Martina Boi
Italy is a fascinating place when it comes to sociolinguistics. The dialects and languages spoken around the country are so particular and recognizable that it is very easy yo immediately understand where an Italian is from after they say two or three words. Although grammar and vocabulary-wise Italian is the same all around the peninsula, the language sounds very very different depending on the region where it is spoken.
Every single region has its own particular accent and intonation when speaking Italian (to understand this it might be helpful to think about the English spoken in New York and the one spoken in Texas, for example), and sometimes the difference is perceptible even between towns within the same region. These differences are so particular that many comedians have built their performances on the specificities of Italian accents and dialects, and it is possible to see these accents represented in many tv shows and Italian movies. What is interesting is that every time one of these shows reproduce Italian accents or dialects, the latter are always associated with very specific meanings and representations. This is because language is strongly linked with ideologies and attitudes, and a language is never only just a language, but it is the combination of historical, political and cultural features that create a collective imaginary of that language and its people.
As Van Herk (2018) explains “Language attitudes underlie […] the way we evaluate other people and their speech” (p. 159). Every time an Italian hears an Italian accent, immediately a combination of attitudes, images and stereotypes takes shape in their mind, and this is because every Italian region and the accent or dialect spoken in it are strongly associated with specific representations. It is interesting to notice how certain accents are considered to be ugly (I’m thinking here of showgirls from Sardinia or Naples and other regions that were asked to take courses of diction to sound good, neutral or standardly Italian on the stage) while others are seen as more elegant or cool (the accents from Rome or Florence, for example), and that attitudes toward a person can be strongly influenced by the language/dialect spoken by this person.
When we talk about Italy, the range of representations associated with different accents and dialects is extremely wide. North Italy is much more modern and advanced if compared to the rest of Italy (and in particular the South) when it comes to economy, infrastructures, education rates, technology. Milan is the emblem of this. It is here that we find skyscrapers, business, the fashion week, famous brands. It is here that posh, snob, stylish people live, and it is here that we hear people “speaking in italics” (“parlare in cörsivœ”). Yes, when the Milanese accent is over-performed its accent is considered to be an italic version of Italian, because it is associated with poshness and coolness. On the contrary, most accents from the South are associated with underdevelopment, low literacy and education rates, ignorance and everything that is far from a modern civil world. Naples is associated with superstition and sketchiness (because of the illegal business carried on by the famous Neapolitan swindlers), Sicily is associated with mafia (“The Godfather” is the first thing that comes to mind here), Sardinia is associated with shepherds and primitiveness. This difference in representations could be explained by the fact that while the North is very cold and business oriented (and, consequently, its people are considered to be very serious and emotionless), the South is much warmer, family oriented, and deeply rooted in traditions that value food and folklore. This can be represented through the dichotomy between rational (the North) and emotional (the South), especially if we think about the fact that often Southern people (and their language) are seen as overly dramatic, extrovert, impetuous and impassioned. Consequently, the accent, dialects and languages heard around South Italy take on a whole different kind of representations.
As you can see, when it comes to language attitudes in Italy, things can get very funny and interesting, but sometimes also unpleasant because language attitudes often generate stereotypes that can be used to discriminate and negatively represent a certain people. If you speak a dialect or if your accents is associated with particular characteristic I would like to ask you: are you pride of the variety of language that you speak or are you ashamed of it? How aware are you of the meanings carried by the dialect/accent that you speak? Think about it and see what comes out!
References
Van Herk, G. (2018). Attitudes and Ideologies. In Van Herk, G. (Ed.), What is sociolinguistics? (pp. 171-186). 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK:Wiley-Blackwell.
Hi Martina! I love your post so much! As an Italian speaker who has spent one year in Milan as an exchange student, I think Italian accents are really fascinating! However, when I was in Milan, I didn’t meet a lot of Milanese. It’s a city full of people from all over the world with different accents! Thanks to this experience, my ears are flexible enough to understand so many different Italian accents!
-Xavier
Very interesting topic Martina. The divergence between North and South is not only an Italian issue. If you take the American continent as an example, North America is considered as developed and South America is labeled as developing. Within the US boundaries, Northern states are wealthier and considered to be more developed than Southern states. In Europe, think of Northern and Southern cities in France, for example. A similar image here. It is a matter of standardization. People in power usually inhabit metropolitan cities, eventually becoming the economic cores of the state. In most of cases, it is a south-north dichotomy, but it is not a golden rule. London, for instance, is not in the North of the UK. The London dialect was not the standard before the 15th century. It became the norm because the area was more populated than the other cities, and also because politicians preferred London (and of course because of the presence of prominent universities such as Oxford).
Thus, once the standard is forged, all the rest is usually stereotyped or looked upon as inferior. It is human nature, unfortunately. To answer your question, it has never been an issue of accent or comprehensibility.
by Ali El Mahmoud