Exeter-Fudan Global Thought Network - Invited Talk - Dr Francesco Goglia (University of Exeter) - Onward migration from Italy to the UK: sociolinguistic implications

Exeter-Fudan Global Thought Network Invited Talk

Onward migration from Italy to the UK: sociolinguistic implications

During the last decade, thanks to the freedom of movement allowed within the European Union, a new migration of third-country nationals has been taking place. After residing for many years in a European country, certain individuals become citizens but then decide to migrate onward to another EU country. This process of onward migration often involves entire families. This talk presents a discussion on the complex linguistic repertoires and language use of language in families that have migrated onward from Italy to the UK: Italian-Indians, Italian-Bangladeshis, Italian-Ghanaians, Italian-Nigerians and Italian-Sri Lankans. A growing literature in Migration Studies and Sociology has investigated the phenomenon of onward migration within the EU. These studies have only touched upon issues of language, in particular the role of English as a pull factor for onward migration. However, no comprehensive studies have looked at this type of migration from a sociolinguistic perspective. The data discussed in this talk is part of a larger project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, which investigates multilingualism, language maintenance and shift, and language attitudes among families that migrated onward from Italy to the UK. The data was collected via interviews and focus groups. In this talk, initial findings are presented.

About the Speaker

Dr Francesco Goglia is a Senior Lecturer in Italian in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Exeter. His research interests are in multilingualism, language maintenance and shift, and language contact in immigrant communities in particular in Italy, UK, East Timor and Australia. His current research, supported by the Leverhulme Trust, focuses on the process of onward migration from Italy to the UK and its sociolinguistic implications.

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For more information about this project, you may visit: https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/research/centres/exeter-fudanglobalthoughtnetwork/