12 - New Italiese for new generation

The former language of immigrants transformed expressively and correctly

In the beginning there was Italiese, the speech of early Italian immigrants, who dialectalized, or Italianized, English terms and expressions. Silingo, for instance, for ceiling (Italian: soffitto); basamento for basement (seminterrato); trocco for truck (camion), modified in trocchetto when it was a small one (camioncino), rummo for room (camera), modified in rummino for cameretta.
Professor Gianrenzo Clivio called it a "language of survival", turned it into a subject of study at the University of Toronto and has been working for a while to an Italiese-Italian vocabulary.
Now there is an Italiese for second- and third-generation Italian-Canadians. They use it when having a difficult time in getting an idea across in Italian, so they borrow terms and idioms from English. However, they do not Italianize them like their parents or grandparents did: those terms and figures of speech are used correctly. For instance, one might say "Arrivederci e take care"; or "Ho portato la macchina dal car wash"; "Non mi funziona il remote del televisore".
Some of them even insert whole sentences in English within their Italian conversation. This can be due to affectation or to a real need for better expression, and in this case generates a strange language, simultaneously Italian and English, with each expression showing syntax and grammar appropriate to the corresponding origin. In summary, the two tongues proceed side-by-side and support each other. The best aspect of this strange language, which we could call new Italiese, lies in its immediate comprehensibility.
"Here, like in every country with a strong Italian immigrant community, happened what happens in Italy when a dialect intermixes with Italian," says Gianrenzo Clivio, who's teaching Italian Linguistics and Philology at the University of Toronto and is the author of numerous publications on the history and morphology of dialects. "Technically this is called code-switching, which means passing easily from one language tops the other and back. This happens with second- and third-generation people, and is a step ahead from Italiese, so we can rightly talk of new Italiese. We should also add, though, that this phenomenon mainly concerns Italian communities abroad."
What happens in other communities?
"In many of them, second-generation immigrants only speak English. Take Jews, for instance: their children do not speak Yiddish, the language of their parents, except for a few scattered words. In Italian communities, on the other hand, you can even find some fourth-generation people understanding Italian, even if they cannot speak it. So, the new Italiese is also a form of conservation of the Italian language abroad."
Why is this happening mainly within the Italian community?
"Because in general an important part of the family, the parents, never learnt enough English, and addressed their children in Italian or in a dialect. Their children are aware that the language they heard at home was not Italian, so they only use structures they feel sure about, switching to English, for single words or whole sentences, in order to speak with clarity."
This holds true for young people who learned Italian, even if dialectalized, in the family. For them, code-switching has an explanation. But this also happens with people who attended Italian classes in school or at university. What is the reason for this?
"There are several. First of all, attending language classes abroad does not mean learning it perfectly. It is a kind of 'laboratory' learning, because there is no way to practice the language in everyday life. This means that there are holes in its usage, and in our case English is used to fill them. Another reason is the need to highlight a concept, or eliciting a given effect from an interlocutor, and this mostly concerns speakers of a more advanced Italian than can be learnt in school. Finally, we should not forget that English is spreading."
I think you are referring to linguistic loans.
"Yes, that's how English sneaked into every language, including Italian. Nobody says elaboratore elettronico, but computer; fine settimana has been replaced by weekend; even the old pausa pranzo in offices and factories is now called lunch break."
English is the language of globalization.
"Let's be clear about it: poor English is the language of globalization. Nowadays, after so many lexical and grammatical loans coming and going, that's not very different from the old Italiese spoken by a lady who helped us clean our home, who once told me 'Professore, non ci sono più le beghe per la respirapolvere'."
How can Italian survive in a world where English, even poor English, is spoken everywhere?
"While so many languages are dying out, because children do not learn them anymore, Italian is in excellent health because it can rely on a high number of speakers, and we see no symptom of weakening in Italy. In Canada, on the other hand, I don't think it will survive as a first language, as new generations are increasingly Anglophone even in the family. However, Italian is too precious to disappear: in Canada, as in many other countries, it will remain as a language of culture, and this is no passing fad."
Is there a future for the new Italiese?
"Yes, there is. This new language, where Italian and English complete one another, represent the immediate future of the Italian community in Canada."
What do you mean by 'immediate future' in terms of generations?
"I mean that it will be used for efficient communication for two generations or more. I feel quite confident about this."
Will it disappear after that?
"No, if scholars will keep it alive. This is a very interesting phase in the linguistic evolution of our community, which should be recorded and analyzed. The new Italiese, from the scientific standpoint, has relevant theoretical aspects that can be applicable to other languages as well as to the dynamics of human language as a whole."
Pierluigi Roi, 43, from Milan, is the news manager and senior editor of Omni TV (formerly CFMT), where he manages Italian-language programming. He says: "When my TV station realized how important code-switching was in communicating clearly, they lost no time in introducing it in newscasts."
How was that done?
"The idea came to Dan Iannuzzi, the founder of the station, as well as of Corriere Canadese," says Pierluigi Roi. "It was Angelo Persichilli, then in charge of newscasts, who put it in practice. The idea was simple. If using Italian and English at the same time makes things clearer in casual conversation, let's do likewise with the news: read it in Italian, but if the person interviewed about it speaks English, so be it. The idea worked. It was refined and adapted to new needs and new members of the audience, but the start was an attempt to broadcast information that everyone could understand."
I agree that this can lead to greater clarity and understanding of information, however this language is not Italian any more; the new Italiese may be correct, but it's something else.
"I am a pragmatist, and if I have to choose between someone's poor Italian and good English I prefer that that person speaks English. My purpose is to inform. As to the new Italiese, I could agree that it is something else and not Italian, but I have had another idea in my mind for a while."
What is it?
"The new Italiese is not something limited to Canada, but it can be found in every Anglophone country with a strong Italian presence. Is it so? Well, then, if it is true that there are 60 million Italians living out of Italy, in specific areas the new Italiese will be the language of choice alongside English. I don't see this as unlikely."
The Italian language is going through a period of great popularity abroad. The reasons were given by Tullio De Mauro in presenting his survey, proving that Italian is among the world's top five most studied languages. According to data analyzed by De Mauro, Italian is not only the language of high culture but also a language of use, offering job opportunities and boosting social relations. In your opinion, are these the only reasons for an increased interest in the Italian language in Canada, or are there other reasons as well?
"These reasons are the hardcore of this increased interest, but I think that there are other factors. First of all there is an excellent teaching job in universities, high school and primary school. Education cutbacks, which penalized the study of languages, are undermining that job, and I hope that our politicians will stop this insanity, but anyway Canada remains the foreign country where Italian is most consistently studied. In this already receptive reality, the initiatives of the past five years were a boon."
What are you referring to?
"To the arrival of La Repubblica, for instance. I deem this an event of great cultural significance. Corriere Canadese itself, far from being a mere vehicle for its diffusion, is almost its interface on this side of the ocean, having further elevated its own quality. New Italian radio stations sprout continuously. We have almost doubled our airtime in Italian, adding new spaces for videomusic and current events. This couldn't have happened if the soil hadn't been fertile. There was a demand that got satisfied. Go find any other country in the world where such a sharp escalation of interest towards Italian and Italy took place."
But globalization speaks English...
"I say that sooner or later this globalization word will have to be clarified. Nowadays there are some people who adore it and some others who would burn it at the stake. In my opinion there is globalization McDonald-style, or Nestlè-style, just to make two examples, that should be revised and corrected, and at the very least rationalized. But the globalization of culture must be followed with attention, as it widens our horizon without disputing our cultural identities."
I agree that it widens our horizon; I have more than a few doubts about it preserving our cultural identities...
"Follow my reasoning. We are living in the era of high technology, which allows us to be constantly linked with the rest of the world via TV and the Internet. You live in Toronto, but beyond your screen lies Rome, Paris, Singapore. With your TV set you can see Rome, Paris, Singapore; with the Internet you can establish contacts and exchanges in real time with these cities. And yet you keep living in Toronto, with your own identity. I don't see this kind of globalization as a threat. English is its lingua franca, for sure, but by preserving cultural identities it allows languages like Italian to survive and expand, alongside English. One only needs to walk in Toronto's streets..."
What will we find?
"A myriad communities that maintain strong ties with their countries of origin and the rest of the world thanks to these new technologies. Toronto is the metaphor, or a scale model if you prefer, of cultural globalization. Tell me, did our communities lose their identities?"
No, they haven't. On the contrary, they defend it stubbornly. They chat with their countries of origin and the rest of the world, but have a difficult time talking with one another. They coexist peacefully, of course, but little more than that. What do you foresee? Will our communities keep communicating like this, or will they finally be able to achieve a strong and constant dialogue?
"The problem you pose is being studied by a lot of eggheads. No easy answer exists. I think that multiculturalism as we have in Toronto, despite still falling short of true interculturalism, would be unthinkable in many other countries. This is a very good result in itself. Toronto today resembles one of those TV stations with the screen split in four parts: news, weather, stocks and sports. Those are four distinct and separate issues, but all together represent information. Complete and simultaneous information. I mean to say that the different ethnic groups living together in this city, regardless of their differences, are the soul of this metropolis. Let time tell whether a strong and constant dialogue will arise. At present, even though the Chinese remain inside Chinatown and the Italians have entrenched in Woodbridge, the fact remains that their presence, and that of so many other communities, is a patrimony that guarantees very high cultural dividends."

Publication Date: 2003-03-09
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2462