How standard regional Italians set in: the case of standard Piedmontese Italian
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Riccardo Regis
Abstract
This chapter will focus on standard Piedmontese Italian, i.e. the standard variety of Italian spoken and written in the northwestern region of Piedmont. First of all, I will sketch the sociolinguistic dynamics lying beneath the formation of both regional and standard regional Italian, and discuss the concepts of destandardization and restandardization, with relation to the Italo-Romance context. I will then examine three syntactic features lato sensu, their degree of standardness in Piedmontese Italian being tentatively proved by their occurrence in spoken and written model texts: 1) a phonotactic phenomenon, i.e. the selection of the definitive articles lo ‘the’ (singular) and gli ‘the’ (plural) before suocero ‘father-in-law’ / suoceri ‘fathers-in-law’, whereas standard Italian would only allow the selection of il and i (thus, il suocero / i suoceri); 2) a lexical/ morphosyntactic element, i.e. the focus particle solo piu ‘lit. only more’, which has no correspondent in standard Italian; and 3) a morphosyntactic construction, i.e. the omission of the preverbal negation when a postverbal negative quantifier or a postverbal negative reinforcer is used (e.g. importa niente ‘it does not matter’, lit. ‘it matters nothing’, as opposed to standard Italian non importa niente, lit. ‘it does not matter nothing’).
The interpretation of the data will be suggested in terms of both simplification/ complexification patterns, assessing if a new standard feature simplifies or complicates the linguistic system, and source language/recipient language agentivity, following Frans Van Coetsem’s model of language contact phenomena.
Abstract
This chapter will focus on standard Piedmontese Italian, i.e. the standard variety of Italian spoken and written in the northwestern region of Piedmont. First of all, I will sketch the sociolinguistic dynamics lying beneath the formation of both regional and standard regional Italian, and discuss the concepts of destandardization and restandardization, with relation to the Italo-Romance context. I will then examine three syntactic features lato sensu, their degree of standardness in Piedmontese Italian being tentatively proved by their occurrence in spoken and written model texts: 1) a phonotactic phenomenon, i.e. the selection of the definitive articles lo ‘the’ (singular) and gli ‘the’ (plural) before suocero ‘father-in-law’ / suoceri ‘fathers-in-law’, whereas standard Italian would only allow the selection of il and i (thus, il suocero / i suoceri); 2) a lexical/ morphosyntactic element, i.e. the focus particle solo piu ‘lit. only more’, which has no correspondent in standard Italian; and 3) a morphosyntactic construction, i.e. the omission of the preverbal negation when a postverbal negative quantifier or a postverbal negative reinforcer is used (e.g. importa niente ‘it does not matter’, lit. ‘it matters nothing’, as opposed to standard Italian non importa niente, lit. ‘it does not matter nothing’).
The interpretation of the data will be suggested in terms of both simplification/ complexification patterns, assessing if a new standard feature simplifies or complicates the linguistic system, and source language/recipient language agentivity, following Frans Van Coetsem’s model of language contact phenomena.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Preface VII
- List of Contributors IX
- List of Figures XIII
- List of Tables XV
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Introduction
- On the development of a new standard norm in Italian 3
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Part I: Restandardization tendencies
- What is changing in Italian today? Phenomena of restandardization in syntax and morphology: an overview 31
- Changes from below, changes from above: relative constructions in contemporary Italian 61
- Everyone has an accent. Standard Italian and regional pronunciation 89
- Evaluating regional variation in Italian: towards a change in standard language ideology? 118
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Part II: Regional standards
- How standard regional Italians set in: the case of standard Piedmontese Italian 145
- Italian in Bozen/Bolzano: the formation of a ‘new dialect’ 176
- Tuscan between standard and vernacular: a sociophonetic perspective 213
- Contact between Italian and dialect in Sicily: the case of phrasal verb constructions 242
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Part III: Crossing the borders
- Anglicisms in Italian. Typologies of language contact phenomena with particular reference to word-formation processes 269
- English loans in written Italian: a regional perspective 293
- Italian in Switzerland: the dynamics of pluricentrism 321
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Epilogue
- The neo-standard of Italy and elsewhere in Europe 365
- Index 375
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Preface VII
- List of Contributors IX
- List of Figures XIII
- List of Tables XV
-
Introduction
- On the development of a new standard norm in Italian 3
-
Part I: Restandardization tendencies
- What is changing in Italian today? Phenomena of restandardization in syntax and morphology: an overview 31
- Changes from below, changes from above: relative constructions in contemporary Italian 61
- Everyone has an accent. Standard Italian and regional pronunciation 89
- Evaluating regional variation in Italian: towards a change in standard language ideology? 118
-
Part II: Regional standards
- How standard regional Italians set in: the case of standard Piedmontese Italian 145
- Italian in Bozen/Bolzano: the formation of a ‘new dialect’ 176
- Tuscan between standard and vernacular: a sociophonetic perspective 213
- Contact between Italian and dialect in Sicily: the case of phrasal verb constructions 242
-
Part III: Crossing the borders
- Anglicisms in Italian. Typologies of language contact phenomena with particular reference to word-formation processes 269
- English loans in written Italian: a regional perspective 293
- Italian in Switzerland: the dynamics of pluricentrism 321
-
Epilogue
- The neo-standard of Italy and elsewhere in Europe 365
- Index 375
