Chinese maintenance and shift among Chinese migrant youth in Prato (Italy) and its connectedness with new formations of Chinese identity

Abstract In view of theory sustaining that there is a nexus between linguistic repertoire, language and social identity, and that habitual language choice is not haphazard, this study explores the habitual use of Chinese – hence Chinese language maintenance (CHLM) – among multilingual Chinese migrant youth in Prato (Italy) to understand the social meaning embedded in it. The youth are multilingual; they speak Chinese and Italian. They exhibit CHLM with parents, as parents are not competent speakers of Italian. Some of the youth who are speakers of Italian, speak Chinese with peers, hence exhibiting CHLM within their generational cohort; while others do not, hence exhibiting Chinese language shift (CHLS). Oral data in which the youth self-present, report on others with whom they share social space, and talk about CHLM indicate that youth who speak Chinese with peers are not integrated into mainstream society; conversely, youth who are integrated shift to speaking Italian with peers. The analysis evidences that the youth’s integration is influenced by their social identity formation and other variables; such as their migration history, Chinese demographics in Prato and language ideology. Further, this study reveals that the youth are characterised by heterogeneity and that it is hierarchically ordered, heterogeneity and hierarchical ordering being indexed by the youth’s CHLM/CHLS and their alignment/disalignment with others that feature in their social space. This finding evidences that different enactments of Chinese identity are developing among Chinese migrant youth in Prato, thus de-essentialising Chinese identity. This study is wide reaching since it contributes to research on CHLM, the social identity formation of Chinese migrant youth populations, as well as new forms of Chinese identity emerging outside of the PRC. Data was analysed using the talk-in-interaction method of narrative analysis that studies oral narratives in which tellers seek to make sense of their human experience.