Abstract
The ideological and interwoven Discourses (Gee 1996) about being Italian and speaking Italian often draw on widespread tropes (e.g., political scandal, parochialism, culinary superiority) whose (trans)local significance is treated as given (Pontecorvo & Fasulo 1999, Perrino 2015). However, in heterogeneous speech situations—especially where power dynamics are at play—the function of such identitarian talk can be ambiguous.
This paper illustrates how italianità (Italianness) is co-constructed by teachers and students at two middle schools in differently multilingual and multicultural contexts in Italy. Drawing on a year of ethnographic research, this paper uses the heuristic of “the bridge” between language ideology and social practice (Busch, Spitzmüller & Flubacher 2021) to analyze how tropes on Italianness became constant but ambiguous components of students’ academic socialization. An analysis of classroom discourse (including social and personal deixis, turn-taking, and choice of register) illustrates how the meaning of Italianness shifted in light of the real or imagined presence of “other” languages and identities, and the teacher’s own social positioning.
References:
Busch, B., Spitzmüller, J., & Flubacher, M.C. (Eds.) (2021). Special Issue: Language Ideologies and Social Positioning: Structures, Scales, and Practices. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 272.
Gee, J. P. (1996). Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. Taylor & Francis.
Perrino, S. (2015). Narrating authenticity in northern Italian historical cafes. Language & Communication, 40, 82–91.
Pontecorvo, C., & Fasulo, A. (1999). Planning a typical Italian meal: A family reflection on culture. Culture & Psychology, 5(3), 313–335.