Enérgeia in trasformazione

Abstract

Abstract For a suitable description of the linguistic change in contacts caused by migration it is necessary to systematically consider the four aspects of language as knowledge, activity, product and identity. The focus of this paper is placed on the perception of language as activity, or as enérgeia. It aims to describe the dynamics of enérgeia in migration-caused contacts as well as the main analytical elements and preliminary distinctions concerning linguistic behavior, such as the classification of speakers into generations, the identification of varieties of contact according to their communicative importance (primary, secondary, tertiary varieties) as well as the main choice determinants, the classification of several levels of description of enérgeia (individual, family and community) and the typology of language choices (individual vs. collective, real vs. virtual, oral vs. written use). It could be shown that enérgeia is particularly dynamic and in continuous transformation in migration-caused contacts, where it basically plays the role of the engine of language change.