Dialects and linguistic identity of Italian speakers in Bozen

This paper focuses on the variety of Italian spoken in Bozen (South Tyrol, Italy) by Italian L1 speakers. Due to the peculiar multilingual situation of South Tyrol, Italian speakers are concentrated in the big towns of this area (e.g. Bozen), whereas the majority of Tyrolean people speak German or German dialects. Leaving apart the interaction problems between the two speaking groups, this work focuses on Italian community settled in Bozen by emphasizing the composition of their linguistic repertoire, and the differences among the districts of the town, also in terms of linguistic identity.For this purpose, the few data actually at disposal on this linguistic variety will be analyzed, in order to highlight the presence and use of Italo-Romance dialects by Italian speakers. A field work on this variety has never been carried on before, thus all previous statements were based only on aprioristic assumption (i.e. they were not data-driven). Without data of sort, scholars assumed the absence of spoken Romance dialects in the variety of Italian spoken in Bozen, basing on the belief that Italian speakers were not originally settled in this town.Arguing against those previous assumptions, this paper will show how dialects constitute a central part of Italian linguistic identity in the multilingual setting of South Tyrol, as it emerges from a collection of expressions collected in the so-called “Slang of Bozen”, and from speakers’ linguistic perceptions recorded during face-to-face interviews. The results of this study point out that a large number of dialects are used inside the family, and sometimes also for informal communication, whereas some words and expressions are more largely used as part of a we-code characteristic of the Italians of Bozen

“Zeta” di frontiera: confronto tra giovani bolzanini italofoni e germanofoni

Dans le contexte sociolinguistique particulier du Tyrol septentrional, l’acquisition et l’enseignement d’une langue différente de la L1 sont liés à divers facteurs: l’autre langue (allemande ou italien) est apprise comme L2 dès l’entrée à l’école, mais pour beaucoup d’élèves, elle est une sorte de LS, puisqu’il y a peu d’occasions de contact avec l’autre groupe linguistique, et encore moins de possibilités d’employer réellement la variété apprise. Le groupe linguistique italien s’en plaint régulièrement, puisque la variété standard de l’allemand apprise à l’école n’est pas celle employée par les locuteurs d’allemand en Tyrol septentrional, qui parlent diverses variétés/dialectes du bavarois du sud. Ce répertoire linguistique se complique encore par les dynamiques complexes entre langues majoritaires et minoritaires. La variation sociolinguistique est très intéressante quand on observe quelque petit trait comme par exemple la variation dans la production d’un seul phonème par le même locuteur ou entre groupes de locuteurs. Dans cette étude, la micro-variation dans la réalisation des affriquées dentales de l’italien /ts dz/ sera envisagée par rapport aux variables sociolinguistiques telles que l’âge ou le sexe. Qui plus est, cette variation chez les locuteurs de l’italien L1 se trouve en parallèle avec les locuteurs de l’allemand, ainsi ouvrant le débat sur le rôle non seulement de l’enseignement mais aussi du contact lorsqu’on travaille sur un trait phonétique spécifique de la langue cible.In the particular sociolinguistic context of South Tyrol, acquiring and teaching a language different from the L1 are linked to different factors: the other language (i.e., German or Italian) is taught as L2 since the beginning of school, but, on the other hand, for many pupils this “other” language becomes a sort of LS, since there are very few occasions of contact with the other linguistic group, and even fewer possibilities to actually use the variety learned. This is a typical complaint within the Italian linguistic group, since the standard variety of German learned in school is not the one used by the German speakers of South Tyrol, who speak different varieties/dialects of Southern Bavarian. This linguistic repertoire is also complicated by the not-so-easy dynamics between majority and minority languages. The sociolinguistic variation is even more interesting when observing some little aspects of linguistic production, as e.g. the variation in the production of a single phone by the same speaker or between groups of speakers. In this study, the micro-variation in the realization of Italian dental affricates /ts dz/ will thus be considered with respect to sociolinguistic variables such as speaker’s age or sex. More interestingly, this variation among Italian L1 speakers will establish a parallel with German speakers, thus questioning the role not only of teaching but also of contact when developing some peculiar phonetic features of the target language.Nel peculiare contesto sociolinguistico offerto dall’Alto Adige/Südtirol, l’apprendimento della lingua “altra” rispetto alla propria L1 si trova a dover fare i conti con due fattori: da un lato l’altra lingua (tedesco o italiano) viene insegnata come L2 fin dalle elementari, dall’altro per molti alunni questa lingua “altra” rischia di diventare una vera e propria LS, date le scarse occasioni non solo di contatto con l’altro gruppo linguistico quanto di uso della varietà di lingua appresa. Ciò è particolarmente avvertito dalla comunità italofona, dal momento che l’insegnamento del tedesco standard (Hochdeutsch) impartito nelle scuole italiane si scontra con l’effettivo uso da parte della comunità linguistica germanofona di varietà di tedesco ascrivibili al bavarese meridionale. Il complesso repertorio linguistico risulta inoltre complicata dalle dinamiche di maggioranza-minoranza linguistica. La situazione sociolinguistica diventa però più interessante qualora si vada a osservare anche micro-aspetti della produzione linguistica, quale appunto può essere considerata la variazione all’interno dello stesso parlante e tra parlanti diversi nella pronuncia di un singolo fono. In questo studio si intende pertanto proporre proprio una analisi di micro-variazione sulla pronuncia delle affricate dentali italiane /ts dz/, due fonemi sulla cui realizzazione non incide tanto l’idea di una “norma” non pienamente specificata quanto aspetti sociolinguistici diversi legati, ad esempio, all’età e al genere del parlante, nonché alle sue origini. Cosa ancora più interessante, questa stessa variazione trova un parallelo interessante anche nelle produzioni dei germanofoni, offrendosi dunque come implicita riflessione sul ruolo svolto non solo dalla scuola ma anche dal contatto linguistico nello sviluppo di alcune peculiarità fonetiche nella L2

Gesti delle mani e analisi linguistica: prospettive per gli studi in L1 e LS

oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/1666The work presents an overview of the studies concerning speech and gestures, by focusing in particular on hand gestures and linguistic acquisition in first and foreigner languages. After a discussion on hand gestures classification, several studies will be explored in order to highlight the main research topics, to discuss open problems and to trace possible further paths in the analysis of multimodal communication

L’uso della lingua del Paese d’origine a scuola e in famiglia a Cervia

Dans cette contribution on présente les résultats d’une enquête menée par questionnaire sur les répertoires linguistiques des jeunes d’origine immigrée dans les écoles primaires et secondaires de la commune de Cervia (RA). L’étude devait préciser quelles langues sont utilisées en fonction des différents contextes et interlocuteurs, en particulier dans le domaine scolaire et familial. Les résultats ont démontré la préférence marquée pour les usages multilingues, où certaines langues, pas forcément celle du pays d’origine, côtoient la langue italienne, qui est toujours dominante. La famille est le contexte qui préserve le plus la langue du pays d’origine des immigrés, même si on assiste à un glissement progressif vers l’italien dans l’échange avec les membres les plus jeunes de la famille (la fratrie).This article presents the results of a survey on the language uses of immigrant children in the primary and secondary schools of Cervia (RA). The questionnaire sought to determine which languages were employed in various contexts and with different speakers, particularly at school and in the family. Results showed a marked preference for multilingual use, with the target languages (not necessarily the language of the country of origin), being used, even in school, along with Italian, which is in all cases dominant. The family is the context that best preserves the language of the immigrants’ home countries, even though there is a shift towards Italian when talking with the younger members of the family (siblings)

Inter-speaker accommodation and within-dialect variability. Dental affricates and fricative realisation in Marchigiano

This study examines the acoustic properties of interactions among speakers of Le Marche’s regional variety of Italian. The target population are Italian speakers of two provinces of Le Marche region, Ancona and Macerata, aged 22-26. In particular, this study investigates how social and linguistic variables such as sex and origin influence the speakers’ production of complex (or ‘marked’) sounds like affricates and fricatives during interactions. Data was collected by a background questionnaire, a reading and an interactive task. Results have shown that speakers of different origin tend to accommodate to one another, thus signalling their desire of being included in the interlocutor’s linguistic group, whereas those belonging to the same province tend to mark their own characteristics flagging their membership to the same ‘social’ group. Moreover, following Labov’s theories, women accommodate only towards the variants that are perceived as ‘socially prestigious’, being those of Macerata

LA VARIABILITÀ SOCIOFONETICA DI NEL DIALETTO VARZESE

Il contributo presenta uno studio di una variabile vocalica tipica del dialetto gallo-italico di Varzi (Pavia), prendendo le mosse dalla rappresentazione, nel vocabolario dialettale, di suoni con tre diverse basi romanze per mezzo del grafema <ò>, in alternanza apparentemente libera con <ò> negli gli esiti di /a/ tonico romanzo in sillaba libera. Il lavoro è stato svolto tramite la registrazione di una lista di parole letta da un campione di parlanti e interviste singole semi-strutturate. L'analisi acustica delle liste di parole ha dimostrato che gli esiti romanzi confluiti graficamente in <ò> sono ancora ben distinti nella pronuncia, mentre durante le interviste è emerso che le realizzazioni fonetiche di <ò> e <ò> hanno per i parlanti il carattere esplicito di variabili diatopiche all'interno del paese. Sebbene non sia stato possibile confermare statisticamente questo aspetto, è risultato che la variabile <ò> è prevalente nel sottocampione femminile, come probabile effetto di esagerazione di un tratto linguistico considerato distintivo.   Sociophonetic variability of <ò> in the Varzese dialect This paper presents a study of a vocalic variable in the Gallo-Italic dialect spoken in the town of Varzi (Pavia), represented graphically as <ò>. This grapheme represents sounds with three different Romance developments, and there seems to be a free alternation with the grapheme <ò> in the reflexes of stressed Romance /a/ in open syllables. The survey was carried out by means of field recordings of a word list and semi-informal single interviews. The acoustic analysis of the wordlist shows that all three Romance reflexes subsumed under <ò> have distinct phonetic realizations but does not support the <ò>/<ò> alternation as a diatopic marker, which nonetheless remain in the opinions of the speakers, possibily as a stereotype. However, women in the sample show a preference for the <ò> realization which, in our opinion, is due to an effort of preservation of a typical dialectal trait

Alien Sounds

Klingon, a ConLang created for the Star Trek franchise in 1984 by the linguist Marc Okrand, is the subject of this study, which analyzes both its phonology and lexicon. The requirement to sound 'alien,' at least to English mother-speakers, is the major aspect of Klingon phonology: many sounds in its phonological inventory are thus highly unusual and seldom encountered entirely in other languages. Particularly, we will focus on the voiceless alveolar lateral affricate /tɬ/, transcribed as <tlh> and characterizing Klingon phonology starting with the name of the language itself. The article analyzes the distribution of /tɬ/ in Klingon lexicon, by identifying phonological restrictions and possible pattern of sound change

Style and addressees in the selection of dialectal vs standard phonetic forms: Sicilian rhotics.

This study is about the production of singleton and geminate rhotics by young adult Sicilian speakers, whose native languages are Italian and a Sicilian dialect, during speech interactions with different interlocutors. As in many other languages, /r/ works as a sociolinguistic variable in the Sicilian area, conveying social and geographical information about the speaker. We will show that it also conveys information about the communicative and interactional dynamics with peers speaking either Italian or Sicilian dialects. We propose that in the process of selecting the relevant variants of the /r/ variable, the speakers are guided by the socio-communicative context and the phenomena of mutual convergence between interlocutors