L'ITALIANO, DA LINGUA ETNICA, A LINGUA STRANIERA A LINGUA FRANCA IN LORENA, UN TERRITORIO A VOCAZIONE MIGRATORIA

Italian, from ethnic language, to foreign language to ‘lingua franca’ in Lorraine, a traditional migratory region. Abstract This thesis investigates the increased interest in learning Italian at primary school level in Lorraine, a region in north-eastern France, whose migration background has contributed to shaping its present social structure marked by a wide cultural and linguistic diversity. The role currently played by Italian in the educational setting in Lorraine, with a focus on its transformation from ethnic language to foreign language, and then to an assumingly new ‘lingua franca’, is analysed by reconstructing the relationship between the historical and socio-demographic patterns of the past Italian migration flows in Lorraine and of the slowly gained status by the Italian language within the French institutions, taking constantly into account the policies adopted by both countries. In the context of students’ already varied multilingual repertoires, the role played by Italian is investigated in terms of its contribution to young people’s need to develop symbolic belonging and identity, and also to social integration. Drawing from the theories of foreign language learning and sociolinguistics, attention is focused on the relationship between linguistic and social facts. The notion of representation observed in the investigated sample with reference to the identity-building role played by the language enables to frame the key research focus, i.e. to identify the reasons behind the choice to learn Italian both by children of Italian origins and by children mainly with an immigrant background in the wake of the recent migration waves, who are experiencing difficulties in integrating into the French society. The research methodology and the selection of instruments used in the field follow an inductive-interpretative approach. The research process is based on data collection followed by detailed and in-depth analysis in a specific context (i.e. three-year active student monitoring in a school located in the suburbs of the city of Metz). The scope of analysis is then gradually extended to take into account the varied geographical and socio-economic situations of the entire region, with the aim of comparing data collected at micro-level with a wider reality. The observation of pupils' behaviours as well as the study of their graphic productions and of the interviews conducted with parents, teachers and school principals, reveal that the reasons behind the choice to learn Italian go far beyond the desire to gain a new linguistic code and are often to be found in the natural identity-building ambitions of young people. This research concludes that Italian has gained the status of a new ‘lingua franca’ providing for freedom of expression and enhancing the personal identity-building process, for the benefit of both children of distant Italian origins – who are thus able to trace back their roots and identify with the positive reputation enjoyed by this language – and of children whose families have recently settled in France mainly from countries under the former colonial empire. The latter, in particular, have come to consider Italian as their adoptive language helping them to improve their social status and to better integrate in their host country.