“Fuggedaboutit”. Linguistic self-perceptions of Italian-American language and identity

The construction and development of cultural identities is a complex process and many factors determine failure or success in the preservation of the system of values of the culture of origin in a different context1. An imaginative re-creation of a new set of values that cease to be carriers of the original environment steadily show signs of a new culture, modified by the effects of connection with the new contact culture. This paper examines the effects of such modifications in the Italian/American context from a socio-linguistic perspective. A sample of Italian-American informants have been selected using a popular social network, Facebook, involving ethnically conscious young volunteers (i.e. subscribers of Italian/American groups in the network) whose first language is American English. Informants were asked questions with regard to their use of language, their self-perceptions of their linguistic identities and non-Italian assessment of Italian-American culture. As far as the latter issue is concerned, popular culture has also been taken into account, considering linguistic representations of Italian-American people in the media (i.e. TV shows, movies, advertisement) and their response to it. The method of selection of informants, their attitude and self-perceived language use will be discussed.