ELF and mixed linguistic varieties in the Sicilian Context of Immigration

Abstract

This study emerges from recent research within the context of a new Sicily, where the various ethnic groups living there have become ELF users, who appropriate the English language according to their own different native linguabackground. This phenomenon places Sicily in a complex position with regard to the creation of ElL speakers. Specific case-studies will support this paper in testifying to the growth of an ELF mode as a relexfied, hybridised and cannibalised language, which is adapted to the immigrants' linguistic necessities.