Lenguas en situación de contactoUna mirada transescalar a los usos lingüísticos de los inmigrantes filipinos de mesina

Abstract

This doctoral thesis, –focused on the topic of languages in migratory contexts–, faces a unique set of challenges in the field of public policies related to the host country language learning by immigrants and their sons and daughters residing in it. Starting from an ethnographic study, the research aims at understanding the conditions of sociolinguistic integration of the Philippine community of Messina and the identity building processes of a group of adolescents belonging to the same community. The objective is to clarify whether and how the host language and the native language affect the expected integration of adult migrants, as well as the school integration and the sense of belonging and identity of young generations. A critical analysis has been carried out about legislative measures and institutional initiatives concerning language questions, together with a number of interactions with persons affected by these measures. The results, achieved from the perspectives of the same actors and the author’s considerations, appear under the form of a compendium of publications including three scientific articles and two book chapters, published by different journals and editorials. The order, in which the compiled texts are, makes it possible to identify and better understand the linguistic concerns of the Filipinos involved in this research. At the same time, it provides insights into their sons and daughters transition process to adulthood, in relation to their living between two or more languages, in a context that overtakes and problematizes language and family culture, both considered as obstacles to the national language learning and impediments to social and school inclusion. From a critical perspective, this set of texts identifies and reveals the daily strategies developed by a group of women and a group of teenagers describing their habits, expressing their anxieties and reflecting, –through their own experience–, the assimilationist current ideas of integration and identification. What has emerged leads to a better understanding of the linguistics needs of the persons belonging to, or descendants from, these migratory flows. At the same time, it offers points for reflections to encourage the political and institutional world (including schools) to give concrete answers to issues requiring urgent efforts and a constructive dialogue with the world of sociological–anthropological research.conditions of sociolinguistic integration of the Philippine community of Messina and the identity building processes of a group of adolescents belonging to the same community. The objective is to clarify whether and how the host language and the native language affect the expected integration of adult migrants, as well as the school integration and the sense of belonging and identity of young generations. A critical analysis has been carried out about legislative measures and institutional initiatives concerning language questions, together with a number of interactions with persons affected by these measures. The results, achieved from the perspectives of the same actors and the author’s considerations, appear under the form of a compendium of publications including three scientific articles and two book chapters, published by different journals and editorials. The order, in which the compiled texts are, makes it possible to identify and better understand the linguistic concerns of the Filipinos involved in this research. At the same time, it provides insights into their sons and daughters transition process to adulthood, in relation to their living between two or more languages, in a context that overtakes and problematizes language and family culture, both considered as obstacles to the national language learning and impediments to social and school inclusion. From a critical perspective, this set of texts identifies and reveals the daily strategies developed by a group of women and a group of teenagers describing their habits, expressing their anxieties and reflecting, –through their own experience–, the assimilationist current ideas of integration and identification. What has emerged leads to a better understanding of the linguistics needs of the persons belonging to, or descendants from, these migratory flows. At the same time, it offers points for reflections to encourage the political and institutional world (including schools) to give concrete answers to issues requiring urgent efforts and a constructive dialogue with the world of sociological–anthropological research.