Représentations sociales des langues en milieu pluri-/ multilingue. Une étude menée auprès des Africains subsahariens francophones installés à Naples et à Castel Volturno [Social representations of languages in a pluri- / multilingual environment. A study of French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africans living in Naples and Castel Volturno]

Abstract

This study is devoted to the social representations of the languages spoken among the Francophone Sub-Saharan Africans living in Naples and Castel Volturno (province of Caserta-Italy). The languages analyzed are French, Italian, Neapolitan, and the languages that respondents consider to be their mother tongues. The exclusively qualitative analysis is based on the method of free association and it aims at comparing the semantic components of the representational system(s) of the languages in contact, as well as identifying the factors that are likely to modify the content of the representations. The overlap between the representation of Italian and the mother tongues, which share some descriptive, functional, and emotional elements, creates a potential area for a reorganization of the representational system.

Keywords

• linguistics
• sociolinguistics
• free association
• linguistics representation
• italy
• migration
• multilingualism