Italian-dialect code-switching in Sicilian youngsters
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.33280Keywords:
DIALECT, CODE-SWITCHING, POLYLANGUAGING, AGE, LANGUAGE SHIFT, SICILIAAbstract
The paper deals with the role of dialect among young Sicilian speakers. After a brief overview of the conditions of local dialects in Western Europe, I will discuss the main results of research carried out by means of different methodological approaches and types of data: (i) self-evaluative data elicited through questionnaire; (ii) a corpus of spontaneous spoken language; (iii) a written corpus of e-mails, text messages, posts in social networks, etc. The study shows a strong functional specialization of the dialect in young speakers’ repertoire, above all of those living in towns and with a high sociocultural background, who use it almost only in joking or to strengthen aggressive speech acts. In electronic media young speakers use a lot of polylanguaging, mixing their own language and dialect with bits of foreign languages and of other regional dialects. This style aims at expressing a multiple identity, made of both local, national and globalized components. The dialect thus acquires an important communicative function within the repertoire of young semi-speakers, whose competence of this code is extremely reduced.References
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Hernández-Campoy J. M. and Villena-Ponsoda, J. A. (2009) Standardness and nonstandardness in Spain: Dialect attrition and revitalization of regional dialects in Spain. In D. Britain, R. Vandekerckhove and W. Jongenburger (eds) Dialect death in Europe? (= Special issue, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197): 181–214.
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Kristiansen, T. (1998) The role of standard ideology in the disappearance of the traditional Danish dialects. Folia Linguistica 32: 115–144. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/?in.1998.32.1-2.115.
Lo Piparo, F. (ed.) (1990) La Sicilia linguistica oggi. Osservatorio Linguistico Siciliano (OLS). Palermo: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.
Moretti, B. (2006) Nuovi aspetti della relazione italiano-dialetto in Ticino. In A. A. Sobrero and A. Miglietta (eds) Lingua e dialetto nell’Italia del Duemila 31–48. Galatina: Congedo.
Morris, D., Cunliffe, D. and Prys, C. (2012) Social networks and minority languages speakers: the use of social networking sites among young people. Sociolinguistic Studies 6(1): 1–20. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v6.i1.1.
Muysken, P. (2000) Bilingual speech. A typology of code-mixing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nettle, D. and Romaine, S. (2000) Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Poplack, S. (1980) ‘Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en espanol’: Toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics 26: 581–618. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1980.18.7-8.581.
Røyneland, U. (2009) Dialects in Norway: Catching up with the rest of Europe? In D. Britain, R. Vandekerckhove and W. Jongenburger (eds) Dialect death in Europe? (= Special issue, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197): 7–30. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/IJSL.2009.015.
Ruf?no, G. (2006) L’indialetto ha la faccia scura. Palermo: Sellerio.
Sabatini, F. (1985) L’‘italiano dell’uso medio’: una realtà tra le varietà linguistiche italiane. In H. Günter and E. Radtke (eds) Gesprochenes Italienisch in Geschichte und Gegenwart 154–184. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Tore, K. (1998) The role of standard ideology in the disappearance of the traditional Danish dialects. Folia Linguistica 32: 115–144.
Vandekerckhove, R. and Britain, D. (2009) Dialects in western Europe: A balanced picture of language death, innovation, and change. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197: 1–6. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/IJSL.2009.014.
Vertovec, S. (2007) Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies 30(6): 1024–1054. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870701599465.
Weinreich, U. (1953) Languages in contact. New York: The Linguistic Circle of New York.
Alfonzetti, G. (1998) The conversational dimension in code-switching between Italian and dialect in Sicily. In P. Auer (ed.) Code-switching in conversation: Language, interaction and identity 180–211. London and New York: Routledge.
Alfonzetti, G. (2012) I giovani e il code switching in Sicilia. Palermo: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.
Amoruso, C. and Ruf?no, M. (2006) Biogra?e linguistiche di nuove generazioni nella Palermo multietnica. In G. Marcato (ed.) Giovani, lingue e dialetti 231–237. Padova: Unipress.
Auer, P. (1998) Dialect levelling and the standard varieties in Europe. Folia Linguistica 32: 1–9. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/?in.1998.32.1-2.1.
Auer, P. (2005) Europe’s sociolinguistic unity: A typology of European dialect/standard constellations. In N. Delbecque, J. van der Auwera and D. Geeraerts (eds) Perspectives on variation: Sociolinguistic, historical, comparative 7–42. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Ban?, E. (1995) Il linguaggio comico: tra pragmatica e strategie linguistiche. In E. Ban? (ed.) Sei lezioni sul linguaggio comico 17–69. Trento: Editrice Università degli Studi di Trento.
Bellman, G. (1998) Between base dialect and standard language. Folia Linguistica 32: 23–34. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/?in.1998.32.1-2.23.
Berruto, G. (2006) Quale dialetto per l’Italia del Duemila? Aspetti dell’Italianizzazione e risorgenze dialettali in Piemonte. In A. A. Sobrero and A. Miglietta (eds) Lingua e dialetto nell’Italia del Duemila 101–127. Galatina: Congedo.
Berruto, G. (2007) Sulla vitalità sociolinguistica del dialetto, oggi. In G. Raimondi and L. Revelli (eds) La dialectologie aujourd’hui 133–148.Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.
Berruto, G. (2012) Sociolinguistica dell’italiano contemporaneo. (1st ed. 1987). Roma: La Nuova Italia.
Bister-Broosen, H. (2002) Alsace. In J. Treffers-Daller and R. Willemyns (eds) Language contact at the Romance-Germanic border 98–111. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Blommaert, J. (2010) The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511845307.
Blommaert, J. and Backus, A. (2011) Repertoires revisited: ‘Knowing language’ in superdiversity. Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies 67. Retrieved 20th January 2014 from : http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/research/ldc/publications/workingpapers/67.pdf.
Blommaert, J. and Rampton, B. (2011) Language and superdiversity. Social and Human Sciences 13(2). Retrieved 20th January 2014 from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/resources/periodicals/diversities/past-issues/vol-13-no-2-2011/language-and-superdiversity/.
Britain, D., Vandekerckhove, R. and Jongenburger, W. (eds) (2009) Dialect death in Europe? (= Special issue, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197).
De Mauro, T. (1970) Storia linguistica dell’Italia Unita. Bari: Laterza.
Dorian‚ N. C. (ed.) (1989) Investigating obsolescence. Studies in language contraction and death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ferguson, Ch. A. (1959) Diglossia. Word 15: 325–340.
Gardner-Chloros, P. (2009) Code-switching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511609787.
Hernández-Campoy J. M. and Villena-Ponsoda, J. A. (2009) Standardness and nonstandardness in Spain: Dialect attrition and revitalization of regional dialects in Spain. In D. Britain, R. Vandekerckhove and W. Jongenburger (eds) Dialect death in Europe? (= Special issue, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197): 181–214.
Hornsby, D. (2009) Dedialectization in France: Convergence and divergence. In D. Britain, R. Vandekerckhove and W. Jongenburger (eds) Dialect death in Europe? (= Special issue, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197): 157–180.
Jørgensen, J. N. (2005) Plurilingual conversations among bilingual adolescents. Journal of Pragmatics 37: 391–402.
Jørgensen, J. N., Karrebæk M. S., Madsen, L. M. and Møller, J. S. (2011) Polylanguaging in superdiversity. Social and Human Sciences 13(2): 22–37. (20.01.2014). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2004.10.009. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/resources/periodicals/diversities/past-issues/vol-13-no-2-2011/polylanguaging-in-superdiversity/.
Kristiansen, T. (1998) The role of standard ideology in the disappearance of the traditional Danish dialects. Folia Linguistica 32: 115–144. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/?in.1998.32.1-2.115.
Lo Piparo, F. (ed.) (1990) La Sicilia linguistica oggi. Osservatorio Linguistico Siciliano (OLS). Palermo: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.
Moretti, B. (2006) Nuovi aspetti della relazione italiano-dialetto in Ticino. In A. A. Sobrero and A. Miglietta (eds) Lingua e dialetto nell’Italia del Duemila 31–48. Galatina: Congedo.
Morris, D., Cunliffe, D. and Prys, C. (2012) Social networks and minority languages speakers: the use of social networking sites among young people. Sociolinguistic Studies 6(1): 1–20. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v6.i1.1.
Muysken, P. (2000) Bilingual speech. A typology of code-mixing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nettle, D. and Romaine, S. (2000) Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Poplack, S. (1980) ‘Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en espanol’: Toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics 26: 581–618. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1980.18.7-8.581.
Røyneland, U. (2009) Dialects in Norway: Catching up with the rest of Europe? In D. Britain, R. Vandekerckhove and W. Jongenburger (eds) Dialect death in Europe? (= Special issue, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197): 7–30. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/IJSL.2009.015.
Ruf?no, G. (2006) L’indialetto ha la faccia scura. Palermo: Sellerio.
Sabatini, F. (1985) L’‘italiano dell’uso medio’: una realtà tra le varietà linguistiche italiane. In H. Günter and E. Radtke (eds) Gesprochenes Italienisch in Geschichte und Gegenwart 154–184. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Tore, K. (1998) The role of standard ideology in the disappearance of the traditional Danish dialects. Folia Linguistica 32: 115–144.
Vandekerckhove, R. and Britain, D. (2009) Dialects in western Europe: A balanced picture of language death, innovation, and change. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197: 1–6. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/IJSL.2009.014.
Vertovec, S. (2007) Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies 30(6): 1024–1054. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870701599465.
Weinreich, U. (1953) Languages in contact. New York: The Linguistic Circle of New York.
Published
2018-03-26
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Section
Articles
How to Cite
Alfonzetti, G. (2018). Italian-dialect code-switching in Sicilian youngsters. Sociolinguistic Studies, 11(2-3-4), 435-459. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.33280
