When referring to the distinction between polarity and agreement particles (cf. Moravsik, 1971; P... more When referring to the distinction between polarity and agreement particles (cf. Moravsik, 1971; Pope, 1973), Italian sí / no can be described as polarity particles (cf. Bernini, 1995), as is the case for correspondent particles in other Romance languages. Indeed, speakers of Romance languages use them in similar ways in replies to positive utterances, where the positive particle also encodes agreement, and the negative particle also encodes disagreement. Instead, Romance languages cope in different ways with the conflicting case of replies to negative utterances (e.g. "Didn't you read this book?"), where replies would encode either disagreement and assertion of a positive content ("That's not true, I read it") or agreement and assertion of a negative content ("You're right, I didn't"). Replies to negative utterances are therefore a crucial context for a deeper understanding of such particles (cf. Bernini, 1990 and 1995 for similar suggestions). Contrary to other Romance languages, such as French, Romanian or Portuguese, not much attention has been paid so far to this issue in Italian. The current study investigates the use of sí/no in replies to negative utterances, in two sets of elicited data: interviews and Map Tasks. The analysis has compared the use of particles in confirming and reversing replies, as well as in replies to assertions and to questions. The results show that the use of no (but not of sì) according to the (dis)agreement axis is documented, especially when conversationally marked moves are at play: in reversing (vs. confirming) replies and in replies to assertions (vs. replies to questions). Such an asymmetry is in line with cross-linguistic tendencies already observed in other (Romance and non-Romance) languages (cf. Bernini, 1990; Farkas & Bruce, 2010).
Speech is primary in human communication from many points of views. In the evolution of the human... more Speech is primary in human communication from many points of views. In the evolution of the human species, linguistic signs have been realized first orally. In the history of humankind only a relatively small number of languages had a written form. Until recently, only a minority of people had access to writing. The spoken uses are predominant in the formation of our experience and in our relationships with other humans. Most of our actions involve the use of language in spoken form. In short, the speech mode shapes the entire communicative life of individuals and communities and therefore represents the native usage of language. Based on these premises, this book aims to place spontaneous spoken texts at the centre of linguistic analysis because the inclusion of speech usage in general grammar is necessary not only to account for spoken communication, but also to have a more realistic idea of what a language is as a whole. It follows that linguistic analysis requires not only the k...
La nozione di 'errore' sembra specificamente attagliarsi all'ambito degli studi sull&... more La nozione di 'errore' sembra specificamente attagliarsi all'ambito degli studi sull'acquisizione delle lingue. Dalla prospettiva del ricercatore che lavora su dati di varietà native pienamente sviluppate, la presenza di errori, intesi come strutture non conformi alle regole della varietà nativa, o target, è il fenomeno che più immediatamente caratterizza i dati di apprendimento. Tuttavia, dopo una fase embrionale orientata all'analisi delle regolarità presenti nell'ambito degli errori, la linguistica acquisizionale, a partire dalla nozione di 'interlingua', ha piuttosto privilegiato la prospettiva della ricerca delle regole che caratterizzano la competenza transitoria degli apprendenti e danno quindi luogo a varietà linguistiche, dette 'di apprendimento', dotate di una sistematicità instabile ma riconoscibile ed autonoma rispetto alle varietà target, che costituiscono il prodotto finale del percorso di acquisizione. Secondo questa prospettiva, la categoria descrittiva, e ancor più quella esplicativa, di 'errore' è non solo riduttiva, ma anche potenzialmente fuorviante per una caratterizzazione della sistematicità delle varietà di apprendimento; è quanto, da Bley Vroman in avanti, è noto come comparative fallacy. Nella ricerca di regole proprie delle varietà di apprendimento, la linguistica acquisizionale ha dovuto piuttosto fronteggiare due difficoltà, metodologiche e teoriche ad un tempo, legate all'alto numero di "eccezioni" alle regole stesse, ovvero all'alta variabilità e instabilità che le regole, comunque individuate, presentano solitamente nelle varietà di apprendimento, in virtù del loro carattere di manifestazioni di una competenza transitoria. Da un lato, la difficoltà di definire criteri condivisi e metodologicamente fondati per stabilire l'esistenza di regolarità nei dati, anche quando queste non si manifestano nella totalità dei casi pertinenti; d'altro lato, la discussione se sia legittimo e, in che misura, individuare margini di variazione alle regole, e se questi debbano essere descritti come fatti di competenza o di esecuzione.
The 5th volume of the Studi AItLA Series is dedicated to the dynamics of interaction in a variety... more The 5th volume of the Studi AItLA Series is dedicated to the dynamics of interaction in a variety of situational contexts. The subject is explored with reference to its applications in various professional areas - medicine, law, interpreting and mediating - as well as according to different theoretical perspectives, highlightening the intrinsic dialogical character of verbal language from both traditional and innovative points of view.
Il plurilinguismo e ormai di casa nelle classi della scuola italiana. E la presenza di alunni por... more Il plurilinguismo e ormai di casa nelle classi della scuola italiana. E la presenza di alunni portatori di diversita linguistica non rappresenta certo una novita per la nostra scuola. A partire dalla riflessione sull’educazione linguistica sorta e sviluppatasi nel contesto italiano (Coste, 2009), il dibattito europeo sulla valorizzazione delle risorse del plurilinguismo ha portato alla creazione di strumenti di progettazione come il Quadro di Riferimento per gli Approcci Plurali (Candelier et al. , 2012) attraverso cui orientare la costruzione di percorsi didattici di educazione plurilingue. Sullo sfondo di queste riflessioni e a partire da una preliminare indagine sugli atteggiamenti degli insegnanti rispetto al ruolo del plurilinguismo in classe (Sordella, 2015), il contributo presenta un’esperienza didattica condotta in alcune scuole primarie torinesi, nell’ambito del progetto Noi e le nostre lingue , volta alla sensibilizzazione alla diversita linguistica e a stimolare la rifles...
Marina Chini, professor of Linguistics in Pavia, passed away in July 2018. The paper deals with h... more Marina Chini, professor of Linguistics in Pavia, passed away in July 2018. The paper deals with her work in the domains of Sociolinguistics and Acquisition of languages in migration, Text linguistics, Applied Linguistics, discussing her legacy for future research.
Yesandnoallow an easy management of talk-in-interaction and, unlike other classes of discourse ma... more Yesandnoallow an easy management of talk-in-interaction and, unlike other classes of discourse markers, occur from early stages of L2 acquisition onwards (Perdue 1993; Bernini 1996, 2000; Andorno 2008a for L2 Italian). However, problems in their use can arise in replies to negative utterances such as “Didn’t you hear the news?”, “You didn’t read the news, did you?”, as in this case speakers have to choose one of the two conflicting values possibly encoded by the particles — either asserting a positive/negative polarity for the proposition at issue or confirming/reversing the negative polarity conveyed by the previous speaker. Since Pope (1973), a distinction has been drawn between languages with polarity-oriented particles, such as Englishyes/no, and languages with agreement-oriented particles, such as Japanesehai/iie. The study compares the use of Italiansì/noand other routines such as echo-constructions in native speakers and L2 learners with either a polarity-oriented or an agree...
Abstract On the background of the well-known distinction between polarity and agreement particles... more Abstract On the background of the well-known distinction between polarity and agreement particles ( Moravsik, 1971 , Pope, 1973 ), the Italian particles si / no have been described both as polarity markers (cf. Bernini, 1995 ) and agreement markers (cf. Bazzanella, 1995 ). While these two values are often combined in actual speech (si = positive polarity, agreement; no = negative polarity, disagreement), they conflict when speakers have to reply to negative utterances. For instance, in replying to a negative question (e.g. “Didn’t you read this book?”), the particle no would either assign a negative polarity for the content under discussion (“I didn’t”) or reject the negative polarity proposed by the question (“That's not true” = “I did”). Replies to negative utterances are therefore a crucial context to investigate for a deeper understanding of the use of particles in short replies. The study investigates the use of Italian si / no and other possible replying options at work in short replies to negative questions and assertions, in data collected ad hoc with two dialogic tasks (Interviews, Map Tasks). The analysis compares positive and negative short replies to both assertions and questions. Results show that si / no are mainly used as polarity markers, but the possibility of using no as a marker of disagreement arises when conversationally marked (dispreferred, according to Pomerantz, 1984 ) moves are at play: in replies rejecting the previous turn assumptions (vs. confirming replies) and in replies to assertions (vs. replies to questions). In the same contexts, the use of more explicit markers increases on both the (dis)agreement and the polarity axes respectively, through the use of further particles and frequent recourse to echo replies, especially in the form of verbal echoes. In providing a data-based description of the use of Italian particles, results offer support to the markedness hypotheses proposed for a typology of short-reply systems ( Farkas and Bruce, 2010 ).
... Apprendenti guidati e spontanei a confronto. Cecilia Andorno* 0. Introduzione La capacità di ... more ... Apprendenti guidati e spontanei a confronto. Cecilia Andorno* 0. Introduzione La capacità di usare il linguaggio verbale caratterizza la nostra specie al punto che si ricorre spesso all'idea che esista nell'essere umano un “istinto del linguaggio”. ...
... However, Cecilia Andorno is responsible for par. 2, 3.1, 3.2, 4; Grazia Interlandi is respons... more ... However, Cecilia Andorno is responsible for par. 2, 3.1, 3.2, 4; Grazia Interlandi is responsible for par. ... Studi italiani di linguistica teorica ed applicata (SILTA) 26, 449-478. Albano Leoni, F. et al.(eds.), 2004, Il parlato italiano, CD-Rom, M. D'Auria Editore, Napoli. ...
The low academic achievement of children with an immigrant background is a well known problem in ... more The low academic achievement of children with an immigrant background is a well known problem in the European context as elsewhere; multilingualism is not a drawback per se, as widely shown in the relevant literature, but the access to bilingual educational programs including both the family and the majority languages emerge in these contexts as a crucial requirement for an adequate development of academic abilities. Bilingual education programs are scarcely available in Italian schools, partly because of the children's diversified linguistic background. From these premises, the project "Con parole mie" (In my own words) aimed at exploring an alternative way to enhance bilingual education, in promoting multilingual communication practices about school activities within the families during homework sessions. Thanks to the cooperation with teachers in the design and implementation of interactional tasks, and the tutoring role of bilingual speakers, the dialogue sessions show promising opportunities for the enhancement of children "competence-in-performance" (Weigand 2010) concerning schooling communicative practices in both the home and the school language.
The paper deals with attitudes and opinions shared by teachers concerning grammatical notions to... more The paper deals with attitudes and opinions shared by teachers concerning grammatical notions to be adopted for the teaching of grammar. Teachers involved in a training course about Grammar teaching are asked to analyse some reference grammars of Italian and comment about their usefulness for grammar teaching in school. Their answers show that a long-lasting tradition of pedagogic grammar description oriented towards a simplistic overlapping of semantics and morpho-syntax still endures in teachers metalinguistic competence and strongly drives their choices in understanding and teaching grammatical notions
When referring to the distinction between polarity and agreement particles (cf. Moravsik, 1971; P... more When referring to the distinction between polarity and agreement particles (cf. Moravsik, 1971; Pope, 1973), Italian sí / no can be described as polarity particles (cf. Bernini, 1995), as is the case for correspondent particles in other Romance languages. Indeed, speakers of Romance languages use them in similar ways in replies to positive utterances, where the positive particle also encodes agreement, and the negative particle also encodes disagreement. Instead, Romance languages cope in different ways with the conflicting case of replies to negative utterances (e.g. "Didn't you read this book?"), where replies would encode either disagreement and assertion of a positive content ("That's not true, I read it") or agreement and assertion of a negative content ("You're right, I didn't"). Replies to negative utterances are therefore a crucial context for a deeper understanding of such particles (cf. Bernini, 1990 and 1995 for similar suggestions). Contrary to other Romance languages, such as French, Romanian or Portuguese, not much attention has been paid so far to this issue in Italian. The current study investigates the use of sí/no in replies to negative utterances, in two sets of elicited data: interviews and Map Tasks. The analysis has compared the use of particles in confirming and reversing replies, as well as in replies to assertions and to questions. The results show that the use of no (but not of sì) according to the (dis)agreement axis is documented, especially when conversationally marked moves are at play: in reversing (vs. confirming) replies and in replies to assertions (vs. replies to questions). Such an asymmetry is in line with cross-linguistic tendencies already observed in other (Romance and non-Romance) languages (cf. Bernini, 1990; Farkas & Bruce, 2010).
Speech is primary in human communication from many points of views. In the evolution of the human... more Speech is primary in human communication from many points of views. In the evolution of the human species, linguistic signs have been realized first orally. In the history of humankind only a relatively small number of languages had a written form. Until recently, only a minority of people had access to writing. The spoken uses are predominant in the formation of our experience and in our relationships with other humans. Most of our actions involve the use of language in spoken form. In short, the speech mode shapes the entire communicative life of individuals and communities and therefore represents the native usage of language. Based on these premises, this book aims to place spontaneous spoken texts at the centre of linguistic analysis because the inclusion of speech usage in general grammar is necessary not only to account for spoken communication, but also to have a more realistic idea of what a language is as a whole. It follows that linguistic analysis requires not only the k...
La nozione di 'errore' sembra specificamente attagliarsi all'ambito degli studi sull&... more La nozione di 'errore' sembra specificamente attagliarsi all'ambito degli studi sull'acquisizione delle lingue. Dalla prospettiva del ricercatore che lavora su dati di varietà native pienamente sviluppate, la presenza di errori, intesi come strutture non conformi alle regole della varietà nativa, o target, è il fenomeno che più immediatamente caratterizza i dati di apprendimento. Tuttavia, dopo una fase embrionale orientata all'analisi delle regolarità presenti nell'ambito degli errori, la linguistica acquisizionale, a partire dalla nozione di 'interlingua', ha piuttosto privilegiato la prospettiva della ricerca delle regole che caratterizzano la competenza transitoria degli apprendenti e danno quindi luogo a varietà linguistiche, dette 'di apprendimento', dotate di una sistematicità instabile ma riconoscibile ed autonoma rispetto alle varietà target, che costituiscono il prodotto finale del percorso di acquisizione. Secondo questa prospettiva, la categoria descrittiva, e ancor più quella esplicativa, di 'errore' è non solo riduttiva, ma anche potenzialmente fuorviante per una caratterizzazione della sistematicità delle varietà di apprendimento; è quanto, da Bley Vroman in avanti, è noto come comparative fallacy. Nella ricerca di regole proprie delle varietà di apprendimento, la linguistica acquisizionale ha dovuto piuttosto fronteggiare due difficoltà, metodologiche e teoriche ad un tempo, legate all'alto numero di "eccezioni" alle regole stesse, ovvero all'alta variabilità e instabilità che le regole, comunque individuate, presentano solitamente nelle varietà di apprendimento, in virtù del loro carattere di manifestazioni di una competenza transitoria. Da un lato, la difficoltà di definire criteri condivisi e metodologicamente fondati per stabilire l'esistenza di regolarità nei dati, anche quando queste non si manifestano nella totalità dei casi pertinenti; d'altro lato, la discussione se sia legittimo e, in che misura, individuare margini di variazione alle regole, e se questi debbano essere descritti come fatti di competenza o di esecuzione.
The 5th volume of the Studi AItLA Series is dedicated to the dynamics of interaction in a variety... more The 5th volume of the Studi AItLA Series is dedicated to the dynamics of interaction in a variety of situational contexts. The subject is explored with reference to its applications in various professional areas - medicine, law, interpreting and mediating - as well as according to different theoretical perspectives, highlightening the intrinsic dialogical character of verbal language from both traditional and innovative points of view.
Il plurilinguismo e ormai di casa nelle classi della scuola italiana. E la presenza di alunni por... more Il plurilinguismo e ormai di casa nelle classi della scuola italiana. E la presenza di alunni portatori di diversita linguistica non rappresenta certo una novita per la nostra scuola. A partire dalla riflessione sull’educazione linguistica sorta e sviluppatasi nel contesto italiano (Coste, 2009), il dibattito europeo sulla valorizzazione delle risorse del plurilinguismo ha portato alla creazione di strumenti di progettazione come il Quadro di Riferimento per gli Approcci Plurali (Candelier et al. , 2012) attraverso cui orientare la costruzione di percorsi didattici di educazione plurilingue. Sullo sfondo di queste riflessioni e a partire da una preliminare indagine sugli atteggiamenti degli insegnanti rispetto al ruolo del plurilinguismo in classe (Sordella, 2015), il contributo presenta un’esperienza didattica condotta in alcune scuole primarie torinesi, nell’ambito del progetto Noi e le nostre lingue , volta alla sensibilizzazione alla diversita linguistica e a stimolare la rifles...
Marina Chini, professor of Linguistics in Pavia, passed away in July 2018. The paper deals with h... more Marina Chini, professor of Linguistics in Pavia, passed away in July 2018. The paper deals with her work in the domains of Sociolinguistics and Acquisition of languages in migration, Text linguistics, Applied Linguistics, discussing her legacy for future research.
Yesandnoallow an easy management of talk-in-interaction and, unlike other classes of discourse ma... more Yesandnoallow an easy management of talk-in-interaction and, unlike other classes of discourse markers, occur from early stages of L2 acquisition onwards (Perdue 1993; Bernini 1996, 2000; Andorno 2008a for L2 Italian). However, problems in their use can arise in replies to negative utterances such as “Didn’t you hear the news?”, “You didn’t read the news, did you?”, as in this case speakers have to choose one of the two conflicting values possibly encoded by the particles — either asserting a positive/negative polarity for the proposition at issue or confirming/reversing the negative polarity conveyed by the previous speaker. Since Pope (1973), a distinction has been drawn between languages with polarity-oriented particles, such as Englishyes/no, and languages with agreement-oriented particles, such as Japanesehai/iie. The study compares the use of Italiansì/noand other routines such as echo-constructions in native speakers and L2 learners with either a polarity-oriented or an agree...
Abstract On the background of the well-known distinction between polarity and agreement particles... more Abstract On the background of the well-known distinction between polarity and agreement particles ( Moravsik, 1971 , Pope, 1973 ), the Italian particles si / no have been described both as polarity markers (cf. Bernini, 1995 ) and agreement markers (cf. Bazzanella, 1995 ). While these two values are often combined in actual speech (si = positive polarity, agreement; no = negative polarity, disagreement), they conflict when speakers have to reply to negative utterances. For instance, in replying to a negative question (e.g. “Didn’t you read this book?”), the particle no would either assign a negative polarity for the content under discussion (“I didn’t”) or reject the negative polarity proposed by the question (“That's not true” = “I did”). Replies to negative utterances are therefore a crucial context to investigate for a deeper understanding of the use of particles in short replies. The study investigates the use of Italian si / no and other possible replying options at work in short replies to negative questions and assertions, in data collected ad hoc with two dialogic tasks (Interviews, Map Tasks). The analysis compares positive and negative short replies to both assertions and questions. Results show that si / no are mainly used as polarity markers, but the possibility of using no as a marker of disagreement arises when conversationally marked (dispreferred, according to Pomerantz, 1984 ) moves are at play: in replies rejecting the previous turn assumptions (vs. confirming replies) and in replies to assertions (vs. replies to questions). In the same contexts, the use of more explicit markers increases on both the (dis)agreement and the polarity axes respectively, through the use of further particles and frequent recourse to echo replies, especially in the form of verbal echoes. In providing a data-based description of the use of Italian particles, results offer support to the markedness hypotheses proposed for a typology of short-reply systems ( Farkas and Bruce, 2010 ).
... Apprendenti guidati e spontanei a confronto. Cecilia Andorno* 0. Introduzione La capacità di ... more ... Apprendenti guidati e spontanei a confronto. Cecilia Andorno* 0. Introduzione La capacità di usare il linguaggio verbale caratterizza la nostra specie al punto che si ricorre spesso all'idea che esista nell'essere umano un “istinto del linguaggio”. ...
... However, Cecilia Andorno is responsible for par. 2, 3.1, 3.2, 4; Grazia Interlandi is respons... more ... However, Cecilia Andorno is responsible for par. 2, 3.1, 3.2, 4; Grazia Interlandi is responsible for par. ... Studi italiani di linguistica teorica ed applicata (SILTA) 26, 449-478. Albano Leoni, F. et al.(eds.), 2004, Il parlato italiano, CD-Rom, M. D'Auria Editore, Napoli. ...
The low academic achievement of children with an immigrant background is a well known problem in ... more The low academic achievement of children with an immigrant background is a well known problem in the European context as elsewhere; multilingualism is not a drawback per se, as widely shown in the relevant literature, but the access to bilingual educational programs including both the family and the majority languages emerge in these contexts as a crucial requirement for an adequate development of academic abilities. Bilingual education programs are scarcely available in Italian schools, partly because of the children's diversified linguistic background. From these premises, the project "Con parole mie" (In my own words) aimed at exploring an alternative way to enhance bilingual education, in promoting multilingual communication practices about school activities within the families during homework sessions. Thanks to the cooperation with teachers in the design and implementation of interactional tasks, and the tutoring role of bilingual speakers, the dialogue sessions show promising opportunities for the enhancement of children "competence-in-performance" (Weigand 2010) concerning schooling communicative practices in both the home and the school language.
The paper deals with attitudes and opinions shared by teachers concerning grammatical notions to... more The paper deals with attitudes and opinions shared by teachers concerning grammatical notions to be adopted for the teaching of grammar. Teachers involved in a training course about Grammar teaching are asked to analyse some reference grammars of Italian and comment about their usefulness for grammar teaching in school. Their answers show that a long-lasting tradition of pedagogic grammar description oriented towards a simplistic overlapping of semantics and morpho-syntax still endures in teachers metalinguistic competence and strongly drives their choices in understanding and teaching grammatical notions
Il volume adotta la prospettiva degli alunni di origine straniera per ricostruire gli effetti soc... more Il volume adotta la prospettiva degli alunni di origine straniera per ricostruire gli effetti sociolinguistici del fenomeno migratorio in Italia, in termini di vitalità, mantenimento e uso delle lingue immigrate. Un testo per sociolinguisti, studiosi degli aspetti linguistici della migrazione, docenti e soggetti attivi nella mediazione linguistico-culturale.
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