La migrazione veneta nel Biellese: mantenimento e perdita della lingua d’origine

This paper presents the first results of a project dedicated to the maintenance or loss of the language of origin among migrants in the Alpine area of Biella (Piedmont, Italy). The data of this preliminary study are based on the analysis of ethnographic interviews with 6 Venetian speakers, aged btw. 67-74 years old, who migrated with their families in Biella in the 1950s. The interviews highlight how the subjects’ cultural identity as Venetians has been maintained, but their language of origin is completely (and often unconsciously) lost, even though a positive attitude is still associated with it, as it represents a we-code linked to childhood and the family. This loss differs from other known cases of Venetian migration (e.g., in Australia) and could be linked to the differences btw. external and internal migration.