Standardization patterns and dialect/standard convergence: A northwestern Italian perspective

Abstract

The paper is inspired by the typology of "dialect/standard constellations" outlined in Auer ( , 2011, which aims to detect common dynamics in the current processes of dialect/standard convergence in Europe. The specific sociolinguistic situation addressed in this paper involves Italian, Piedmontese and Occitan in Piedmont, a north-western region of Italy. We will analyze a set of linguistic features with the aim of depicting the dynamics of intralinguistic and interlinguistic convergence as they relate to the ongoing standardization processes in these languages. Some adjustments to the two types of repertoires drawn by Auer (diaglossia and endoglossic medial diglossia) will be proposed to better suit them, respectively, to the Italo-Romance continuum between Piedmontese rural dialects and standard Italian (which actually consists of two separate subcontinua with intermediate varieties) and to the relationship between Occitan dialects and their planned standard variety (as well as that between Piedmontese and its "Frenchified" standard variety).

From Language Contact to Language Variation

“…are generally at similar stages of common tendencies of development (cf. Cerruti and Regis, 2014). The same holds true in this case as well: essere lì che/a+Verb has indeed attained a grammaticalization stage similar to that of stare+Gerund, which in neo-standard Italian is increasingly accepted both with progressive and habitual meanings (see e.g.…”

Hypercorrection as a Symptom of Language Change: Majorcan Catalan Standard Pronunciation

“…The evolution of Majorcan Catalan as described here is not at all uncommon. On the contrary, alongside the cases from the Low Countries contributed by Grondelaers et al (2016), and other cases from all over Europe by Auer (2011) (already cited above), the theoretical frame produced by Cerruti and Regis (2014) is based on the observation of Italian and Occitan dialects and regiolects, just to cite three instances of theoretically comparable proposals. The situation of Majorcan Catalan depicted here differs from those in Cerruti and Regis (2014) in a way explainable by means of the concept 'alternative endoglossic standard' (see Section 2 above).…”

Chapter 4. C’era i fascisti e i tedeschi

“…Due to the structure of the speakers' repertoire (Cerruti and Regis 2014) and to the fact that in the Italian context social variation is subordinate to geographic variation (see Koch and Oesterreicher 1990and Berruto 2012), it would be opportune to consider several different regional varieties of italiano popolare 2 in relation to the dialectological background of specific areas. In other words, every variety of italiano popolare represents a regional variety and is therefore marked diatopically.…”