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This paper reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study of the language socialisation of a group of Moroccan adolescents who migrated to Italy in the late 1990s. The approach is based on the notion of language socialisation, which sees the process of acquiring a language as linked to that of becoming a member of a culture. The participants live in small towns in a semi-rural area in Northern Italy and were closely observed during their initial contact with Italian Ethnographic observations continued in the following years, and were conducted both in the homes and in school programmes. Five years later, in-depth interviews were carried out on a range of issues dealing with ethnolinguistic identity, and language knowledge and use in a variety of domains and intercultural relationships. Written materials were also collected on personal experiences and attitudes towards Italy and Morocco. These data, taken together, show how socialisation into the new culture is producing a very rapid shift in language use and associated attitudes towards the different languages in the repertoire, i.e. Italian, Moroccan and Standard Arabic, and other European languages. Patterns of language use, linguistic ideologies and ethnolinguistic identity of this multilingual community are discussed in relation to educational policies.
