In-between identities: A sociolinguistic analysis of the community of young Italians living in London

The present paper introduces an original perspective on a sub-community recently formed inside the Italian community of London. The 2008 economic crisis caused a large migratory flow from southern European countries to the United Kingdom that deeply affected London. Thousands of young Italians have chosen London as favoured destination, leading to a repopulation of the community of Italians living in this city. Quite separate from the generation of Italians who migrated in the UK after World War II, the last arrivals show specific sociological characteristics which allow us to classify them in a sub-community, named ‘Community of Young Italians Living in London’ (CYILL) for the purposes of the present paper. Linguistically, CYILL has not yet been explored. The article explains some linguistic features developed by CYILL members and CYILL members’ linguistic attitude and behaviour. For the project, a small group of young Italians agreed to be recorded in a wide range of situations. As a result, a qualitative analysis of spontaneous speech was conducted. Interviews were carried out to explore participants’ ideas and values. The paper focuses on the language mixing phenomena participants realise and the metaphorical meaning attributed to those realisations. Through the analysis of extracts of participants’ conversations, I suggest some reasons for the use of language mixing phenomena, by evaluating the possible metaphorical meaning of these phenomena through the presentation of interviews’ segments.