The Many Language of the Second Generation of Immigrants in Italy

Migration and the ensuing multiculturalism and multilingualism are key factors of social change in our cities. The increasing presence of adolescents and young men of the second generation of immigrants is one of the most revolutionary issues related to the phenomena of migration. Grew up in silence when they were children in the Nineties, now they are asking to be recognized with their ambitions and with the unforeseen changes that they are producing. They ask to be recognized as a generation that is different from the parents’ one, which has proper specificities. The new perspectives, expressed with new languages and codes, need to be listened, to develop an innovative starting point to understand the present and to try to figure out the future evolutions. The article aims to analyze the many languages, strategies and codes that the immigrants of second generation in Italy use to express their ideas, to build a common identity and to strengthen their positions. In particular, the following phenomena will be analyzed: the youth associations and the public initiatives promoted by them; the “second-generation” writers; the singers, especially rappers.