining the community language. This seems to contrast with the disavowal of their national migrant community. They refuse to engage with traditional community sociocultural practices, challenge their membership of the Italian community in London and, in some cases, even deny the existence of the community by highlighting the internal diversity that characterises this group. Nevertheless, although the participants refuse to be seen as members of a national community, they describe their engagement with translanguaging as a community practice that determines their belonging to a migratory group. The paper argues that, through the practice of translanguaging, migrants negotiate and shape their migratory identities, and reflect on the concept of the community and its dynamics.
Appendix A Interview questions
a) Socio-linguistic profile:
How old are you?
What is your higher level of education?
What was your job before moving to London?
Do you know if you belonged to a specific social class in Italy?
What is your job now?
How long have you been living in London?
Do you speak Italian at work/at university?
Do you speak Italian at home? Do you live with other Italians?
Do you speak Italian when you go out with friends?
What is your level of English? (proficient, quite good, sufficient, low). Justify your answer.
What was your level of English before moving to London?
b) Feelings about Italy:
Do you feel Italian?
Why did you leave Italy?
Would you like to go back to Italy? Do you miss Italy?
Which are your feelings towards Italy? Are you angry, sad, upset, totally indifferent, in love, never thought about it?
c) Community feelings/Migratory status:
Have you ever thought about the “Italian community in London”? Do you feel that you are part of it?
Do you know about the historical Italian neighbourhood in London?
Have you ever attended any event organised by St Peter Church?
Would you identify yourself as “migrant”?
Are there places where you go to find people who are similar to you/have a similar background? Are they Italians living in London?
Do you like to be addressed as “migrant”/as a “cervello in fuga”?
What do you think about social network groups of Italians in London?
Are you registered to AIRE?
d) Transnationalism/the other: British people
Can you think about practices or habits that link you with the British culture?
Do you feel you changed in your way of thinking and changed your habits after the migration?
e) Language attitudes/English as a global language:
Do you feel you must learn English better to be integrated into the British culture?
How does this make you feel?
What does English/speaking English and learning English mean to you?
f) Cultural knowledge/the other: old migrants
What comes to your mind if you think about previous generations of migrants?
Do you know if old migrants used to speak in a particular way?
Do you think you are acquiring the same style?
g) Group style/Development of linguistic innovations:
Do you think you’ve changed your way of talking since you moved here?
Do you know how? Can you highlight some elements of novelty?
Do you think that you use English insertions with a purpose?
Do you think you use English insertions more often when you are among Italians living in London?
Does this style make you feel part of a group?
Do you think there are situations where it is not appropriate to use English insertions in speech in Italian (such as, with people you do not know, or you have just met, or in formal contexts)? Are there rules for the use of English in Italian speech?
Do you feel you are a different “you” when you are among Italians living in London?
h) The other: peers in Italy and older relatives
Do you think that people living in Italy judge your new style?
Have you ever been ridiculed because of the use of English? Have you ever thought you used an English insertion inopportunely?
<.> one second pause
<..> two second pause
<…> longer pause
[overlapping
[contextualisation]
? questioning tone
! exclamation/raising of tone
Normal font: regional popular Italian and English translation of regional popular Italian
Italic: non-standard Italian words (dialectal or mispronounced)
bold italic : English insertions, loanwords and loanshifts
: elongation of sound
** omitted names of people involved and not involved in project or workplaces
+++ unintelligible recording
/IPA/International Phonetic Alphabet transcription
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introducing a Varia section
- Introduction: the changing faces of transnational communities in Britain
- Living with diversity and change: intergenerational differences in language and identity in the Somali community in Britain
- “Pride” and “profit”: a sociolinguistic profile of the Chinese communities in Britain
- “Dobra polska mowa”: monoglot ideology, multilingual reality and Polish organisations in the UK
- The UK’s shifting diasporic landscape: negotiating ethnolinguistic heterogeneity in Greek complementary schools post-2010
- “Talk in Tamil!” – Does Sri Lankan Tamil onward migration from Europe influence Tamil language maintenance in the UK?
- A disavowed community: the case of new Italian migrants in London
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- Varia
- The functions of language mixing in the social networks of Singapore students
- Indigenization in a downgraded continuum: Ideologies behind phonetic variation in Namibian Afrikaans
- Book Review
- Andrea C. Schalley and Susana A. Eisenchlas (eds.): Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development: Social and Affective Factors
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introducing a Varia section
- Introduction: the changing faces of transnational communities in Britain
- Living with diversity and change: intergenerational differences in language and identity in the Somali community in Britain
- “Pride” and “profit”: a sociolinguistic profile of the Chinese communities in Britain
- “Dobra polska mowa”: monoglot ideology, multilingual reality and Polish organisations in the UK
- The UK’s shifting diasporic landscape: negotiating ethnolinguistic heterogeneity in Greek complementary schools post-2010
- “Talk in Tamil!” – Does Sri Lankan Tamil onward migration from Europe influence Tamil language maintenance in the UK?
- A disavowed community: the case of new Italian migrants in London
- Language attitudes and language practices of the Lebanese community in the UK
- Varia
- The functions of language mixing in the social networks of Singapore students
- Indigenization in a downgraded continuum: Ideologies behind phonetic variation in Namibian Afrikaans
- Book Review
- Andrea C. Schalley and Susana A. Eisenchlas (eds.): Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development: Social and Affective Factors
