La vitalità delle lingue immigrate: un'indagine a campione tra minori stranieri a Bergamo

This article presents an analysis of data collected from children of immigrant families living in Bergamo (Northern Italy): Oral interviews based on a questionnaire were conducted with more than 120 children/adolescents attending primary and secondary schools (scuola primaria e secondaria di primo grado) and aged 6 to 18. The data presented here deals with language maintenance issues in immigrant communities: The degree of linguistic diversity is assessed; besides that, self-reported language use in family and friendship domains is discussed. According to self-reported language use, the Arabic group is characterized by a greater use of the first language rather than the Spanish-speaking group, between children and mothers and among friends. This is probably due to 1) the low competence degree in Italian as an L2 among Arabic women; 2) the core value assigned to Arabic by the Arabic community: Arabic has a significance as a sacred language and is a unifying bond among Arabs from different countries.