The Language Situation in Italy

Tosi, Arturo

doi:10.1080/14664200408668259

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In fact, Italy has a complex history which represents the inevitable backdrop to discourses around culture, education, and language. On the one hand, the country is characterized by a long tradition of local academia (the University of Bologna being the first founded in the Western world) and Italian is one of the bigger languages in Europe (Ethnologue, 2019), with significant international relevance in certain domains; on the other hand, the country's long history of divisions has resulted in a unique situation of inner linguistic diversity (Tosi, 2004) which has informed national policies and contributed to a certain sensitivity around the topic of language. While it is estimated that no less than 40 languages were traditionally spoken within Italian territory (Coluzzi, 2009), only Italian currently holds the status of official language of the nation, together with 12 minority languages (Law n. 482/1999).…”

Section: The Italian Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Englishization of Higher Education in Europe

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The tension between monolingualism and multilingualism has left its mark on the cultural history of Europe. Current public and academic debates about the Englishization of higher education pitch proponents of the monolingual ideal of a common language that promotes communication against advocates of the maintenance of linguistic diversity that does more justice to the multicultural reality and enriches life. Notwithstanding the differences between European countries, the switch from an initially monolingual curriculum to a bilingual and sometimes multilingual curriculum in higher education has led to debates about the consequences of the Englishization for the quality of higher education, cultural identity, inequality between stakeholders and the opportunities to express concern about this process.

show abstract

Section: The Italian Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Englishization of Higher Education in Europe

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is harder to generalize about Moroccans, since some do not wish to be associated with Western culture while others seek full integration, particularly for their children (Tosi 2004). For example, the Chinese are more likely to maintain their linguistic heritage in order to preserve their values and traditions.…”

Section: Immigrants In Italy and Italian As A Second Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tosi (2004) recounts that at the time of unification, Italian language teaching focused on teaching rigid, formal rules and based instruction on narrative and poetry; Italian was taught like other foreign languages, such as French or Latin. However, many of the changes in the spoken language have not been incorporated into standard grammars (yet), despite their wide and consistent usage.…”

Section: Italian In Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

21. Italian

Aski¹

2014

Manual of Language Acquisition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This chapter is an overview of the "state of the Italian language," exploring where Italian is spoken outside of the country, and which languages other than Italian are spoken in Italy and how these languages impact Italian and the acquisition of Italian, particularly by the immigrant population. Special attention is given to the history of the interactions between Italian and the dialects of Italy, as well as changes in the sociolinguistic and morphosyntactic features of the Italian language over time that have resulted in a process of restandardization. That is, a significant number of features that diverge from the literary standard, but are widely accepted, are poised to be recognized as features of a new standard. This has triggered a debate by teachers of Italian (L1) over whether and how this new standard should be incorporated into language instruction. The final goal of this chapter is to extend this debate to the teaching of Italian as a foreign language in the United States. A selection of neostandard features are presented and discussed in terms of how and when they can be incorporated into the Italian language classroom and Italian textbooks. I argue that by eliminating the disconnect between the language being taught and the language spoken in Italy (which students are aware of), we refine and enhance students' linguistic and communicative competence.

show abstract

“…In his study of the language situation in Italy Tosi (2008) argues that Italian is a far less 'normalised' language than other Romance varieties, with a long tradition of multilingualism. He claims that multilingualism in Italy: "is rooted in the historical background of a country whose late unification maintained a situation of linguistic diversity that is unique within Europe" (Tosi 2008: 263).…”

Section: The Socio-historical Context Of Emi Policies In Italian Highmentioning

confidence: 99%