Abstract
The way in which ‘dialect’ is talked about in schools does not always resemble the way it is talked about by linguists and dialectologists. This paper explores this schism in the narrative of what dialetti are and what they do, by exploring their use at school in moments of confidenza (e.g., mutual trust, letting one’s guard down). Drawing on recordings from upper and lower secondary schools in Umbria (2016-2017) and in Veneto (2022-2023), I analyze classroom discourse in, around, and about ‘dialetto’ via a metapragmatic framework, offering perspectives on how dialect functions with respect to confidenza in these classroom contexts.