Sociolinguistic features of internal migrations in an Alpine valley: the CoLIMBi project

The paper presents the first results of the Corpus of Language, Identity and Mul- tilingualism in Biellese area (CoLIMBi) dedicated to sociolinguistic features of internal and external migrations in the Alpine valley of Biella (Piedmont, Italy). In particular, the paper explores the narrative and phonetic variability in the production of Venetian and Sardinian immigrants. The results show a loss of the original Venetian language, whe- reas Sardinian is preserved for within-family communication. Furthermore, a certain variability in vowel realizations between different Sardinian varieties is also preserved in migrants. These results are discussed in light of the nature of the migrations of Sar- dinian speakers in Biella as opposed to Venetian ones: the firsts have built a community of practice in the new area, thus reinforcing the maintenance of a Sardinian identity. Conversely, the lack of a Venetian community in the new valley has led to the almost complete loss of those traits linked to their language and culture of origin.