Saturday,
April 28, 2007
Italians Hold on to Their Dialects
The
ANNOTICO Report
There
is no question about young Italians command of their National language,
but they often prefer to speak their dialect with family and friends. The preference
is influenced by age, educational level and region of the country
Thanks
to Pat Gabriel
Italians Hold on to Their Dialects
For the young and educated,
it's a question of choice
ANSA
April 27, 2007
A new study shows that
In fact Italians who use only and exclusively their national language when with
the family are still in a minority of 45%.
The rest of the population uses dialect some or most of the time, according to
the latest research by national statistics bureau Istat.
A quarter of Italians still use dialect even when they are speaking to
outsiders.
"I use dialect with my family and friends from the village where I grew
up. I expect I always will," said Elena Labagnara,
a 40-year-old civil servant who was born in Cam pania
but works in
Istat researcher Adolfo Morrone,
who carried out the study based on 24,000 families all over the country, said
the reasons why people use dialect are changing. "In the past lots of
people spoke dialect because it was the only way they could express themselves.
That's no longer the case. Now it's becoming a matter of choice," he said.
Young Italians are better educated than their grandparents, they are immersed
in national TV and media and they travel around the country. So there is no
question about their command of their native language.
But while they speak Italian much of the time in their professional lives, they
often also keep their local dialect and use it with childhood friends and
family.
"I don't think dialect
will ever disappear completely," Morrone said.
Since 1988, the number of Italians who communicate prevalently in dialect has
fallen from 32% to 16%. This is mainly because people in the oldest age groups,
who statistically speak more dialect, have died.
But the Istat figures suggest that the downward
trend, which has been going on for many decades, is slowing and it could even
bottom out in a few years.
EDUCATION KEY FACTOR.
In the long term, the future of dialects is uncertain. Experts believe much
will depend on how keen people are on preserving local traditions and
identities.
Istat's report confirms that, even today education is
the most crucial factor affecting whether people use Italian or dialect the
most. The figures for the 25-44 age group show that, of those with university
degrees, some 73% of people speak Italian most of the time, while for those who
left school at 14 the figure was 18%.
Where Italians live also makes a huge difference. In
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