Ir y volver: cruzar las fronteras geográficas y lingüísticas de la lengua española entre América Latina e Italia

Despite the fact that languages have historically evolved through contact with other systems and the incorporation of external elements, 'heterogeneous' linguistic practices are still treated as exceptions (Heller 2007; Gal 2018; Léglise 2021). In the case of Spanish, heterogeneity is an even more relevant factor, due, on the one hand, to the coexistence with other vernacular languages both in America and in Europe, and on the other hand, to the mobile character that this language has acquired in the era of transnational migrations (Lynch 2019; Márquez Reiter/Martín Rojo 2015). This chapter will address issues such as pluricentrism, mobility and transnationalism of Span ish language, taking as a reference the Spanish spoken by Latin American transnational com munities that have lived experiences of migration in Italy, focusing on two central points: 1) the failure and irrelevance of establishing clear-cut boundaries to 'heterogeneous' linguistic practices; 2) speakers' perceptions of geographical and linguistic boundaries and the extent to which these same perceptions can help to develop other sociolinguistic approaches and perspectives.