Tag: Italy

Language Policy and Planning: Words and Actions

Martina Boi

Some time ago I found myself typing on the Google search bar “Italian language policy”, but I noticed that the results that I could find were very very few. I opened every single page, I changed the key words, I tried different word (and languages!) combinations many times, but it didn’t help. I could have kept trying as much as I wanted but the reality (which I only discovered later) was simply that an Italian language policy doesn’t exist – the only case dates back to the Fascist era, after which there was no longer a real interest in issues related to the Italian linguistic heritage. Apparently, dealing with linguistic issues is not among the State’s priorities, which is the reason why the fate of Italian and the other languages and dialects spoken in Italy are in the hands of the single regions and of the European Union.

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In fact, the Council of Europe has been quite active for what concerns the interventions for the protection and promotion of European minority languages. In 1992, an international treaty was concluded in Strasburg – the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The Charter aims to promote the use of minority languages, in order to safeguard European cultural heritage, identities and traditions, as well as the respect of the will of individuals to be able to use these languages ​​in their daily public and private activities. In June 2000 Italy signed the Charter BUT, more than twenty years later, the country has not ratified the Charter yet. The States that have signed and ratified the Charter committed to, among other things, adopt efficient solutions to promote their minority languages, to foster and encourage their (written and spoken) use in the public and private life and to make available adequate forms and means of education at all levels. Apparently, Italy has never been ready to or interested in working in this direction, which is the reason why in 2014 the State received a formal sanction from the Council of Europe, which sent a document with which they severely condemned the Italian immobilism (Corongiu, 2014).

What are the reasons for this non-fulfilment? The Parliament continues not to express its view on the issue, and in the meanwhile languages and identities die. Perhaps it is, like always, a matter of power whereby the strongest wins while the rest is forgotten. After all, with the spending review of Monti government a distinction was made between languages ​​protected by international agreements and considered “national minorities” and languages “without a State”. The first ones are languages spoken by communities that can be associated with actual States: in North Italy languages like German, Slovenian and French are spoken alongside Italian, and in these cases language retention is supported by factors such as institutional support and the power and prestige of the languages in question (Van Herk, 2018). On the other hand, other languages are simply recognized as “minority languages” (and thus are given less attention) because they cannot be associated with any sovereign State (Sardinia is an example). Of course, such a differentiated treatment expressed by this spending review has had consequences for education. Education is one of the main means through which promoting and valuing the use of a certain language, but when the resources to do so are limited, the possibility for that language to keep thriving are constrained as well.

What we can see here is that while many interesting projects have been made and signed (on paper), actual interventions and actions are rarely concretely realized. When minority languages do not have the support of a State apparatus, it must be the speakers of those languages themselves the ones who assert their desire to make their voice heard, it must be them the first ones who strongly believe in the value of their language and identity by working for a change that takes form in their everyday lives action after action, word after word. It is here that we see the importance of family language policies, and of the consequent linguistic behaviors that could arise from these policies (Fogle & King, 2013). As we see from Van Herk (2018), the status and shape of a language can be affected not only by governments and big institutions, but also by education (when the possibility is given to it) and by single individuals. And, importantly, language planning effectively works only if a plan is actually implemented with concrete interventions after a theoretical elaboration has been developed (Van Herk, 2018).

While all these points seem to make sense, I wonder: can the desires and actions of single individuals promote a real change when it comes to language use and revitalization or are these actions effective only when appropriately supported by governments and institutions? There’s a lot to think about.

References
Corongiu, G. (2014, February 23). La mancata ratifica della Carta rivela le “scorrettezze” del Belpaese L’Europa e il sardo: cartellino giallo per l’Italia. Forma Paris. https://web.archive.org/web/20140302071825/http:/www.formaparis.com/blog/la-mancata-ratifica-della-carta-rivela-le-%E2%80%9Cscorrettezze%E2%80%9D-del-belpaese-leuropa-e-il-sardo-cartel

Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 148. Council of Europe. https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=signatures-by-treaty&treatynum=148

Fogle, L. W., & King, K. (2013). Child agency and language policy in transnational families. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 19(0), 1–26.

Text of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Council of Europe. https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-charter-regional-or-minority-languages/text-of-the-charter

Van Herk, G. (2018). Language as a Social Entity. In Van Herk, G. (Ed.), What is sociolinguistics? (pp. 187-202). 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK:Wiley-Blackwell.

Language Attitudes in Italy: Regional Accents and Popular Representations

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.

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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.

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