Italianità in movimento: da emigrati a expat? Semantica di un neologismo

This paper investigates the various representations of the Italian identity in recent Italian migration flows, with many migrants identifying as expats to distinguish themselves from those who preceded them. Based on quantitative online survey in which Italian migrants were asked to define the term 'expat', this paper aims to describe the denotative and connotative meanings that the word 'expat', frequently (and often in a polemic way) used in the Italian press, has in migrants' minds. Through questions about their linguistic habits and migration stories, it also seeks to understand who is considered an expat (and why so), and if and how language skills contribute to the term's definition and, with that, to the identity of the Italian migrants of contemporary migration.