Immigration, Integration and Dialects: Reflections on a recent Italian government advertising campaign

Abstract

Examines the evidence for a dialect revival in light of the functions that dialects are serving in contemporary Italy. It argues that the use of dialect in a governmental publicity campaign has a symbolic and ideological value, not necessarily connected to any real world patterns of language choice, and that the ideological references and appeals made in the campaign suggest that the target audience of the campaign is as much as the general Italian public as immigrants themselves.