Immigration and Language

Abstract

A narrative traffic jam emerges in the current public debate when it involves immigration and language. On the one hand, a one‐way narrative could create exclusion, labeling, disinformation; on the other, a contamination of the mother tongue could be a precious tool for intercultural dialogue. Immigration sits within economic, social, cultural, political, and technological fields whose effects – positive or negative – have global relevance, starting from language. It is a multidimensional process, continuously translated and interpreted, that shows the degree of integration that the immigrant holds within the host society; a multidimensional market that exists and resists, admits and excludes. It is also a place of encounter between diversity and hospitality, tradition and innovation; a time of possibilities off‐ and online.