Does speaking or writing Italian make differences?
| Published date | 01 August 2023 |
| Author | Daniela Ghio,Massimiliano Bratti,Simona Bignami |
| Date | 01 August 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13098 |
Int Migr. 2023;61:272–291.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
272
1Canada Excellence Research Chair in
Migration and Integration (CERC), Canada
Excellence Research Chair in Migration and
Integration - Chaire d’Excellence en Recherche
du Canada sur les Migrations et L’Integration,
Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto,
Canada
2University of Milan, Milan, Italy
3University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Correspondence
Daniela Ghio, CERC, Toronto Metropolitan
University, 204, 220 Yonge Street, Toronto,
Ontario M5B 2H1, Canada.
Email: daniela.ghio@torontomu.ca
Abstract
Although researchers acknowledge the key role of language
in immigrant integration, empirical analyses on how profi-
ciency in Italian differently shape the social outcomes of
immigrants living in Italy are limited. Using the Italian Survey
on Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens, we
model individual demographic and linguistic patterns, setting
apart communication ability from other linguistic skills. Clus-
tering immigrants by mother tongue linguistic group, we
leverage the age at arrival and knowledge of Italian during
childhood to address endogeneity. Findings reveal how
deficiencies in Italian affect integration outcomes of immi-
grants: the magnitude of effects due to poor proficiency
in communication (understanding and speaking) is larger
when compared to more formal linguistic skills (reading and
writing). Women suffer from higher linguistic barriers in the
employment outcomes than men do. Results give empirical
argumentations to support immigrant integration through
the development of language-training programmes in desti-
nation languages tailored on immigrants' demographic and
linguistic profiles.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Does speaking or writing Italian make differences?
Daniela Ghio1 | Massimiliano Bratti2 | Simona Bignami3
DOI: 10.1111/imig.13098
Received: 3 October 2022 Accepted: 14 November 2022
INTRODUCTION
The key role played by linguistic patterns for a successful integration of immigrants in the destination societies has
granted a general consensus of scholars from different disciplines. Social science scholars have pointed the central
role of language (Termote, 2008) in shaping both the adoption of behaviours from the receiving society (Lewis &
Lupyan, 2020; Schwartz et al., 2006), and the transmission of values and beliefs from the country of origin (Alba
et al., 2002), underlining the continuous tension experienced by immigrants for being in-between the destina-
tion and origin identities (Smolicz et al., 2001; Tannenbaum, 2009). Economic literature has mostly examined the
© 2023 International Organization for Migration.
DOES SPEAKING OR WRITING ITALIAN MAKE DIFFERENCES?273
interplays between immigrants' speaking fluency in the destination language, and their labour market outcomes: after
controlling for other human capital characteristics, linguistic skills are associated with a higher probability of being
employed (Chiswick et al., 2001). Authors have also investigated how ethnic networks of immigrants are related to
their linguistic proficiency in the destination language (Chiswick & Miller, 1996; Borjas 1992, 1995, 1998, Bertrand
et al 2000, Busin and Tura, 2019); Chiswick and Miller (2002) have elaborated the exposure-efficiency incentive
framework, further explored by Kulkarni and Hu (2014), while Alba et al. (2002) have highlighted how ethnic settle-
ments help preserving mother tongue across immigrant generations.
Yet, the question of immigrant linguistic adaptation has been mainly investigated related to destination languages
widely spoken at global level. The vast majority of studies have been carried out in English-speaking countries (Alba
& Nee, 1997) and English has been defined as a sort of lingua franca (Austin et al., 2008). These works cover the UK
(Dustmann & Fabbri, 2003; Miranda & Zhu, 2013a, 2013b), the USA (Bleakley & Chin, 2004, 2010; Borjas, 1995),
Australia (Guven & Islam, 2015) and Canada (Piché & Frenette, 2001; Warman et al., 2015). Other empirical analyses
have been looked at immigrants living in German (Dustmann, 1994; Dustmann & van Soest, 2001, 2002; Yao & van
Ours, 2015), and Spanish-speaking countries (Budra & Swedberg, 2012; Di Paolo & Raymond, 2012). As result, we
have limited knowledge about immigrant linguistic integration in countries, whose languages are ubiquitous in the
national contexts, but rarely spoken outside their borders. Furthermore, these empirical works draw almost exclu-
sively on the speaking ability of immigrants (Bleakley & Chin, 2010; Guven & Islam, 2015), paying less attention to the
other linguistic skills, such as understanding, or full literacy, including reading and writing.
Seeking to fill the gaps, we examine the case of immigrants living in Italy. During the past two decades, Italy
has reported a growing share of foreign population, becoming one of the most relevant immigration countries in the
European Union (Bonifazi et al. 2009): at the beginning of 2000, foreign population residing in Italy accounted for
2% of the total population; in 2020, the same proportion reached 8% 1 (Eurostat, 2021). Nevertheless, Italy remains a
recent immigration country when compared to other countries with a long history of colonialism that have achieved
more advanced phases of migration transition (de Haas, 2010; Skeldon, 1997; Wallerstein, 1980; Zelinsky, 1971).
From a linguistic perspective, immigrants have been rarely exposed to Italian before their emigration (Van Tubergen
& Kalmijn, 2009): 98% of immigrants did not know Italian at their arrival in Italy (ISTAT, 2012). A further reason why
Italy is an interesting case study for the purpose of this study is provided by the Italian Law, establishing a mechanism
of formative credit points to acquire proficiency in Italian. Immigrants should demonstrate their ability in communica-
tion (understanding and speaking) and more formal linguistic skills (reading and writing) to be eligible for a long-term
residence permit (DPCM n. 179). For these reasons, the Italian context is particularly appropriate for the assessment
of linguistic patterns investigated by the analysis.
Specifically, we formulate the following research question: to what extent do linguistic deficiencies in Italian
shape immigrant integration in Italy? To address this question, we focus on two main integration dimensions: the
labour dimension, using the employment status as main outcome; and the social dimension, using three indicators
of immigrant linguistic interactions. We rely on 1974 Henripin (1974) to distinguish the private sphere of immigrant
relationships from the public interactions, where the use of the destination language prevails de iure, being applied
by national institutions. Contrarily, the language used in the private sphere, at home or for personal relationships,
represents the language de facto spoken by immigrants in their daily life (Termote, 2008). Henripin (1974) argues
that the adoption of the destination language as the language de facto to interact with relatives and friends, is an
important behavioural change for immigrants attempting to live in the hosting society. This conceptualization moti-
vates the selection of the following indicators related to the adoption of Italian as: (i) the language commonly spoken
at home to interact with relatives; (ii) the language commonly spoken with friends; and (iii) the most likely language
used to talk about private-related relevant topics. The majority (64%) of immigrants living in Italy do not use Italian to
commonly speak with their family members (ISTAT, 2012); yet, preferences vary consistently across linguistic groups:
Italian is the language commonly spoken at home by a small proportion of Moroccan and Chinese communities (20
and 7% respectively), whereas the percentage gets up (58%) among Ukrainians. To assess these linguistic indicators,
we account for individual linguistic and demographic characteristics when immigrants arrived in Italy (e.g. the age at
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