Ciao, professoressa! A Study of Forms of Address in Italian and Its Implications for the Language Classroom

Abstract

Every language variety conveys information about cultural and social aspects of its speech community. Some varieties structurally encode this information, whereas others m'ay convey it through nonlinguistic means. Italian falls into the former category with respect to forms of address: the speaker is constrained to choose between Lei (formal 'you') and tu (informal 'you') by the structure of the language. Without reference to either formal Lei or informal tu it is difficult, for example, to request attention: Scusi (formal) vs. Scusa (informal). Whenever speakers of Italian wish to address one another, they are immediately confronted with a decision: whether to use formal Lei or informal tu.1 What factors influence the decision to select the appropriate form of address? Pedagogical grammars are notable for their lack of discussion of sociolinguistic features of language use. Children who learn Italian as their first language are not taught explicit rules of usage. The dictionary, I1 Nuovo Zingarelli (1986), defines Lei as appropriate segno di deferenza, cortesia, rispetto, rivolgendosi a persone, sia di sesso maschile, sia femminile, con cui non si & in familiarit, and the use of tu as a sign of familiarit8 e confidenza. A rare example of a native language grammar which does introduce sociolinguistic features of language use is Sabatini (1980) in which he recommends that students listen to the address forms that others use and pay attention to directives from parents and teachers in order to learn correct usage. Native speakers of Italian appear to learn the appropriate use of tu and Lei by using them or by observing their use in various linguistic encounters.