Language In Italy Research Articles

Albanian as a Heritage Language in Italy: A Case Study on Code-Switching within DP

Albanian as a Heritage Language in Italy: A Case Study on Code-Switching within DP

Family Language Policies for Maintaining Arabic as a Home Language in Italy: The AHLI Project

The AHLI Project, focusing on Arabic as a Home Language in Italy, explores family language policies among Arabic-speaking communities. Employing an interdisciplinary approach and a mixed-method design, the research reveals a complex linguistic spectrum. It uncovers the dynamic interplay between language maintenance and shift, the desire to transmit Arabic, attitudes, and family choices. While highlighting the significant presence of Arabic in linguistic repertoires, disparities between practices and beliefs emerge. The findings bear theoretical and practical implications for promoting democratic plurilingual education and guiding language policy actions at both micro and macro levels.

Il paesaggio linguistico plurilingue e la didattica: il caso dell’Alto Adige/Südtirol

Studies on the Linguistic Landscape (LL) have become a particularly prolific object of study and research in the last fifteen years. The most recent research perspective has led to new categorizations for the LL, which not only form the basis for further empirical research, but are also of great use in foreign language teaching (Malinowski/Maxim/Dubreil 2020). Indeed, working with the LL that is also interculturally specific fulfils one of the primary goals of foreign language teaching, as the close relationship between language and culture also promotes intercultural communicative competence. Our paper will examine in particular the great potential of this tool in the context of teaching German as a Foreign Language in Italy, in order to stimulate greater language awareness and linguistic reflection in the processes of learning and teaching German in which learners are involved. By means of the administration of didactic sheets prepared by us, we will consider the possibility of applying to a didactic context data on both the German language and culture, taken from the observation of the LL of Alto Adige/Südtirol and collected on several occasions within a corpus, the LLSÜDTIROL, which will be discussed below.

The Role of the Debates on the Definition of the Italian Oral Language and on the Means of Its Propagation after the Italian State Declaration

The article examines the role of debates on the definition of a national oral language in Italy, where the divergence between the written, literary language and oral dialects has historically been very significant. The decisive contribution to the definition of the oral language, by choosing the Florentine language as the model of the oral Italian language was made by Alessandro Manzoni along with Graziadio Isaiah Ascoli, who suggested that the adoption of the Florentine language would lead to a formal cult of “popular purity” instead of the ideal of “classical purity”, and that the linguistic would be the result of a deeper action with the aim of spreading culture and bridging the gap, separating a small circle of intellectuals from the rest of the population. In conclusion, the author considers that the convergence of written and spoken Italian has led to the fact that, today, the proficiency in written language among Italians is lower than the average in European countries, and Italians still perceive the spoken language as an unnatural language.

75 Years of Foreign Language Policy in Italian Schools: The Role of ANILS

During the Fascist regime, foreign language teaching was prohibited. After the war, one of the main factors – both symbolic and factual – of Italy opening up to the world was the renovated role of foreign languages in the Italian School system. ANILS, the National Association of Foreign Language Teachers, has been active in Italy since 1947, and this article deals with its role in defining the main lines of linguistic policy in the Italian school system for the last 75 years. The authors, both former presidents of the Association, claim that ANILS gave a relevant contribution to moist of the innovative ideas that changed the role and the teaching of foreign languages of Italian as a Second and Foreign Language in Italy.

Vaccine Hesitancy during the Coronavirus Pandemic in South Tyrol, Italy: Linguistic Correlates in a Representative Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background: German is a minority language in Italy and is spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, South Tyrol. Linguistic group membership in South Tyrol is an established determinant of health information-seeking behavior. Because the COVID-19 incidence and vaccination coverage in the second year of the pandemic in Italy was the worst in South Tyrol, we investigated whether linguistic group membership is related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a probability-based sample of 1425 citizens from South Tyrol in March 2021. The questionnaire collected information on socio-demographics, including linguistic group membership, comorbidities, COVID-19-related experiences, conspiracy thinking, well-being, altruism, and likelihood of accepting the national vaccination plan. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the significant predictors of vaccine hesitancy. Results: Overall, 15.6 percent of the sample reported vaccine hesitancy, which was significantly higher among German speakers than among other linguistic groups. Increased hesitancy was mostly observed in young age, the absence of chronic disease, rural residence, a worsened economic situation, mistrust in institutions, and conspiracy thinking. In the multiple logistic regression analyses, linguistic group membership was not an independent predictor of vaccine hesitancy. Conclusion: Although German is a minority language in Italy and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was higher in the German native language group than in the Italian, linguistic group membership was not an independent predictor of hesitancy in the autonomous province. Known predictors of vaccine hesitancy are distributed unevenly across language groups. Whether language group-specific intervention strategies to promote vaccine hesitancy are useful requires further study.

Come siamo diventati populisti: la lingua politica italiana della «terza Repubblica»

Vulgar, dishonest, incompetent: in recent years Italian politicians and their speeches have been described as such by journalists, linguists and political scientists. The turning point seems to date back to the three-year period from 2007 to 2009, when the political landscape in Italy appears to have taken on the most vivid colours of populism. These years saw the emergence of political movements and forces very different from each other, but which had some common characteristics: direct appeal to the people, intolerance for parliamentary representation rules, and a close relationship between supporters and a charismatic leader. In this paper the author wonders whether this representation of political communication reflects real new features or if it is rather the result of some longer processes in the history of Italian politics and its language. To answer this question, the author proposes a synthetic profile of political language in Italy over the last 10–15 years and focuses on its evolution and current trends, using written or transcribed texts and a corpus of parliamentary speeches from the last legislatures.

Realizing Gramsci’s Dream: A Case Study of Vernacular Sundanese Linguistic Contra-Hegemony

The need to promote egalitarianism and reduce the colonial influence in language drives civil society actors and organizations operating within the community to revive their vernacular language, replacing hierarchical standard language exist in their community for a long time. Gramsci’s and Lu Xun’s efforts to promote vernacular language in Italy and China at their times faced failure. Today, in the democratic and digital-dominated society of Indonesia, the same effort has been taken by Aing Tangerang Foundation. This civil organization tries to revive egalitarian Sundanese language against hierarchical Sundanese brought by colonialism. One of their efforts is to popularize the word “Aing”, which means “I” in Sundanese conversation. The word is considered harsh by the majority of Sundanese using hierarchical standards. However, in Tangerang Regency, it is part of their mother tongue. This paper reports on a case study of the vernacular Sundanese linguistic revival campaign taken by the Aing Tangerang Foundation and strategies, drivers, and barriers they faced while promoting their cause. The data is collected through in-depth interviews with three informants: one expert in Sundanese literature, one expert in Sundanese history, and one is the leader of said organization. The research method is qualitative-phenomenological hermeneutics. We use Gramsci's hegemonic theory to analyze and discuss the findings. The results are presented and discussed related to horizontal and vertical strategies; political, organizational, and technological drivers; and historical, psychological, sociological, and sociofacts barriers.

“Most of Them are Honourable”. Luigi Villari and the Armenians during the 1905-1906 Armenian-Tatar War

Luigi Villari’s book Fire and Sword in the Caucasus, published in London in 1906, is widely quoted by scholars working on the history of Transcaucasia, in particular in respect to the Armenian-Tatar war. Yet neither this text nor its author have been so far studied in detail. The Italian Luigi Villari (1876-1959) is a figure of considerable interest; he was a diplomat, traveler, and journalist. His father, Pasquale Villari (1827-1917), was an accomplished historian and politician who played an important role in nineteenth-century Italy; Villari’s mother was the British writer Linda White (1836-1915). It is remarkable that the author wrote a book an English at a time when this was not a popular language in Italy. He wrote extensively both in English and Italian about different topics, mainly related to history and international politics. It has been shown that, after the First World War, Villari joined Fascism and contributed actively to the regime’s propaganda in Great Britain. The present paper examines Luigi Villari’s book on the Caucasus, especially the author’s attitude towards the Armenians. I shall demonstrate that in his work, he handles negative stereotypes of the Armenians (“one of the most unpopular races of the East”), which were common in the Russian empire at the beginning of the twentieth century, in a rather interesting way.

«Pensemus qualiter viri prehonorati a propria diverterunt» (DVE, I, xiv, 5): els textos occitans d’un cercle de poetes toscans

<p>Abstract: This article re-examines a set of Occitan texts written by a circle of Tuscan poets and their importance for understanding the reception of troubadour culture in medieval Tuscany. Often viewed as marginal, these texts have not been adequately analyzed for what<br />they can tell us about the use of Occitan as a literary language in Italy at the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries. Instead of casting them as unoriginal, derivative, or linguistically incorrect attempts at Occitan composition by foreign poets, this article considers their originality, innovation, and the transformations they may have undergone in their transmission history. Arguing that these texts be viewed as invaluable evidence of a vibrant Occitanophone literary culture in Tuscany, I advocate for further inquiry into the multilingual compositions of this circle of Tuscan poets.</p><p><br />Keywords: Dante Alighieri, Occitan Literature in Italy, Occitan Literature in Catalonia, Medieval Multilingualism, Sonnet.</p>

Doing Content and Language Integrated Learning With a Minority Language: A Teacher Development Model

Recent research suggests that minority languages cannot be lastingly revitalised unless related functional literacy skills become an explicit educational goal. Focussing on the Friulian minority language in Italy, this paper discusses the importance of developing literacy skills in the minority language. In line with this, a new teacher development model in CLIL has been conceived and piloted with a small group of teachers of Friulian. The findings of the study suggest that the model was effective in relation to both the development of teaching skills in CLIL and in literacy related issues and, more in general, to the promotion of teacher autonomy.

Minority languages as sustainable tourism resources: From Indigenous groups in British Columbia (Canada) to Cimbrian people in Giazza (Italy)

Abstract Cultural aspects of a destination have always been part of the discourse on sustainable tourism, i.e. tourism that attempts to preserve cultural and environmental resources for future generations. Particular attention has to be paid to Intangible Cultural Heritage, especially languages, since they will be available to future generations only with daily practice. Through twenty semi-structured qualitative interviews, the paper considers two Indigenous languages in British Columbia (Canada) and the Cimbrian language in Italy and concludes that the genuine interest shown by tourists contributes to language revival in contexts of minority cultural groups by strengthening the sense of pride and identity of members. This study hopes to be a stepping stone in the analysis of minority languages as sustainable tourism resources.

The Impact of the English Language in Italy: Linguistic Outcomes and Political Implications by Alessandro Carlucci

The Impact of the English Language in Italy: Linguistic Outcomes and Political Implications by Alessandro Carlucci

The Problem of a National Literary Language in Italy and in China in the 20th Century: Antonio Gramsci, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Lu Xun

The Italian scholar and political leader Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was an active opponent of the dictatorial government ruling his country before the 2nd World War. He was kept in prison for11 years, until his death, by the ruling Fascist Party and during that time he filled over 3,000 pages, writing about Linguistics, History and Philosophy. He was concerned with the duty of Italian progressive intellectuals to create a ‘common literary language’, accessible to the under-privileged Italian people, who until then had been excluded from culture. After the war, during the sixties of last century, a ‘common Italian language’ started developing, through the introduction of the 10-years long compulsory school and the increasing power of mass media: that language was not fit to become the common literary language of the Nation. The writer and movie director Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975), who in his novels gave voice to the sub-urban proletarians of the city of Rome, was highly unsatisfied with the new common language that was in the process of being established in the country. As for China, when the imperial system was abolished by the ‘Xinhai revolution’, in 1911, the belief became increasingly widespread among intellectuals that the rebirth of China had to be based in the global rejection of the Confucian tradition and that the ‘Báihuà’ (people’s language) should be adopted in literature, replacing the ‘Wényán’ (classical language), not accessible to the common people. Lu Xun and his colleagues eventually succeeded in their efforts of establishing the ‘Báihuà’ as the common literary language of China. Purpose of the paper is the comparison between the efforts exerted by these literati in creating a ‘common literary language’ in their respective countries.

Writing systems for Italian regional languages

ABSTRACTDevising a writing system, or graphisation, is a fundamental aspect of corpus planning that no language can take too lightly. This paper begins with a general introduction to graphisation and to Italian regional languages, followed by an analysis of the different orthographies in use so far or proposed for the main regional languages in Italy, with reference also to the three Romance languages already accorded official recognition as minority languages: Sardinian, Friulian and Ladin. The practical aspect and the symbolic aspect of graphisation are discussed and the problems and difficulties that are being encountered in this process are highlighted, especially with regard to two Northern varieties that are presented as case studies: Lombard and Piedmontese. The paper closes with some general considerations and recommendations, particularly on the adoption of a polynomic approach to graphisation if at all possible, and of a digraphic regime as a transitional strategy for cases where a common orthography cannot be decided upon, or to help the spread of the language among new speakers.

Teoretska izhodišča in metodološki okvir pri izdelavi uporabnikom prijaznega spletišča: primer platforme SMeJse – Slovenščina kot manjšinski jezik

V prispevku predstavljam teoretska in metodološka izhodišča za izdelavo portala SMeJse (Slovenščina kot manjšinski jezik), ob tem pa se obsežneje zaustavljam ob analizi položaja, stanja in statusa slovenskega jezika v Italiji, nekaterih specifičnih jezikovnih pojavih, metodoloških izzivih in socioloških okvirih.Pojmi, kot so zvrstnost jezika, norma, prvi/materni oz. tuji jezik, manjšina, diglosija in številni drugi izgubljajo namreč pomen, ki so ga imeli v epistemologijah 20. stoletja, in pridobivajo nove konotacije. Do teh ključnih premikov pri obravnavi jezikovnih pojavov in načrtovanju jezikovnih politik prihaja zaradi novih družbenih kontekstov ob prehodu iz 20. v 21. stoletje. Na percepcije in reprezentacije jezika, ki močno pogojujejo njegovo usvajanje, rabo in tudi uradni položaj – pa tudi znanstveno obravnavo – namreč vplivajo nekateri »zunanji« dejavniki. Med temi gre izpostaviti razvoj in dostopnost novih tehnologij, evropsko politiko na področju manjšinskih jezikov in večjezičnosti nasploh, ekonomsko krizo in njene posledice ter migracijske tokove. Pojmovanje »manjšine« in »manjšinskosti« je tudi na področju jezika in jezikoslovja dobilo nove in drugačne razsežnosti.Na podlagi teh ugotovitev sta Slovenski raziskovalni inštitut (SLORI) in Dijaški dom S. Kosovela v Trstu izdelala spletno platformo SMeJse (www.smejse.it) kot zbirališče novih in že obstoječih orodij, gradiv in informacij za razvoj jezikovnih veščin in spretnosti v slovenskem jeziku. Namen platforme je spodbujanje različnih rab živega slovenskega jezika na območju italijansko-slovenskega jezikovnega stikanja, predvsem v Italiji – s ciljem, da se zagotovi visoka sporazumevalna zmožnost v vseh zvrsteh in različicah slovenskega jezika, uravnotežena dvojezičnost in razvoj tudi lokalnih idiomov, a znotraj slovenskega jezikovnega kontinuuma.

Embodied Simulation and a Few Remarks on the Philosophy of Language in Italy

Embodied Simulation and a Few Remarks on the Philosophy of Language in Italy

Italijansko-slovenski jezikovni stik med ideologijo in pragmatiko

The article focuses on the current situation of the Slovenian language in Italy, in particular among the community of speakers who identify themselves with the Slovenian national minority. It analyses certain sociological, anthropological and psychological aspects emerging from the speakers’ discourses about their perceptions and representations of the language. The paper highlights the Slovenian-Italian language contact area, especially those contexts where the Slovenian language is not the primary language of the speakers and the wider community. Reflection on both the language phenomena and the discourses provides a general overview of the current situation. Moreover, the analysis could be a good theoretical basis for future language planning programmes and policies, and for related implementation strategies. It also provides a good starting point for a critical analysis of models and options that have so far been taken for granted.

The Historical Relationship between Triestine Sign Language and Austrian Sign Language

The high degree of comprehensibility between the signed languages in Trieste (present-day Italy) and Austria is very probably due to their joint history of deaf schools within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Investigation undertaken in archives in Trieste and Klagenfurt has revealed interesting similarities in the education of deaf children there since the mid-nineteenth century, which may explain present-day affinities. General background information is provided regarding sign language in Italy and Austria, and a detailed description of schools and teaching methodologies, which are the probable source of a historical connection, is then presented.

La questione della lingua italiana e la questione della lingua globale: due fenome-ni a confronto

AND THE PRESENT-DAY SEARCH FOR A GLOBAL LANGUAGE: A COMPARISON This article aims to create parallels between the Italian Questione della lingua and modernday debates on linguistic globalization. In doing so, it identifies some important commonalities between the two phenomena which, though of different magnitude and occurring in different historical circumstances, are quite analogous in nature. By highlighting the important nexus between language and culture, this analysis observes linguistic standardization as a process that can have deleterious consequences on cultural diversity. By considering the ascension of a Florentine-based variety to the status of national language in Italy a process encouraged by hegemonic aspirations rather than motivated by objectives of communicative efficiency, this work attempts to show how linguistic standardization is not always beneficial, and that, instead of having levelling or equalizing effects it can, instead, continue to perpetrate oppressive trends. the article, though characterized by ecocritical undertones, weighs both the risks and benefits of the various possible outcomes of the need for linguistic globalization: the designation of an artificial language (namely, esperanto) as a global lingua franca; the takeover of an existing natural language (such as english) or of modified versions of natural languages (Basic english, Latino sine flexione); the deculturalization/dehistoricization of an existing language (Anna Wierzbicka’s research on Natural Semantic Metalanguage). By exploring and acknowledging the aftermath of the Italian Questione della lingua, and comparing the Questione to current debates on linguistic globalization, one can make important generalizations and observations on such processes and their potential consequences.