THE EXILE OF LANGUAGE. IDENTITIES AND IMMIGRATION

The paper analyzes the relationship between language and identities in immigration. It offers a theoretical framework that positively reinterprets the immigrants difficulties in acquiring the new language, suggesting that they act as mechanisms that ensure the maintenance of identity. The author suggests that an "implicit contract" exists between immigrants and natives, according to which natives will remain strangers forever, allowing the native to keep the special rights derived from his earlier belonging to the country, and the immigrant to soften the threat that a native proficiency would represent for his previous identity. Finally, the concept of "imagined proficiency" is discussed, as a linguistic reflection of the negotiation between national sub-identities.