"The Senegalese Diaspora in Rome: Romanesco and other Nonstandard Varieties in the Face of Standard Language Ideologies."

Even though the use of regional varieties is steadily declining in Italy, they are still present in linguistic repertoires, and attitudes about them are still central to how many Italians think about themselves. This is the complicated context that migrants encounter when they arrive in Italy. Through an ethnographic, sociolinguistic case study conducted during a three-month period in 2010, this chapter sheds light on how Senegalese migrants in Rome navigate the societal language ideologies of their new home (e.g., Italian societal discourses about standard language and nonstandard varieties) and the language attitudes they bring with them (e.g., complex ideas about language developed through socialization, schooling, and national discourses in Senegal and other countries). Through reflections on their experiences with standard Italian, informal registers of Italian, Romanesco, and other Italo–Romance dialects, the nine people represented in this chapter demonstrate the ways in which they not only use and discuss language, but also how they position themselves linguistically in their new society.