Heritage language transmission among the Romanian immigrants in Italy: the role of parents' attitude and motivation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2238-8281.i50p114-136Keywords:
Heritage language, Attitude, Maintenance, Transmission, LiteracyAbstract
In recent years, research on heritage languages has developed rapidly across subdisciplines (Lanza, 2021). However, less attention has been paid to sociolinguistic approaches and the role that specific extra linguistic factors, such as parental attitude and motivation, play in the maintenance of the heritage language (Mesthrie, 1999). This analysis aims to offer a contribution in this direction by investigating the Romanian community of first-generation immigrants in Italy. Based on a questionnaire conducted on 61 parents of children who attended or did not attend extracurricular courses in Romanian language and culture, this study set out to explore: the linguistic competence of children in Romanian as a heritage and minority language and in Italian as a majority and social language; the use of the two languages in different contexts and with different interlocutors and the attitude of parents towards Romanian, Italian and English as a foreign language formally learned at school. Particular attention was paid to the importance attributed to maintaining and transmitting the knowledge of the written language.
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