From trilingualism to monolingualism? Sicilian-Italians in ... files/2010 Cavallaro From... ·...

0165–2516/10/0206–0109 Int’l. J. Soc. Lang. 206 (2010), pp. 109–154©WalterdeGruyter DOI10.1515/IJSL.2010.051

From trilingualism to monolingualism? Sicilian-Italians in Australia

FRANCESCO CAVALLARO

Abstract

Australia still has a vibrant linguistic heritage, both from its indigenous people and the people that have left their countries of origin to call Australia home. The Italian community in Australia is the largest non-English-speaking group. However, like all other established immigrant groups, the Italians have been showing a steady shift away from their Italian languages to the use of English only. An analysis of recent censuses and data, obtained through recordings in the home and by participant observation in a transactional domain, pre-sented in this article makes it clear that there are little grounds for optimism on the maintenance of either Italian or any of the Italian regional varieties in Australia.

Keywords: language shift; Italian; Sicilian; Australia.

1. Australia’smulticulturalmake-up

Australia is trulyamultilingual country.Ethnologue (Gordon2005) reportsthatthereare231livinglanguagesinAustralia.Ofthese,about100areAb-originalandTorresIslandlanguagesandtheothersarelanguagesotherthanEnglishspokenbyitsimmigrantcommunities(seealsoClyne2005).Intotal,accordingtothe2006census,slightlymorethan4.4millionpeople,or22%ofAustralians,speakalanguageotherthanEnglish.Australiahasexperiencedagradualchangeinthemake-upofitspopulation.

FromTable1wecanseethatthebulkoftheimmigrantpopulationbeforethe1990swasfromEurope.Thelasttwodecadeshaveseenadeclineinthenum-berofEuropeanscoming into thecountryandan increase inAsian,mainlyChineseandVietnamesemigrants.TheItaly-borngroupisstillthelargestnon-English-speakinggroupinAustralia.1Accordingtothe2006census,theItaliancommunityconsistsofaround220,500peoplewhowereborninItaly.Thisis

110 F. Cavallaro

Table1.

Popu

latio

n of

Aus

tral

ia b

y bi

rth

plac

e

1954

a

'000

1961

a

'000

1971

a

'000

1981

a

'000

1996

b

'000

2001

b

'000

2006

b

'000

UnitedKingdom

c664.2

755.4

1,081.3

1,075.8

1,072.5

1,036.2

1,038.2

New

Zealand

43.4

47.0

74.1

160.7

291.4

355.7

389.5

Italy

119.9

228.3

288.3

275.0

259.1

238.5

220.5

China

d

10.3

14.5

17.1

25.2

111.1

142.8

206.1

Vietnam

nana

na40.7

151.1

154.8

159.8

India

12.0

14.2

28.7

41.0

77.5

95.5

147.1

Philippines

0.2

0.4

2.3

14.8

92.9

103.9

120.5

Greece

25.9

77.3

159.0

145.8

126.5

116.4

109.9

SouthAfrica

6.0

7.9

12.2

26.5

55.7

79.4

104.1

Germany

65.4

109.3

110.0

109.3

110.6

108.2

106.5

Malaysia

2.3

5.8

14.4

30.5

76.2

78.9

92.3

Netherlands

52.0

102.1

98.6

95.1

87.9

83.3

78.9

Lebanon

3.9

7.3

23.9

49.4

70.2

71.3

74.8

HongKong(SARofC

hina)

1.6

3.5

5.4

15.3

68.4

67.1

71.8

Totaloverseas-born

1,285.8

1,778.3

2,545.9

2,950.9

3,908.2

4,105.6

4,416.1

Australian-born

7,700.1

8,729.4

10,173.1

11,388.8

13,277.8

13,629.5

14,072.9

Totalpopulatione

8,986.5

10,508.2

12,719.5

14,516.9

17,892.4

18,972.3

20,061.6

na,notavailable;a ,censuscounts;b ,estimatedresidentpopulationat30June;c,includesIrelandin1954,1961,and1971;d ,excludesS

pecialAdm

inistrative

Regions(H

ongKongandMacau)andTaiwanProvince;e ,includescountryofbirth“notstated”and“atsea.”

Sour

ce:AustralianBureauofStatistics(2007,2008a,2008a).

Sicilian-Italians in Australia 111

1.1%ofthetotalAustralianpopulation.However,thisprimacyisunderthreatbytheChinese-bornandVietnamese-borngroups.TheItaliancommunityinAustraliahasalsogonethroughsignificantchanges,particularlyinitslinguisticmake-upandthesechangeswillbethefocusofthisarticle.

2. TheItaliancommunityinAustralia

Sincethemid-1970stwoaspectsconcerningItaliansinAustraliahavecometotheforefront:theagingoftheItaly-bornmembersofthecommunityandthegrowingnumbersofthesecondandsubsequentgenerations.Indeed,themainchangethattheItaliancommunityhasundergoneinrecenttimesisthatitisnowwellintoitsthirdandfourthgenerations.Censusdatashowthatthenum-berofsecond-generationItalian-AustralianshasbecomelargerthanthatoftheItaly-bornpopulation.In1976thesizeofthesecondgenerationwas86%thatofthefirstgeneration.In1981itwas18.5%biggerthanthefirstgeneration(Rosoli1989;Ware1981).By1991thesecondgenerationwas29.2%largerthan the first generation. By 1996 it had overtaken the first generation by40.2%.Thesefigures,however,donotincludethirdandlatergenerationItalo-Australians,whichPrice(1986)reportedalreadynumberedaround60,000in1978.The2006censusreportsthatover830,000peopleclaimedsomeItalianancestry (Table 2). Thismakes the total number of Italo-Australians about4.1%oftheentireAustralianpopulation.

AdetailedanalysisoftheItaliancommunityinAustraliaisbeyondthescopeofthisarticleandhasbeendealtwithelsewhere(Cavallaro2003,2010).Inthisarticle,thelinguisticmake-upoftheItalo-Australiancommunityandgenera-tionalshifttospeakingEnglishwillbepresentedandanalyzed.

3. TheItalianlanguageinAustralia

Accordingtothe1991census,418,804peopleinAustraliareportedspeakingItalian at home, an increaseof0.7% from the415,765 in1986.Kippet al.(1995)positthatthefiguresinthecensuscouldreallybeanunderestimateoftherealuseofcommunitylanguagesinAustralia.Theyarguethatthecensus

Table2. Ancestry by country of birth of parents

Ancestry Bothparentsbornoverseas

Fatheronlybornoverseas

Motheronlybornoverseas

BothparentsborninAustralia

Total

Italian 435,338 103,264 38,466 255,226 832,294

Source: AustralianBureauofStatistics(2007),2006CensusofPopulationandHousing.

112 F. Cavallaro

questiononlyaskedforthelanguagespokenathomeanddidnottakeintoac-countthatmanypeople,especiallythesecondgeneration,mayusetheircom-munity language at the home of their parents and/or relatives, and at othercommunityfunctions,butstatethatEnglishistheirhomelanguage.TherehasbeenasteadydeclineinthenumberofItalianspeakerssince1991,withthe2006censusreportingthatthenumberofItalianspeakershadfallento316,893.ThetenlanguagesotherthanEnglish(LOTEs)mostspokenathomearelistedinTable3.AsTable3shows,ItalianisstillthelanguageotherthanEnglishmostwidely

spoken inAustralia, although the speakers Cantonese,Mandarin, andViet-namesearestillincreasing.However,farfrombeingalinguisticallyhomoge-neouscommunity,theItaliancommunityinAustraliareflectsthecomplexlin-guisticsituation inItaly.MostItalians thatmigratedtoAustraliaonlyspeaktheirlocaldialectsand/oraformofitaliano popolare.2VeryfewspokeStan-dardItalianandevenfewerspokeEnglish.Language,then,hasalwaysbeenaveryimportantissueforItaliansand,inAustralia,Italiansquicklyrealizedthateconomicsuccesswasassociatedwithhowwellandhowfasttheyand,espe-cially,theirchildren,masteredtheEnglishlanguage.AcquiringtheuseofEng-lishhasbeendifficultformanyfirstgenerationmigrants.However,theoppo-site is truewith the subsequent generations. In otherwords, growing up inAustraliahasmeantthatchildreninevitablyacquireEnglish,andmanyfailtodevelopanactivecompetenceinanyformof“Italian”oroftheirparents’dia-lect(seediscussionsinBettoni2003,2007;BettoniandRubino1996;Rubino2002;andWalker2003).

Table3. The most spoken LOTEs in Australia (number of speakers)

Language 1991 1996 2001 2006

Italian 418,804 375,754 352,157 316,893Greek 285,700 269,775 263,075 252,222Cantonese* — 202,494 224,713 244,554Arabic** 162,857 177,606 208,736 243,662Mandarin* — 92,360 138,742 220,596Vietnamese 110,187 146,267 173,610 194,858Spanish 90,479 91,253 93,181 97,998German 113,336 98,810 75,810 75,634Macedonian 64,429 71,347 71,893 67,831Croatian 130,739# 69,152 69,628 63,615Polish 66,932 62,771 58,854 53,390

1991dataadaptedfromKippetal.(1995).#,inthe1991censusthiscategoryincludedSerbian/Serbo-Croatian;*,inthe1991censusalltheChineselanguagesweregroupedtogether;**,includesLebanese.Source: AustralianBureauofStatistics(2006).


4. Linguisticmake-upoftheItaliancommunity

TheItalo-Australiansformaverycomplexspeechcommunity.Thisisindirectcontrasttothepopular(buterroneous)beliefthatItaliansspeak“Italian.”Inactualfactthecommunityislinguisticallyfragmentedwithitsmembersspeak-ingeitheradialect,aregionalorpopularvarietyofItalianorStandardItalian,or amixture of all these varieties (Rubino 2000, 2006;Chiro and Smolicz2002).ThislinguisticfragmentationisafactorthatcontributestotheItaliancommunity’sintergenerationalshifttoEnglish.Onefurtheraspectcompoundingthecomplexityofthelinguisticmake-up

oftheItaliancommunityisthatinAustraliaallthese“Italian”speakersareincontactwith theEnglish language.This close contactwith theEnglish lan-guage has given rise toways of speaking that are unique toAustralia.Thevarieties (for there are various) spoken inAustralia are often referred to as“Italo-Australian” or “Australitalian” (Andreoni 1967).These terms are ap-pliedconventionallytothedifferentvarietiesofItalianandItaliandialectsthatarenoticeablyinfluencedbyEnglish.“Australitalian”isdescribedasaspeechvarietythatisobviouslyItalian(ordialect)butthatexhibitsanoticeableinflu-ence(lexical,phonological,syntactic,pragmatic,orsemantic)fromtheEng-lishlanguageinAustralia(seeAndreoni1967,1978;Bettoni1981,1985a,1987;Comin1971,1985;Leoni1981,1990;Rando1967,1968,1984;Ryan1973).3ThesevarietiesareheavilystigmatizedbothbytheEnglish-speakingmajor-

ityandbymembersoftheItalo-Australiancommunity.InaseriesofstudiestotesttheattitudesoftheItaliancommunityinSydneytowardEnglishandthedifferentvarietiesofItalianspokeninAustralia,BettoniandGibbons(1988,1991)foundthatEnglishandStandardItalianratedfavorablybothonsolidar-ity(thatis,onlikeable/unpleasantandmate/strangeraxis)andpower(thatis,onrich/poorandeducated/uneducatedaxis)traits;a“lightmixture”consistingofsomeEnglishtransfersonaregionalItalian(thatis,anItalianwithaheavylocalaccent)basisratedneutralorunmarkedforthesametraits;anddialectscoredclosetothemeanforsolidaritybutslightlylessforpower.However,a“heavymixture”consistingofasubstantialnumberofEnglishtransfersonadialectbasewasfoundtobestronglystigmatizedonalltraits.Languageatti-tudestudies(BettoniandGibbons1988,1991;CallanandGallois1982;Hoggetal.1989)havealsoshownthatallItalianvarietiesinAustraliaholdlowerstatuspositionsincomparisontotheEnglishlanguage.EvenStandardItalianinAustraliaisratedrelativelylowinimportanceandprestigewhencomparedtoEnglish.ItisalsotruethatinrecenttimesItalian,alongsideotherlanguages,hasgainedsomeprestigeinAustralia,mainlythroughtheassociationofthelanguagewith the successofmulticulturalpolitics;particularly thoseof thenewlyelectedLaborPartywithitsmorepositivefocusonmulti-ethniciden-tity.Thismoreliberalpoliticalenvironmenthascoincidedwithaperiodwhen

114 F. Cavallaro

Italyhasseenariseinitsinternationalprofileandasmallwaveofwealthyandwell-educatedItalianmigrantsarrivinginAustralia(Baldassar2005).Researchers(Smolicz1983;Haugen1977;GonzoandSaltarelli1983;see

alsoClyne2003),however,arguethatthedevelopmentofcontactlanguages,suchasAustralitalian,arisingfromthemixingofthehostlanguagewiththeethniclanguageisforthesakeofbettercommunicationwithinthecommunityandshouldnotbediscouragedbymaintainingthelinguisticnormsofthecoun-tryoforigin.Clyne(1991)proposesthat,becauseofitsinconsistencyandlackofnorms,AustralitalianispurelyaconfirmationoftheinfluenceofEnglishontheItalianvarieties.Hestressesthefact“that thereareasmanyvarietiesofcommunitylanguagesinAustraliaastherearespeakers”(Clyne1991:162);andthisisbecause:

thenatureanddegreeofinfluenceandgeneraladaptationofthebaselanguagetotheAustraliancontextwilldependlargelyontheindividualspeaker’sactivitiesandlife-styleaswell as their experienceofboth languagesandcultures. [...]Actually theQueenslandcanecutter,thetobaccofarmerinNorthernNSW,theWesternAustralianfisherman,theacademicandthecityfruitererwillallhavedifferentAustralianneedstobesatisfiedbytheItalianlanguage.(Clyne1991:162)

Wecanconsider,therefore,thatthe“Italian”spokeninAustraliaisacontinuumthathasStandardItalianwithnointerferenceatoneendandheavilyanglicizedregionalvarietiesattheother,andinbetweenthesetwoendsthereisalargenumberofregionalandpopularvarietieswithdifferingamountsof interfer-ences.Thishasledtoaparticularlinguisticmake-upoftheItaliancommunity.Within the Italiancommunity inAustralia, therefore, there seems tobea

prestigeladdercomprisingvariousrungs.Australitaliancanbefoundonthebottomrung;accordingtoBettoni(1985a,1989),allocatingthebottomrungtoAustralitalianisduetoalinkingoftraditionalItalianvalues,whichholddia-lectsinlowesteem,andofItalo-Australianvalues,whichdonottolerateEng-lishinterferences(seealsoHoggetal.1989).Onthenextrungswefinddia-lects,regional,popular,andStandardItalian,andthetoprungisoccupiedbyEnglish.ThereasonwhyStandardItalianisnotregardedasprestigiousasEng-lishisbecause,intheAustraliancontext,itisclassifiedasaminoritylanguageand,hence,carriesthestigmaofaninferior(toEnglish)language.Therefore,itisseenbytheItalo-Australiansaslessimportantandashavingalessercom-municativeefficacythantheEnglishlanguage,eventhoughitisclearthattheItalian community regardStandard Italian as theirmost prestigious variety.Italianhasthestatusofanationalandliterarylanguage.Henceitscovertpres-tigewithintheItaliancommunityishighandthereisevidenceofItalianhav-ingacquiredcovertprestigeamongsecond,third,andlatergenerationItalo-Australians(Rubino2002;Migliorino2000),althoughithasnotbeenenough


toarrestthecommunity’sshifttoEnglish.Itisimportanttopointoutthatnotallminoritylanguagesareregardedequallyasinferior:historically,inAustralia,FrenchandGermanhavebeenheldinhighesteemandwerethedefaultforeignlanguages taught at secondary school.More recently, following subsequentwaves of economic success, Japanese, Indonesian, andMandarin have alsoseenariseintheirstatuswithinAustralia.Therefore,justaswithintheItaliancommunitythereexistsaprestigeladderofItalianvarieties,sowithinthegen-eralAustraliancommunitythereexistsanotherprestigeladdermadeupofthedifferentlanguagesspokenwithinit.Giventhecomplexlinguisticsdynamicsoutlinedabove,itisnotsurprising

thattheItalo-AustraliancommunityhasseenconsiderableshiftawayfromallItalianvarietiestotheuseofEnglish.

5. LanguageshiftintheItaliancommunity

ManyfactorshaveimpactedontheuseofcommunitylanguagesinAustralia(foramoredetaileddiscussiononthefactorssupportingoropposinglanguageshift,seeCavallaro2005,2010).TheschoolingobtainedinAustraliahasalsocontributed inamajorway toward thedecrease in theuseof the languagesother than English in this country (Clyne 1982). Schooling inAustralia ismainlyimpartedinEnglishexceptforthosestudentswhochoosetostudyan-otherlanguageasaschoolsubject.Sothefact thatchildrenofItalianback-groundarenotschooledintheirmothertongueisamajorcontributingfactortotheirshiftingtotheuseofEnglishonly.Theissueofschoolingwillbetakenupagainlaterinthisarticle.Italian(inallitsvarieties)andItaliandialectsinAustraliaarebeingreplaced

byEnglishmorerapidly than thecommunity’sstrongdemographic(both innumbersand,inmanycases,concentration)situationwouldsuggest(Bettoni1985a,1985b,1989;BettoniandGibbons1988).Thelargedemographicbasepresented at the beginning of this article is not ensuring the promotion ofItalian languagemaintenance.This shift in language use is not uncommonwhendifferentlanguagescomeintocontact,andinmanydifferentpartsoftheworldmoreprestigiousvarietiesarebeingpreferredbyspeechcommunitiesinplaceofthetraditionallanguage(Fasold1984;Fishmanetal.1985;Gal1979;Ogechi2003;Mugambi2002;CavallaroandSerwe2010).Allresearchpointstothefactthatthesecondandsubsequentgenerationsin

AustraliaofItaliandescentspeaklessandlessItaliananddialect.Asfarasthedialectsareconcerned,theirweakeningpositioninthecommunityisnosur-priseaseveninItalytheirpositionhasbeenunderminedbypopular,regional,andStandardItalian,althoughmorerecentdataseemtopointtowardastabili-zationintheuseofdialectsincertaindomains,suchasfamily(Lepschy2002),

116 F. Cavallaro

and maybe even a slight strengthening of dialect use with colleagues andfriends(Tosi2008).ItalianmigrantsinAustraliahavealsohadtoundergoaprocessof“Italianization”duetotheexposuretoandmixingwithpeoplefromdifferent regions of Italy (DeMauro 1970;Turchetta 2005).What this hasmeantisthatthroughcommunicatingwithotherItalo-Australiansfromdiffer-entdialectbackgrounds,manyhaveacquiredaworkingknowledgeofavari-etyof“Italian.”GibbonsandAshcroft(1995)alsofoundthatmanywithintheItaliancommunitydonotseemtoregarddialectsaspartofanItalo-Australianidentity.Thisisespeciallytrueformanyofthenewergenerations.Mostofthemigrantsare,bynature,upwardlymobileandsincemostpeoplemigratedtoAustraliatobuildabetterlifeforthemselvesandtheirfamily,theyarethere-foreawareofthehigherprestigeofStandardItalianandEnglish(BettoniandGibbons1988).A number of researchers have proposed differing reasons for the Italian

community’sshifttoEnglishinAustralia.Throughananalysisofcensusdata,Clyne(1987)positsthattwoveryimportantfactorsaidingtheshiftarethehighrateofexogamyinthesecondgenerationandthelowrateofliteracyinthefirst.BettoniandGibbons(1988)proposethefactthatveryfewfirst-generationItal-iansspeakStandardItalianasastrongfactoraidingtheshift,aswellasbeingacommunitylinguisticallyfragmentedbyitsmanydifferentregionalorpop-ularvarieties.WhensecondgenerationItalo-Australianchildrenapproachschoolagethey

showgreatvariationintheirlinguisticrepertoireandintheirproficiencyinthelanguage(s)theyspeak.Thisproficiencycanbedefinedaccordingtowhattheirmothertongueis:

1. theirparents’dialect;or2. popularorregionalItalianif(a)theirparentsspeakdifferentdialects,or

(b)iftheareatheyliveinhasmanyspeakersofdifferentdialects;or3. StandardItalianiftheparentshavemadetheeffortofprovidingtheinput;4

or4. a formofmultilingualism,5where individualsspeakanymixtureof the

languagesin1–3abovewiththeadditionofEnglish(cf.Bettoni1985a).

EventhoughthesechildrenliveinanEnglish-speakingsocietyandtheyhavebeenexposedtotheEnglishlanguageatanearlyage,formostofthemtheirfirstrealusageofEnglishisintheclassroomor,forthosenotofschoolageyet,when older siblings start attending school and bringEnglish into the home(Bettoni1986).Importantly,formanyofthesechildrengoingtoschoolalsobringstheirfirstactiveexposuretoStandardItalian(forthosefewwhoattendItalianclasses),andtheyfindthemselvesintheinterestingsituationthattheir“Italian” background offers no guarantee that they will cope successfullywithlearningStandardItalian,which,consideringthedifferencesbetweenthe


dialects and Italian discussed earlier, for them could be a foreign language(SmoliczandSecombe1986;Ware1981;seealsoWalker2003ontheItaliansinStanthorpe).So,functionallyitcanbearguedthat,uponenteringtheschoolsystem,thesechildrenareacquiringliteracyintwosecondlanguages.Whenthirdorsubsequentgenerationkidsapproachschoolage,thelinguisticland-scapeisalotlesscomplex.ThesekidsarealmostexclusivelymonolingualinEnglishandarejustaslikelytotakeupMandarinorJapaneseatschoolastheyareItalian.WhilethenumberofItalo-Australianshasgrown,thankstotheexpansion

oftheAustralian-borngenerations,thehighrateoflanguageshifttoEnglishmeansthatthenumberof“Italian”speakersdoesnotreflecttheactualnumberofItalo-AustralianslivinginAustralia.Sincelarge-scaleItalianimmigrationstoppedinthelate1970s,whenthefirstgenerationparentsdieandtheiroff-springgrowolder, thenumberofpeopleusingItalian isdrastically reduced(Bettoni1989;Clyne1982,1985;Pauwels1988). In recent times the smallnumbersofItalianmigrantshavebeenmainlyprofessionalsandmiddleclass;andthesenewermigrantsarealsomuchbetterversedinStandardItalianthanthetraditionalwavesofmigrantlaborers.Oneimportantaspectofthesemi-grantscomingintoAustraliaisthatbecausetheyusuallydonothaveanystrongconnectionstoanyestablishedItalo-Romancedialect,theyhavebeenabletocontributemorewidely to a general Italian identity inAustralia (Baldassar2005).ItalianisusedinAustraliamainlybyolderparentsofthefirstgenerationandbyyoungchildreninthesecondgeneration.Thesecondgenerationthenonlyusesthelanguagewheninteractingwiththeirolderfamilymembersandfriends.Incontrasttothefirstgeneration,then,languageshift inthesecondgeneration increaseswith age.That is, it increasesmarkedlywhen childrenleavehomeintheirtwentiesanddramaticallywhentheirparentsdie.ThisistrueofallimmigrantgroupsinAustralia;theyallshowahigheruseoftheirlanguageamongtheoldermembersofthefirstgeneration,aloweruseamongthemembersof the secondgeneration (Clyne1991), and almost nonewithmembersofsubsequentgenerations.ItalianisstillthemostwidelyusedminoritylanguageinAustraliaand,aswe

canseefromTable4,ItalianisthelanguageotherthanEnglishwiththelargestnumberofspeakersinallstatesexceptNewSouthWales(fourth),Queensland(second),Tasmania(second),andNorthernTerritory(third).However,acomparisonofcensusfigures (seeTable5) from1976,1986,

1991,and2006showsadropinthehomeusefiguresforItalian;from444,672in1976to415,765in1986;andthenaslightincreaseto418,804in1991.AsTable5showsandasdiscussedinSection3,since1991therehasbeenasteadydropinthenumberofItalianspeakers.According to Clyne (1988) the apparent decrease in number of Italian

speakers between 1976 and 1986 can be attributed to the difference in the

118 F. Cavallaro

Table4.

Hom

e us

e of

(im

mig

rant

) lan

guag

es o

ther

than

Eng

lish:

tota

l num

bers

for t

he la

rges

t gro

ups o

f spe

aker

s by

stat

e an

d te

rrito

ry (2

006)

Language

NSW

VIC

QLD

WA

SATA

SNT

ACT

AUS*

Italian

87,296

133,327

22,032

32,897

35,818

1,352

742

3,426

316,893

Greek

86,158

117,876

10,994

5,020

25,897

1,220

2,481

2,571

252,222

Cantonese

129,604

66,855

19,625

16,049

7,923

791

700

2,881

244,554

Arabic#

164,986

55,926

7,285

7,698

5,422

681

267

1,391

243,662

Mandarin

100,595

64,377

24,445

16,551

8,955

1,167

558

3,635

220,596

Vietnam

ese

74,588

72,161

17,145

13,243

13,763

131

759

3,065

194,858

Spanish

49,557

24,505

11,297

5,723

3,442

675

305

2,488

97,998

German

22,108

19,604

14,741

7,213

7,958

1,553

652

1,806

75,634

Macedonian

28,940

30,772

1,143

5,667

706

26

22

562

67,831

Croatian

23,605

22,958

4,358

6,090

3,753

289

34

2,527

63,615

Polish

15,497

17,785

4,996

6,099

6,917

819

101

1,176

53,390

*,includesotherAustralianterritories;#,includesL

ebanese.

Sour

ce:AustralianBureauofStatistics(2006).


Table5.

Spea

kers

of I

talia

n by

stat

e an

d te

rrito

ry 1

976 –

2006

NSW

VIC

QLD

WA

SATA

SNT

ACT

AUS

1976*

124,422

182,864

31,746

46,775

50,901

2,298

1,378

4,288

444,672

1986#

113,203

178,097

26,115

43,590

48,179

1,590

1,040

3,951

415,765

1991#

113,818

179,324

26,947

42,995

48,810

1,788

960

4,162

418,804

2006#

87,296

133,327

22,032

32,897

35,818

1,352

742

3,426

316,893

*,regularusers;#,hom

eusers.

Sour

ces:A

ustralianBureauofStatistics(2006),D

epartmentofImmigrationandMulticulturalA

ffairs(1

999),B

ureauofIm

migrationandPopulationRe-

search(1990,1994).

120 F. Cavallaro

wordingofthecensusquestion:in1976theemphasiswason“languageusedregularly,”whilein1986itwason“languagespokenathome.”Thisdistinc-tioninthecensusquestionisimportantduetothesignificantrateofexogamyintheItaliancommunityandthefactthat“homelanguage”doesnotaccountforthehighuseofItalianwithrelativesandfriends,asshownbytheAustralianBureauofStatistics1983LanguageSurvey,whichshowedthat81.9%ofItalo-AustraliansusedItalianathomeand96%usedItalianwithfriendsandrela-tivesoutsideoftheirhomes(Clyne1988).Homeusealsoexcludesthosepeoplewhospeakmorethanonelanguage,

butmaynotspeakcertainlanguagesathome.Thesepeople,instead,woulddosowithcolleaguesandothermembersoftheirextendedfamily.ExamplesofsuchspeakersofItalianwouldbeeitherEgyptiansorLibyanswhowouldhavelearnedItalianbecauseoftheItalianinvolvementinNorthAfricainrecenthis-tory.ItismorethanlikelythatthesepeoplewouldnothaveItalianasahomelanguagenorwouldtheypassitontothenextgeneration,butmayhavetheopportunitytospeakItalianwiththeirworkcolleaguesorfriends.Thegreaternumberreportedin1976canalsobeattributedtotheself-reportingofchildrenfrommonolingualEnglish-speakingbackgroundslearningItalianatschool.

6. Thestudy

Inthisarticle,preliminaryresultsofa largestudy(Cavallaro2010)arepre-sented.Thelanguagechoiceofsecond-generationSicilian-Italianswasinves-tigatedinthedomainswherethethreelanguagesthatmakeupthelinguisticrepertoireoftheItaliancommunityinAustraliaaremostlikelytobeused.Thatis:

– inthehome(nuclearandextended)domain;and– inthetransactionaldomain.

7. Participants

The target group for this study was second-generation trilingual Italo-Australians.That is, the participants had to havebeen exposed to the threevarieties that make up an Italo-Australian’s linguistic repertoire. Since theresearcher is Sicilian by background, the group chosen was the Sicilian-Australians.Thedegreeofcompetenceinthethreecodeswasnotanissue,asthelackofcompetenceinanyofthethreecodeswouldinitselfbeanindica-tionofthestateofthelanguagewithinthatthegroupunderinvestigation.For the study presented in this article, two second-generation Sicilian-

Italianscouplesparticipatedinthestudy(Table6).


7.1. Robert and Laura

LaurawasborninAustraliaandwas32yearsoldatthetimethisstudywasconducted.HermothermigratedtoAustraliafromSicilywhenshewasnineyearsoldandherfatherwhenhewaseighteen.Shehastwooldersisters.Shehascompletedherteachingdiplomaandsheteachesintheareaofsocialstud-iesinaprimaryschool.RobertwasborninAustraliaandwas30yearsoldwhenhetookpartinthis

study.HismothermigratedtoAustraliafromSicilywhenshewassevenyearsoldandhisfatherwhenhewasfifteen.Roberthastwoyoungerbrothersandoneyoungersister.Hedidnotfinishhishighschooleducationandnowisaself-employedconcreter.Robert andLaura have two children: Jennifer, four years old, andDora,

threeyearsold.JenniferhadstartedgoingtoprimaryschoolandhadstartedattendingItalianclassesatherschool.TheyliveinthesuburbofFiveDockinthemunicipalityofDrummoyne,

which has about 5,000 Italian speakers living there. This made it the fifthlargestconcentrationofItalianspeakers inNewSouthWalesandthefourthlargestinSydneyitselfin1996(AustralianBureauofStatistics2006).RobertandLauraaremembersofaSiciliansocialclub,whichtheyonlyfrequentonspecial festivities. They also used to go tomeetings of other Italian socialclubs, but recentlyhave stopped attendingbecause theyfind it increasinglydifficulttogooutwithtwochildren.Theirnetworkoffriendsshowsthattheyinteractmainlywithpeopleofnon-

Anglobackgrounds.TheyreportedhavingveryfewfriendswhoareAnglo-Australianandnoneofthemareinthecircleofreallyclosefriends.Theirpri-marynetworkismadeupofpeoplefromaSicilianbackgroundorfromotherItalianregions.Duetothenatureofhiswork,Robert’snetworkofwork-relatedassociates

isquiteextensive.HiscolleaguesaremainlyofSicilianandotherItalianback-grounds.However,thepeoplehedealswitharenotrestrictedtoItalians.Forexample,atthetimethesedatawerebeingcollectedhewasnegotiatingacon-tractwithoneofthemajorpetroldistributorswithwhichhehadhaddealings

Table6. The participants

Name6 Age Italianbackground Placeofbirth

Coupleno.1 RobertLaura

3032

SicilianSicilian

AustraliaAustralia

Coupleno.2 RodJane

3733

SicilianSicilian

AustraliaAustralia

122 F. Cavallaro

inthepast.Laura’sworkinaprimaryschoolmeantthatherworknetworkwasnotasextensiveasRobert’s.HerschooldoeshaveafewteachersofItalianbackgroundandeventheprincipalatthetimethisresearchwastakingplacewasofItalianbackground.TheinterestingaspecttoRobert’sandLaura’sbackgroundisthattheirpar-

ents(especiallytheirmothers)migratedtoAustraliaataveryyoungage.TheyoungageofboththeirmothersatthetimewhentheymigratedtoAustraliawould,therefore,indicateastrongEnglishlanguagepresenceathome.

7.2. Rod and Jane

RodandJanewereborninAustraliaofSicilianparents.Janewas33yearsoldandRod37atthetimethisstudywascarriedout.TheirparentsallmigratedtoAustraliafromSicilywhentheywereintheirearlytwenties.Janehasonetwinsister.Janehascompletedherhighschooleducationandworksasabankclerk.Rodhasoneyoungerbrother.Roddidnotfinishhishighschooleducationandnowisasalesconsultant.RodandJanehavetwodaughters:Sandra,8yearsold,andLorna,5years

old.Sandrahasbeengoingtoprimaryschoolforafewyearsandhasbeenat-tendingItalianclassesatherschool.TheyliveinthesuburbofConcordinthemunicipalityofConcord,which

hasabout3,000Italianspeakers.ThismadeConcordthetwelfthlargestcon-centrationofItalianspeakersinNewSouthWalesandtheninthlargestinSyd-neyin1996(AustralianBureauofStatistics2006).RodandJanearemembersofaSiciliansocialclub,whichtheyonlyfrequentforspecialfestivities.Beforemarryingandinthefirstfewyearsaftertheirmarriage,theyalsousedtogotosocialengagementsatotherItaliansocialclubs.However,becauseoffamilycommitmentstheyrecentlyhavestoppedattending.Ananalysisoftheirsocialnetworkshowsthattheiracquaintancesareeither

of Italian or Sicilian backgrounds and that the few acquaintances who areAnglo-Australianarenotreallyclose.Atwork,RodhasonlyonecolleagueofanItalianbackground,whileJanehassix.However,JaneworksinaverylargeandbusyofficewhereshespeaksonlyEnglishandshedoesnothavethetimetosocializewithherItaliancolleagues.Duetothenatureofhiswork,Rod’snetworkofwork-relatedassociatesis

verylimitedandthepeoplehedealswitharemainlyofanAnglo-Australianbackground.Jane’snetworkoffriendsisverysmall.ShehasveryfewfriendsanddoesnotsocializewithanyofthesixcolleagueswhoareofItalianback-ground. Rod and Jane are very close to another second-generation Siciliancouplewithwhomtheygooutoften.


Theirparentshavenothadanyformaleducation,whichindicatesthatwithinthefamilyaSiciliandialectwouldhavebeenthedominantlanguage.RodandJane,then,wouldhavegrownupinanenvironmentwhereaSicilianvarietywouldhavebeenspoken.TheyalsoreporthavingstudiedsomeItalianatsec-ondaryschool.

8. Methodology

The coupleswere recorded at dinnerwith their children and at family get-togethers.Inthesefamilygatheringsthereusuallywerepresentthechildren,theparents-in-law,andthecouples’siblings.Asfarastheactualrecordingisconcerned, theprocedurewas thateveryonewas told that theconversationswouldberecorded.However,theywerenottoldwhenthetaperecorderwouldbeswitchedon.Withtheirrespectivefamilies,JaneandLaurawereinstructedtoswitchonthetaperecorderafewminutesbeforeeveryonecametothetableortodosowithoutdrawingtoomuchattentiontoit.Theythenleftthetaperecordernearby,usuallyonashelfnearenoughthetabletomaketherecordingpossiblebutnotobviousenoughfor it tobecontinuouslynoticed.The taperecorderwasthenallowedtorununtilthetapefinished,inwhichcasethema-chineswitcheditselfoffautomatically.Arecordingofabout45minuteswasobtainedforeachgathering(seeCavallaro[2003,2010]formoredetails).Forthetransactionaldomain,instead,theresearcherusedparticipantobser-

vation.TheresearcheraccompaniedtheparticipantswhiletheydidtheirweeklyshoppingforItaliangoods.Astrategywasdevisedtominimizetheeffectthepresence of the researchermight have on the language of the participants.Firstlyitwasdecidedthattheparticipantobservationwouldbedoneaftertheresearcherandtheparticipantshadmetafewtimes.Thiswastomakesurethattheparticipantshadbecomeaccustomedtotheresearcher.Asitturnedout,bythetimethistaskwascarriedoutwitheachcouple,acertainfamiliarizationhaddevelopedbetweenalltheparties.Secondly,theparticipantsandthere-searcherusuallymetbeforeeachshoppingtripandsocializedoverbreakfastoracupofcoffeeattheparticipants’housesorinalocalItaliancafé.Itwasfoundthat by getting together before the shopping began the participants becameusedtohavinganotherpersonaround.Tomakesurethattheparticipantsdidnotfeeltheywereconstantlybeingscrutinized,allnotetakingwasdoneim-mediatelyaftereachinteractionandawayfromtheparticipants.AlldealingsbetweentheresearcherandbothcoupleswereinEnglish.Only

onoccasionswasanItalianorSicilianwordspoken.Theresearcherwascon-sciousatalltimesthathispresencecouldinfluencetheparticipants’choiceoflanguage(s)andthereforeaffectthedatacollected.Itistheresearcher’sfirmbeliefthatnoneoftheparticipantschangedtheirwayofspeakingbecauseof

124 F. Cavallaro

hispresenceorofanyinfluencehemighthavehadcomingintotheirhome.Theirwillingnesstoparticipateinthestudystemmedfromtheirunderstandingoftheimportanceoftheresearch.Theyarealsoveryfriendlyandoutgoingandwereverykeentohelp.

9. Results

9.1. Language used at home

Bothcoupleswererecordedathomeonseparateoccasions,withtheirdaughtersduringtheeveningmeal(seeTable7).

Athomewiththeirchildren,verylittleItalian/Sicilianisused.Thebaselan-guageinthisdomainseemstobeEnglish.Inall,44differentinteractionswererecordedandnotoneof themwastotally ineitherSicilianorItalian.Only47single-wordutterances,12two-wordutterances,fourincidencesofmorethantwowords,andonlyfivefullsentenceswereineitherItalianorSicilian.Thelan-guagesotherthanEnglishusedbyallthefamiliesarebrokendowninTables8–11.Table8showsonlytwosinglewordutterancesinSicilian:thewordpiselle

(‘peas’);andanexpletivebyRobert.WhilethewordpiselleisverysimilartotheItalianpiselli,itisalsoclosetotheSicilianpuselle(orpusella)themaindifferencebeinginthepronunciationofthegeminate[ll],whichinSicilianisoftenaretroflex.InthisinstancethepronunciationwasneitherafullretroflexnortheStandardItaliandental-lateral.Clyne( p.c.)hassuggesteditmaybea“compromise”formduetotheconvergenceofItalianandSicilianintheAus-traliancontext.Theactualwordsusedarefewerthanthetablessuggest.OfthetwelvewordsrecordedinbyRodandJane, fave (‘broadbeans’)wasutteredfive times, cotolette (‘cutlets/schnitzels’) three times, and farfallette (‘littlebutterflies’—atypeofpasta)twice.Thismeansthatthenumberofdistinct

Table7. Interlocutors at home

RobertandLaura

Name Age Relationship Italianbackground Placeofbirth

Jenny 4 Daughter Sicilian AustraliaDora 3 Daughter Sicilian Australia

RodandJane


Sandra 8 Daughter Sicilian AustraliaLorna 5 Daughter Sicilian Australia


wordsactuallyusedwasonlysix.ForRobertandLaura,thetotalnumberisactually18as thewordsgiallo (‘yellow’) andbella (‘beautiful’)were eachrepeatedseventimes.Table9showsthatSicilianwasusedonlyfourtimesoutoftheeighttwo-

wordutterances,butalwaysinconjunctionwithanItalianword.Forexample,oneutterance (example [1] below) included the sameSicilianword,piselle(‘peas’),discussedinthepreviousparagraph,precededbytheItalianpreposi-tioncon(‘with’)(seetheAppendixforthetranscriptionconventions):

(1) InteractionB12Jane: pasta con che cosa? ‘pastawithwhat?’Sandra: humhumJane: Sandrawhat?Sandra: humcon humpiselle ‘humwithhumpeas’

Thesamewordisfoundinoneoftheutterancesofmorethanthreewords.Thisindicatesthatpisellehasbecomethetermfor‘peas’inthisfamily.TofurtheremphasizetherelativelysmalluseofbothItalianandSicilian,theutterancesbythefatherandthetwochildrenwerethesametwowords.Thatis,thefatherwishedthembuon appetito(‘goodappetite’)andthegirlsrepliedinkind.Thisbringstheactualnumberoftwo-wordutterancesdowntoonlythreedifferentones.

Table8. Single words

RobertandLaura

Language Robert Laura Dora Jenny Total

Italian 10 13 9 2 34Sicilian 0 1 0 0 1

Note: Theactualnumberof Italianwordsused(types) isonly18;34 isarrivedatwithall therepetitions.Themain itemsrepeatedweregiallo (7 times in thesameinteraction)andbella (7times).

RodandJane

Language Rod Jane Sandra Lorna Total

Italian 0 7 2 2 11Sicilian 1 0 0 0 1

Note: thattheactualnumberofItalianwordsusedis4;faveisrepeated5times,cotolette3times,andfarfallettetwice.

126 F. Cavallaro

Table10showsthatfourutterancesofmorethantwowordswereproducedduringthemealatRodandJane’shouse.NonewererecordedbyRobertandLaura.Thisisdistinctfromfullsentencesinthattheydonotcontainaverbandinmostcasestheywereaseriesofnounsstrungtogether.Twooftheseutter-ancescameattheendofEnglishphrases,asshownin(2)and(3).

(2) InteractionB12(Italianonly)Jane: Lornalookwhat’sfordinnercotolette e pasta! ‘schnitzelsandpasta’

(3) InteractionB12(ItalianandSicilian)Jane: doyoulikepasta episellee fave? ‘pastaandpeasandbroadbeans?’

ThesetwoexampleshavenotbeentreatedastransfersintoEnglishsentencesbecausetheyarelexicaltermswhich,undoubtedly,thefamilyusestoidentifythefooditems.Thesecouldpossiblybeexplainedaslexicaltransfers(orbor-rowings)(seeSection9.2).TheItalian/Sicilianmixinginthiscaseisduetothewordpiselle (‘peas’)discussedabove.Table11indicatesthattherewereonlyfivefullsentencesutteredthroughout

thetwomeals.InterestinglyonewasbySandra,RodandJane’seldestdaughter,whoaskedhermothertospeakItalian(example[4]).

Table10. Utterances of more than two words, Rod and Jane


Italian 0 2 0 0 2Sicilian 0 0 0 0 0Italian/Sicilian 0 2 0 0 2

Table9. Two-word utterances

RobertandLaura



RodandJane




(4) InteractionB12Jane: talkingandwe’veforgottenRod: what?Jane: togettheglassesSandra: parla it . . .humitaliana ‘speak...humItalian’(note:grammaticallyincorrect,butnotdueto

anySicilianinterference)Rod: Lornadoyouwantsomecheese?

TherequestisignoredbyeveryoneandtheconversationcontinuedasifSandrahadneversaidanything.OneotherwasproducedbyRobertwhenheaskedhiswifeforthetime:

(5) InteractionA10Laura: (toRobert)What’shappeningtoPina?Didyouseeherdove?Robert: YepLaura: Howisshe.Allright?Robert: Yes,good.She’sgottagetanotherwisdomtoothoutLaura: Ohluck.Thepainshe’sgoingtohave.PoorthingRobert: Che ora è? ‘Whattimeisit?’Laura: Seventhirty

One of the other sentenceswas uttered by Jane and is an obvious case ofswitchingfromEnglishtoItalian,withoutanapparentreasonforswitching:

Table11. Full sentences

RobertandLaura


Italian 1 1 0 0 2Sicilian 0 0 0 0 0Sicilian/Italian 1 0 0 0 1

RodandJane


Italian 0 0 1 0 1Sicilian 0 0 0 0 0English/Italian 0 1 0 0 1

Note: Allsetsofmorethantwowordsthatcontainedaverbandcommunicatedameaning,ques-tion,orastatementwereregardedasafullsentence.

128 F. Cavallaro

(6) InteractionB15Jane: listenLornawe’vegottobeatMonica’s,atquartertosevenwhichI

don’t thinkwe’regoing toget there, canwehurryup? Justgetonecotoletta(‘schnitzel’)

Rod: justoneatatimeandblowJane: andblowonit.Ifyoublowitsi fa freddo subito ‘itcoolsquickly’(TheinteractioncontinuedinEnglish)

ThelasttwowerespokenbyRobertandLaura:

(7) InteractionA16(Afteralongpause,startofanewinteraction)Robert: (toLaura)eDiana como va al lavoro? ‘andDiana(It.pronunciation)howisshedoingatwork?’Laura: Good.Ithinkthe[?]camebyandgotherbutItoldhernottocome

inRobert: Yeabuthowisshegoingtohowisshegoingtowork?Withwhat

car?Laura: (toRobert) Idon’tknow. (ToDora)mangia tutta la mela.Please.

No! ‘eatalltheapple’Dora: Idon’twanttoLaura: Wellshe’snotgoingtogrowuptobehealthyandstrongJenny: Iwill

IfwelookatthetotalcolumnsinTables8–11wecanseethatSicilianisalmostnonexistentinthisdomain.ItalianhasaverysmallpresenceandEnglishis,overwhelmingly,thedominantlanguage.

9.1.1. Discussion. Tables8–11showthatJaneandLaurausedmoreItalianandSicilianthantheirhusbandsandchildren.ItisinterestingtonotethatSan-drausedmoreItalianandSicilianthanthefather.Mostofthesingle-wordutteranceswerenamesoffooditems.Forexample,

JaneandRod’sinteraction(example[8])istheonewhichcontainsmostofthenon-Englishutterances:

(8) InteractionB12Jane: Lornalookwhat’sfordinnercotolette e pasta! ‘schnitzelsandpasta’Rod: comeonLorna!Sandra: ohit’snice!Wow


Jane: there’sa littlebitmore if anybodywants it.What’s thispasta (It.pronunciation)withSandra?

Sandra: humJane: pasta con con cosa? ‘pastawithwithwhat?’Sandra: humhumJane: Sandrawhat?Sandra: humconhumpiselle ‘withpeas’Jane: andcos’altro? ‘whatelse?’Sandra: humJane: pasta episellee ‘pastaandpeasand’Sandra: fave! ‘broadbeans!’Jane: faveright? ‘broadbeansright?’Sandra: yapJane: doyoulikepasta episellee fave? ‘pastaandpeasandbroadbeans?’Sandra: sì ‘yes’Jane: //goodgirl!//Lorna: //nooo //Idon’tlikefaveJane: //there’snofaveinyours//Rod: //nothere’snofave //inyoursit’sallpiselle(‘peas’)lookthere’sone

littleoneI’lltakeitoutLorna: takeallofthemoutJane: (toSandra)cotolette cotolette ‘schnitzelsschnitzels’

Aswecansee,mostoftheItalianandSicilianusedhassomethingtodowithfood.Thisisnottosaythatduringthemealtheonlytopicsofconversationswereaboutfood.Inotherinteractionsduringthemealtopicsliketheweather,otherrelatives,school,andabirthdaypartyforoneoftheteachersatSandra’sschoolwerediscussed;allinEnglish.Example(9)showsthecontextsoftheotherfullsentencerecorded.Italso

showsthatthereisnoobviousreasonfortheswitching.

130 F. Cavallaro

(9) InteractionB15Lorna: isithot?Rod: youtakeitfromtheedgeandyoublowonit!Lorna: ouch!Evenfromthe//edgeit’shot!//Rod: //you’resilly //Itoldyou,youtakeitfromtheedgeandblow!Don’t

cry!Jane: Lornajusttry!//Alwaystry!//Rod: //otherwiseyouwont //haveanydinnertonight.What’ssohardabout

that?Look!JustJane: youknowthatfarfallettegetcoldquickly.Farfallette ‘littlebutterflies’ ‘littlebutterflies(atypeof

pasta)’Lorna: there’sfave(‘broadbeans’)there!Rod: don’tworryaboutthat!Justkeepthem...Jane: listenLornawe’vegottobeatMonica’s,atquartertosevenwhichI

don’tthinkwe’regoingtogetthere,canwehurryup?Justgetonecotoletta

‘schnitzel’Rod: justoneatatimeandblowJane: andblowonit.Ifyoublowitsi fa freddo subito ‘coolsquickly’

Example (10) shows the contexts of two of the full sentences recorded byRobertandLaura.

(10) InteractionA16Robert: (toLaura)e Dianacomo va al lavoro? ‘andDianahowisshedoingatwork?’Laura: Good.Ithinkthe[?]camebyandgotherbutItoldhernottocome

inRobert: Yeabuthowisshegoingtohowisshegoingtowork?Withwhat

car?Laura: Idon’tknow.(ToDora)mangia tutta la mela.Please.No! ‘eatalltheapple’Dora: Idon’twanttoLaura: Wellshe’snotgoingtogrowuptobehealthyandstrongJenny: IwillLaura: Andthenwhenwe’regoingtoseeBananasinPyjamasonSunday

she’snotcoming.SorryDora: YeaLaura: No!Dora: Yea!Laura: Goingtotakeyoutononna(‘grandmother’)RosaDora: Yea!Jenny: MummyIcan’t....myphoto.Can’tfindit


9.2. Language used in the extended family

Thedataforthissectionwerecollectedduringafamilyget-togetheratJaneandRod’shouse;andduringafamilydinneratRobert’sparents’house.Onbothoccasionsa25-minuterecordingwasobtained.Thepeoplethatwerepresentat theseget-togethersarelistedinTable12.

Thistablealsodisplaysdetailspertainingtotheinterlocutors’relationshiptotheparticipantsandtheirbackground.EvenathomewiththeirparentsandrelativesRobert,Laura,Rod,andJane

spokeverylittleItalianorSicilian.ThisindicatesthatevenwiththeirextendedfamilytheirbaselanguageisstillEnglish.Table13indicatesthatinthissituationonlySandrautteredanysinglenon-

Englishwords.TheywereactuallythesameItalianword,nonna(‘grandmother’)repeatedatdifferenttimesduringtheget-together:

(11) InteractionB9Jane: who’scominglater?Rod: mightwalkuptothatparkLorna: yeahSandra: notthatoneovertheyouknowtheonetheyellowandgreenone?Rod: theniceoneuphereSandra: yeahbecausethat’sallwindyisn’titnonna? ‘grandmother’

Table12. Interlocutors in the extended family

Robert’sparents’house

Name Age Relationship Ethnicbackground Placeofbirth

MariaSamLouStefanClaraJennyDora

525824203043

Robert’smotherRobert’sfatherRobert’sbrotherRobert’sbrotherRobert’ssisterDaughterDaughter

SicilianSicilianSicilianSicilianSicilianSicilianSicilian

SicilySicilyAustraliaAustraliaAustraliaAustraliaAustralia

Jane’sfamily


LuciaJackieLornaSandra

522158

Jane’smotherJane’scousinDaughterDaughter

SicilianSicilianSicilianSicilian

AustraliaSicilyAustraliaAustralia

132 F. Cavallaro

Table13.

Sing

le w

ords


Language

Robert

Laura

Maria

Sam

Stefan

Lou

Clara

Dora

Jenny

Total

Italian

45

50

02

01

320

Sicilian

11

11

00

00

04

English/Italian

00

40

00

00

04

Jane’sfamily

Language

Rod

Jane

Lucia

Sandra

Lorna

Jackie

Total

Italian

00

02

00

2Sicilian

00

00

00

0English/Italian

00

00

00

0

English/ItalianMIX

7 =ri

nge(‘ring’),

wee

kend

a(‘weekend’),g

irla

frend

a(‘girlfriend’),i

nsur

izza

ta(‘insured’).

Notethattheactualnum

berofItalianwords(types)usedwasonly11.Thenum

ber20includesallrepetitions.


(12) InteractionB10Rod: IsawyoulastnightwalkingfastwithLornaSandra: Intheredcar?Jacquie: Didyouwalkfromwhere?Sandra: IsaidtononnaItellyouit’sdaddy’scarbutyousaidohno![...]Sandra: E nonnasaidthatmustbeWinston ‘Andgrandmother’

WhileinRobert’sparents’housemoresingleItalianwordsthanSicilianwererecorded.Table14showsthat,again,itwasonlySandrawhowasnotedtospeakany

non-Englishtwo-wordutterances.Thiscanbeseeninexample(12)reportedabove.Itinvolvedtheutteringofthewordnonnayetagain.Nooneelseutteredanysingle-ortwo-wordcombinationsinanythingbutEnglish.Table15showsthatinthissituationtheonlypeoplerecordedspeakingin

ItalianandSicilianwerethefirst-generationfamilymembersandthepartici-patingcouples.InRobert’sfamilygatheringtherangeofmixingwasnotextensive.Inthis

situation,Robert’sandLaura’sItalianandSiciliansentencesrangefrombeing:

A. TotallyinSicilian:(13) InteractionA30Robert: (toDora)What’swrongbella?(toClara)Cosa, annu mangiate? ‘Whatdidtheyeat?’

ThewordcosaherecanbebothItalianandSicilian.However,Iamtreatingitasbeingthesameastherestofthesentence.Thisseemstomakemoresense,sincetoremainwithinonecodeisprobablytheunmarkedchoice.

B. ItalianwithSiciliantransference:(14) InteractionA25Laura: ammenoera pulito però.Hedidn’tbreakanything,he ‘atleasthewascleanthough....’ movedmypotplantsnicelytotheside.

C. ItalianwithEnglishtransference:(15) InteractionA7Robert: eh?Ma checomeback![?]don’thavetopay? ‘eh?Butwhat(whatdoyoumean)’

D. SicilianwithItaliantransference:(16) InteractionA5Robert: u patri figlio spiritu santu e così sia ‘thefathersonholyspiritAmen’

134 F. Cavallaro

Table14.

Two-

wor

d ut

tera

nces


Language

Robert

Laura

Maria

Sam

Stefan

Lou

Clara

Dora

Jenny

Total

Italian

10

00

00

10

02

Sicilian

10

30

00

00

04

English/Italian

00

00

00

00

11

Jane’sfamily

Language

Rod

Jane

Lucia

Sandra

Lorna

Jackie

Total

Italian

00

01

00

1Sicilian

00

00

00

0English/Italian

00

00

00

0


Table15.

Full

sent

ence

s


Language

Maria

Sam

Robert

Laura

Stefan

Lou

Clara

Dora

Jenny

Total

Italian

41

00

00

00

05

Sicilian

123

23

00

10

021

Italian/Sicilian

10

11

00

00

03

Italian/English

00

10

00

00

01

Sicilian/English

40

00

00

10

05

Jane’sfamily

Language

Rod

Jane

Lucia

Sandra

Lorna

Jackie

Total

Italian

111

50

00

17Sicilian

00

40

00

4Italian/Sicilian

50

20

00

7Sicilian/English

00

10

00

1English/Italian

00

10

00

1Sicilian/English/Italian

10

00

00

1Italian/Sicilian/English

20

00

00

2

136 F. Cavallaro

E. EnglishwithSiciliantransference:(17) InteractionA5Laura: comeonDoraveni a mangià ‘comeonDoracomeandeat’

ThisisprobablybetterexplainedasaswitchfromEnglishtoSicilian,probablytofulfillanexpressiveoremotivefunction.However,because“Doraveni a mangià”canbeclassifiedasacompletesentence,inTable15ithasbeenlistedasaSiciliansentence.Table15alsoshowsthatRodwasthepersonthatspokemoreItalianand

Sicilianthananyoneelse.Roduttered19ofthe33fullsentenceswhileLuciaaccountsfor13ofthem.JanespokeonlyonesentenceinItalianandshedidnotspeakanySicilianormixingatall:

(18) InteractionB4Jane: (toLucia)ma io lo faccio dopo ‘butI’lldoitafter(later)’

The table also indicates that the sentences in this situation fall into sevencategories:

1. TotallyinItalian:(19) InteractionB10Lucia: Sì ma noi abbiamo tagliato per la strada del prete ‘Yesbutwecutthroughthepriest’sstreet’

2. TotallyinSicilian:(20) InteractionB5Lucia: comu si chiama? ‘whatishername?’

3. ItalianwithSiciliantransference:(21) InteractionB10Rod: Itwasonlyuptheroade io nonsapevu . . . ma tu avevidettuforse ‘andIdidn’tknowbutyousaidperhaps che vedevu a Ross ma . . . no, non sapevu thatIwouldseeRossbut. . .no,Ididn’tknow’

4. SicilianwithEnglishtransference:Thetransferenceisnotlimitedtolexicalitemsonly.Thefirstexampleisanexampleoflexicaltransferenceormaybeevenacaseofnonceborrowing.Thesecondisanexampleoftransferenceattheclauseorsentencelevels.

(22) InteractionB10Lucia: E io ho dettu ma chi è ne stucar? ‘AndIsaidbutwhoisitinthis“car”?’


(23) InteractionB49Jane: Mapecché non vai? L’hai già fatto e andareworks!Allorawhat’sthe

problem? ‘Butwhydon’tyougo?You’vedoneitbeforeandgoingworks!Then

what’stheproblem?’

5. EnglishwithItaliantransference:(24) InteractionB10Lucia: Yeahe dopo . . . ‘andafter...’

IhavetreatedthisasafullsentencebecauseIbelievethatLuciawasabouttofinishthesentenceuntilshewasinterrupted.

6. SicilianwithEnglishandItaliantransference:(25) InteractionB12Rod: Sì, però tuttili jobs cianno il suo problema non è vero? ‘Yes,butall/everyjobhasitsproblem,isn’tittrue?

7. ItalianwithSicilianandEnglishtransference:(26) InteractionB10Rod: Allora io hofermatu a video a shoppe a prenderedu video e ho ‘SoIstoppedatthevideoshoptogettwovideos detto adesso vado avanti a vedere a quale distanza sono, no? andIsaidnowI’llgo(further)aheadtoseehowfartheyare,no?’

9.2.1. Main interlocutors. ThedatainTables13–15seemtoindicatethatwithRobert’sfamilySicilianisspokenmorethanItalian.ThereverseseemstobethecasewithJane’sfamily,wheremoreItalianisspoken.InRobert’sfamilygatheringtherearemoresingleItalianwords(20)spokenthanSicilianones(4).However,Siciliancomesoutaheadinthetwo-wordutteranceswith4com-paredtoonly2Italianones,andinthefullsentencesSicilianreallydominates:21 out of the 35 non-English sentences were uttered totally in Sicilian. InJane’sfamilygathering,the17ItaliansentencesaremorethanfourtimesthenumberofSiciliansentences.AsTables13–15alsoshow,thepersonwhospokethemostItalianandSi-

cilianatJane’sfamilygatheringwasRod.Itisalsointerestingtonotethattherewereveryfewinstancesofsingle-ortwo-wordutterances.ThemainreasonfortheItalianandSicilianusediswithoutadoubtLucia.

Shedidnotgetinvolvedinmanyoftheinteractions,butallItalianandSicilianusedwaseitherdirectedatherorutteredwhenshewasaparticipant in the

138 F. Cavallaro

conversation.Lucia’sroleasthecatalystforItalianandSicilianisprovenbythefactthatwheneveryoneelsespeakstoeachotherdirectlytheydonotuseanyItalianorSicilian.AtRobert’sfamilyget-togetherthepersonwhospokethemostItalianand

SicilianwasMaria,Robert’smother.Sheuttered21out of the35 full sen-tences.Nextwereherhusband,Robert,andLaurawithonly foursentenceseach.Mariaalsouttered10outofthe28singlewords;LauraandRobertwerenextwith only four andfivewords, respectively.Maria also dominated thetwo-word utteranceswith three out of the seven recorded;Robert followedwithtwo.ThemainproducerandreceiverofSicilianandItalianiswithoutadoubt

Maria.Evenso,herbaselanguagewasEnglish.Herhusband,Sam,alsodoesnot saymuch in Italian or Sicilian.Most ofwhatRobert andLaura say inItalianandSicilianistoaccommodateforMaria’spresence.ThisisprovenbythefactthatmostoftheItalianandSicilianspokenthroughouttheget-togetherwas in conversations involvingMaria. Evenwhen one ofRobert’s SiciliansentencesisdirectedatClara,wenoticethatMariawasinvolvedinhispreviousconversation,andIbelievethathewasstillaccommodatingforherpresence.Laura’snon-Englishsentenceswereallutteredinthecourseofspeakingtothewholegroupexceptforonesentence,whichshedirectedatherdaughter,Dora.However,eventhissentencewasutteredinthemiddleofaconversationin-volvingthewholegroup.ThisindicatesthatLaurawasalsoaccommodatingforMaria’spresencewhenever sheaddressed thegroup.Theother fact thatpointstotheimportantroleMariaplaysintheproduction,orchoice,ofItalianandSicilianisthefactthatwhenthesiblingsspeaktoeachotherdirectlytheyrarelyuseanythingbutEnglish.

9.2.2. The role of first-generation relatives. Inexamples(27)and(28)weseehow theuseofboth ItalianandSicilian is centeredaroundLucia, evenwhenthechildrenareinvolved.

(27) InteractionB5Theconversationisaboutaweddingofafamilyfriendsometimeinthenearfuture.Sandrasaysthatshehastogetherhaircutforthewedding.RodandJanediscussitwithherinEnglishandthen:Sandra: I’mgoingtowearit(thehair)upLucia: ce la porti a quella comu si chiama? ‘Youbringhertowhatishername?’Sandra: LucyLucia: comu si chiama? ‘whatishername?’Sandra: Lucy


Lucia: comu si chiama? ‘whatishername?’Sandra: Rosetta?Jane: Lucy!Sandra: LucyLucia: comu si chiama? ‘whatishername?’Sandra: LuciaLucia: Luciana!Jane: ifshehadherhairpermedifshe. . .Rod: ishumtheneighbouruptheroadfromNickisthedaughtergoingto

beaflowergirlisshe?

(28) InteractionB10Rod: IsawyoulastnightwalkingfastwithLornaSandra: Intheredcar?Jacquie: Didyouwalkfromwhere?Sandra: IsaidtononnaItellyouit’sdaddy’scarbutyousaidohno!Lucia: E io ho dettu ma chi è? ‘AndIsaidbutwhoisit?’Rod: Itwasonlyuptheroade io non sapevu . . . ma tu avevi dettu forse ‘andIdidn’tknow...butyousaidperhaps che vedevu a Ross ma ... no, non sapevu thatIwouldseeRossbut...no,Ididn’tknow’Sandra: E nonnasaidthatmustbeWinston ‘Andgrandmother...’Rod: You knowwhose car that is?You know thatMaria Garcia?You

knowBianca’smum?Sandra: YeahRod: ThatwashercarLucia: E io ho dettu ma chi è ne stucar? ‘AndIsaidbutwhoisitinthis“car”?’

In(27)and(28)aboveweseehowthegrandmotherusedonlyItalian/Sicilianwhen the grandchildren were around. On the other hand Robert’s mother,Maria, in (29) and (30) below, switched to English when addressing hergrandchildren.

(29) InteractionA10Maria: Dora? Na pulpetta? ‘Dora?[Doyouwant]ameatball?’Laura: bythetimeIgottothedoor

140 F. Cavallaro

Maria: goodgirlDora//tantupasta// ‘somuchpasta’Laura: //anothertwo //orthreeminuteshadpassedbecauseIgotallmystuff

outofthebootIthenwalkedupthey’drunandthenwhenIrealized//Iwentaroundtheback//

Maria: (toJenny) //voinautrapulpetta?Ahh? // ‘doyouwantanothermeatball?’[...]Jenny: Idon’twantanymorebecauseIhadaall’ovetto(‘anegg’)before.I

don’twantanymoreLaura: that’sokayMaria: [?]youhadonebefore[...]Maria: iftheycatchhimyou’llhavetogotocourt.I’mgoingto[??]willwe?

Aspetta(‘wait’)(toJenny)Jenny youhavetoalready[...]

(30) InteractionA11Maria: (toLaura) //ascuta, vidi che chissu è pulitu. Mettici ca. // ‘listen,can’tyouseethatthisoneisclean.Putithere’Dora: (loudly)Nonna (‘grandmother’)Maria I ate two strawberries, you

knowthat?Maria: ohwow!Youlikestrawberriesnow?Dora: yeah!IateoneatschoolnowIateoneathomeMaria: goodgirl![...]Jenny: Idon’twantanyofthisMaria: eatthatup!Jenny: yuck!Maria: whatdoyoumeanyuck?Jenny: yuck![??]awful.Yuck!

9.3. Language used in the transactional domain

TheseresultswereobtainedthroughparticipantobservationofashoppingtripwithRodandJanetoashoppingcenterinConcord,Sydney;andashoppingtripwithRobertandLauratoashoppingcenterinHaberfield,alsoinSydney.Concordhasasmallshoppingcenterwhichlinesthetwosidesofawidestreetforabouttwoblocks.InthislineofshopsthereareanumberofretailerswhichsupplyItaliangoodsandareownedorrunbypeopleofItalianbackground.


Haberfield isoneof themoreobviously Italian suburbsofSydney. Ithasawidestreetwithoneotherstreetcrossingitandbothstreetsarelinedbybusi-nessessuchasdelicatessens,butchers,bakeries,andfruiterers.Themajorityofthesebusinessesareowned/runbypeopleofItalianbackground.Haberfield,withLeichhardt,isafavoriteplaceforItalianstoshoponthesouthernsideofSydney.TheshoppingtripstookplaceontwoseparateSaturdaymornings.There-

searcher and theparticipants hadhad a numberofmeetingsbefore and theparticipantshadbecomeused to the researcher’spresence.On twoseparateSaturdaymornings,theresearchermeteachparticipatingcoupleatthepartici-pants’houseandsocializedoveracupofcoffee.Thentheyproceededtotheshoppingtrips.Likeinalltheothermeetingstheresearcherwascarefulnottoinitiateanyconversationsandonlyfollowedwhatlinguisticleadsweregivenbytheparticipantssoasnottosetanylinguisticpatterns.Allnotestakendur-ingtheparticipantobservationwerewrittenwithoutattractingtheattentionoftheparticipants.Thefirsttwocolumnsofthetablesinthissectionindicatetheinterlocutors

andthelanguageusedbythemasobservedbytheresearcher.Thelastthreecolumnsshowtheage,Italianbackground,andplaceofbirthoftheinterlocu-tors as known by the participants. In choosing a language the participantswouldbereactingtotheirknowledgeoftheinterlocutors’background.Itwas,therefore,notimportanttoaccuratelydeterminethe“real”statusoftheinter-locutors.Theparticipantsmetand interactedwithover twentypeoplewhileshopping. In this report, though,only the interactionswithpeopleof Italianbackgroundarereported.

Table16. Interlocutors at the delicatessen

RobertandLaura Asknownbytheparticipants

Interlocutor Languageusedbyperson

Age Italianbackground Placeofbirth

A1Deliworker(female) English 30 Abruzzese AustraliaA2Deliowner(male) Italian 55 Non-Sicilian ItalyA3Deliworker(male) Italian 50 Calabrese Italy

RodandJane Asknownbytheparticipants

Person Languageusedbyperson


B1Deliworker(female) Englishatfirst,thenItalian

45– 60 Non-Sicilian Italy

B2Deliowner(male) Italian 55– 60 Non-Sicilian Italy

142 F. Cavallaro

9.3.1. Language used in a delicatessen. TheparticipantswereobservedintwodelicatessensownedandrunbypeopleofItalianbackground.Thesedeli-catessensarewheretheparticipantsnormallydotheir“Italian”shopping;thatis,forItalian-stylesmallgoodsorfoodstuffimportedfromItaly.Onbothocca-sionstheshopswerenotverybusy.EnglishwasthebaselanguagewiththeinterlocutorA1forbothRobertand

Laura.Robertkepthisinteractionwithhertosmalltalk.Thatis,hegreetedherandthankedherwhenthetransactionswereover;andthiswasdoneinEnglish.Laurawhodidtheactualbuyingusedmainlytransactionallanguageaswouldbeusedinadelicatessen.Sheaskedforcertainitems,somethingsshewantedweighed and some sliced.She spokemainly inEnglish, except for the fewsentencesreportedbelow.

(31) Laura: I’dlikesomecheesequello rotondo ‘theroundone’ CanIhavesomeham?Thatone.E’ buono? ‘Isitgood?’ Grazie, arrivederci ‘Thankyou,goodbye’ (Thiswas initiated byLaura, but the sales person replied in

English)

These three sentenceswereuttered at different stagesof an interaction thatlastedaboutfiveminutesandcomprised12–13sentencesinall.InterlocutorsA2andA3werebusyservingothercustomerswhenRobert

andLaura came into the shop.When interlocutorsA2 andA3hadfinishedservingtheycameovertoRobertandLauraandtheyallchattedtogetherforacouple of minutes on general things like the business, the family, and theweather.BoththesemenhavebeeninAustraliaforover25years.Theycon-ductedallconversationsinItalian.LaurausedonlyItalianwhenspeakingtothem.RobertusedSicilianinthegreetings:

(32) Robert: Comu va? Stamu bene ‘Howisitgoing?Wearewell’

FortheremainderoftheconversationheusedItalian.Robert’suseofSicilianwithapersonfromCalabriaisduetothefact that thetwodialectsareverysimilar.Whenqueried,aftercomingoutofthedelicatessen,LauraandRoberttold

the researcher that they know those twomen very well, and are normallyservedbythem.Asdiscussedabove,RobertandLaurahavebeengoingtothisdelicatessen for anumberofyears andhave, therefore,developeda certainrelationshipwiththeownersofthedelithatisnotpurelyprofessional.


WhenRodandJaneenteredthedelicatessentherewereonlytwoorthreeothercustomersbeingservedbytwopeoplebehindthecounter.Theywaitedaboutfiveminutesforashopassistanttobecomeavailable.Thepersonwhoservedthemwasawomanaround45yearsold(Table16).Bythistimetherewasonlyoneotherwomaninherfortiesintheshopbeingservedbyamaninhisfifties.TheconversationbetweenthesetwowasinItalian.Rodpointedhimoutastheowneroftheshop.WithinterlocutorB1EnglishwasthebaselanguageforbothJaneandRod.

Janekeptherinteractionwithhertosimplygreetings.Thatis,shegreetedherwhenshefirststartedtoservethemandthankedhertheywereleaving;andthiswasdoneinEnglish.RodwhodidtheactualbuyingstartedinEnglish.How-ever,hethenrealizedthatitwasawomanheknew(andknewasbeingItalian)andstartedmixingsomeItalianinhisutterances.Heusedmainlytransactionallanguageasistypicalinadelicatessen.Heaskedforcertainitems,theirweight,etc.

(33) Rod: Un po’ di mortadella,sixslices,verythinplease ‘abitofmortadella...’ Thecheeseè buono? ‘isitgood?’ Quant’è? ‘Howmuchisit?’ Grazie, arrivederci. ‘Thankyou,goodbye’

Theinteractionlastedaboutfiveminutesandcomprised10 –15sentencesinall.However,bythetimeRodrealizedwhothewomanwastheywereneartheendofthetransactions.Thismeantthatverylittleofthetransactionwasactu-allydoneinItalian.InterlocutorB2wasbusyservingoneothercustomerwhileRodandJane

werebeingserved.WhenRodandJanewereleaving,Rodcalledout to theownerandgreetedhiminItalianandthemanrepliedinItalianaswell:

(34) Rod: buongiorno ci vediamo ah? ‘gooddaywe’llseeyou’ InterlocutorB2: salve, arrivederci ‘hellogoodbye’

Inanswertoaquerybytheresearcheroutsidethedelicatessen,JaneandRodsaidthattheyhavebeenshoppingatthatdelicatessenforanumberofyears;however,theyneverreallygottoknowtheworkersthereverywell.

9.3.2. Language used in the fruit shop. ThefruitshopinConcordisownedandrunbypeoplefromanItalianbackground.Itisaself-servicearrangement

144 F. Cavallaro

sothatRodandJanedidnotneedtointeractwithanyoftheshopkeepersuntilitwastimetopay(Table17).Atthecheckouttheyrecognizedthatoneofthewomenwasanon-Sicilian

Italianwomantheyusuallydealwithatthisshop.However,theydidnotchoosetousehercheckout,butchoseinsteadthecheckoutwiththeshortestqueue.Astheywereleavingtheshop,theycalledouttheirgreetingstotheItalianwomaninEnglish,towhichthewomanalsorepliedinEnglish.

(35) Rod: hello Jane: howareyou? InterlocutorB7: hello,wellthankyou

9.3.3. Language used in the bakery. Thisbakeryisownedandrunbypeo-plefromanItalianbackgroundanditiswhereRobertandLauranormallybuytheir Italian-stylebread.Robertdidnotgo inside thebakery;Lauradid thebuyinginthisshop.Therewereatleast10 –15peoplebeingservedorwaitingtobeservedwhenLaurawalked in.Therewereabout threeor fourwomenworkingbehindthecounterandwhenLaurahadwaitedaboutfiveminutestheyoungestwomanshopassistantcametoserveher(Table18).The language used was English without any transferences or switching.

Whenqueried aboutwhy she did not order in ItalianLaura said that, eventhoughsheknewthewomantobeofItalianbackground,sheonlyinteractedwithherinEnglishbecauseshedidnotknowherverywell.Lauraalsoaddedthat, if theworker had started in Italian, then shewould have answered in

Table17. Interlocutors in the fruit shop

RodandJane Asknownbytheparticipants

Interlocutor Languageusedbyperson


B7Worker(female) English 30 –35 Non-Sicilian Australia

Table18. Interlocutors in the bakery

RobertandLaura Asknownbytheparticipants

Person Languageusedbyperson


A17Worker(female) English 25 Non-Sicilian Australia


Italian.Asitwas,shesaidshejustfollowedthelinguisticcuegivenbytheshopassistant,whichwasEnglish.

10. Summary

10.1. At home

ThediscussionsaboveontheamountofItalianandSicilianandthesampleinteractionshighlightthatforbothfamiliesthereisverylittleItalianandSi-cilianspokenathome.TheItalian/Sicilianthatisusedseemstobestocknamesforfooditemsandtraditionalphrases(cf.buon appetito)whichareusedandreusedwithoutanyobviouscode-switchingmechanism.This is in linewithother studies that have shown that evenwhen proficiency is not very high,participantshaveshownsignificantlevelsofpragmaticcompetenceandasub-stantialvocabulary,inItalianand/orthedialect,inthingslikegreetings,apolo-gies,andothereverydayexpressions(BierbachandBirken-Silverman2000,2008;Birken-Silverman2004;Franceschini1998,2001;Rubino2000).BothcouplesdodemonstrateapositiveattitudetowardItalian.Thiscanbe

seenintheexample(8)forRodandJanewheretheyelicittheItaliannamesfortheingredientsinthepastadish;aswellasRobert’sobviousattempttoteachthedaughterssomeItalian(example36).

(36) InteractionA25Robert (mockingly)Thehairyellow.Andhowdoyousayinitaliano

(‘Italian’)yellow?Giallo(‘yellow’)!Saygiallo(‘yellow’)!Dora Giallo(‘yellow’)Robert Goodgirl

Inthisenvironment,then,Italiandoesseemtoberegardedinapositiveway.However,thereisnotenoughofitspokentohaveareallearningormainte-nanceeffectonthechildren.Sicilian,ontheotherhand,seemstobetotallyoutoffavor.Thehomedomaindoesnotseemtobeconducivetothesuccessfulmainte-

nanceofeitherItalianorSicilian.Thisisinagreementwiththeirstatementsinafollow-upinterviewwherebothcouplessaidthatSiciliancannotbemain-tained,andthattheycannotteachItaliantotheirchildrenbecausetheirItalianisnotasgoodasthatspokenbytheirownparents.Theyalsosaidthattheirchildrenhaveabetterchanceoflearningitatschooloroutinthecommunity.Onecannotquestiontheircommitmentpurelyfromthissetofdata.However,whatwecanplainlyseefromthesedataisthatthechildrenarenotexposedto enough ItalianorSicilian for thehomedomain tobe apositive learningenvironment.

146 F. Cavallaro

10.2. In the family

TherecordingsshowedthattherewasalotmoreItalianandSicilianspokenwitholdermembersofthefamilies.ThisincreaseduseofItalianandSicilianisduetothefirstgenerationbeingpresentandparticipatingintheconversa-tions.However,wesawhowthepresenceoffirst-generationItalo-AustralianswasnotenoughtoenabletheyoungerspeakerstouselessEnglish.Thesecond-generationfamilymembersonlyusedItalianandSiciliantoincludeordirectlyaddresstheoldermembersofthefamilies,nottocommunicateamongthem-selves.Asreportedabove, thefirst-generationmembersof thefamilyspokemoreItalianandSicilianthananyoneelse.TheirpresencealsocontributedtoelicitingmuchmoreItalianandSicilianfromtheparticipatingcouples.How-ever,whileRobert,Laura,Rod,andJaneusedmoreItalianand/orSicilianinthisdomainthanathomealonewiththeirchildren,theinstancesoftheselan-guagesarestillsignificantlylessthantheoverallamountofEnglishspoken.Asfarasthelanguagemaintenanceaspectsofthisdomainareconcerned,

wemust say that, just like the home domain, in this situation there is notenough Italian or Sicilian spoken to effectively stop the shift of the familyawayfrombothItalianandSicilian.Themainfactorthatpointtothisisthemodestactiveinvolvementonthepartoftheyoungchildreninthenon-Englishinteractions.ThismeansthatthesechildrenreceiveverylittleinputineitherItalianorSicilianandtheamountofItalianandSicilianthattheyareactuallyexposedtodoesnotseemsufficientforthemaintenanceoftheselanguages.ItisalsonoticeablethatRobert’smother,Maria,afluentspeakerofSicilianandItalian,chosetospeakinEnglishtohergrandchild(example[30]).Thechil-drennormallystayawayfromanysortofinputintheirparents’mothertongues.Inthiscase,whentheydocomeintocontactwiththepersonintheirfamilywithahighproficiencyinbothItalianandSicilian,itisquitetellingthatsheswitchestoEnglish(example[29]).ItisobviousthatthiswouldhavenegativeimplicationsasfarasthevalueoftheseinteractionsandthisdomainforthesuccessfulmaintenanceofItalianandSicilian.ItisinterestingtonotethatbothcouplesusedsubstantiallymoreItalianand

Sicilianintheget-togetherswithbothsidesofthefamilythantheydidathomewithonlytheirchildren.However,thisusewaspurelyasameansofeasingcommunicationwiththeoldermembersofthefamilyanddidnotplayaroleintransmittingthelanguagestotheirownchildren.

10.3. Inthetransactionaldomain

When queried, both couples said that thesewere typical shopping trips forthem,includingthewaytheyinteractedwiththeshopkeepers.


Inall,therewasnotalotofinteractingdoneinthisdomain.Verylittleofanyofthethreelanguageswasused.Alltransactionalinteractionswereveryshortandwerelimitedtotransactionallanguage.TheexceptionwasthetimebothRobertandLauraengagedinsustainedconversationswithpeopletheyhaveknownforawhile,inthedelicatessen.Itisalsointerestingtonotethattheirdaughters,whohadcomealong,neverinteractedwithanyoftheshopkeepersandthatthelanguageusedamongthefamilymembersandwiththeresearcherwasalwaysandonlyEnglish.TheverysmallamountofItalianandSicilianspokeninthisdomainseems

topointtothefactthatthisdomainisnotconducivetoaneffectivemainte-nanceof either codes; especiallydue to the fact that the children (the thirdgeneration)normallydonotgetinvolved,orarenotpresentinsituations,whenItalianandSicilianarespoken.Thedatainthisstudydoshowthesecondgenerationtobeeffectivelytrilin-

gual.Allofthefourparticipantsinthisstudy,whencalleduponon,exhibitedvaryinglevelsofproficiencyinSicilianandItalian;whiletheirproficiencyinEnglishisnotinquestion.WhenneededtheyalldemonstratedthattheycouldconverseinbothSicilianandItalian.However,whatisquestionedisthelackofinputintheselanguagesforthethirdgeneration.TheItaliancommunityinAustraliaisnowwellintothisthirdgenerationandthisstudyseemstoshowthat the exposure to the Italianvarieties these young Italo-Australians havebeengettingisminimal.Thedataarenotalldoomandgloom.Theyoungchil-drenthattookpartinthisstudyshowedanadequatepassiveknowledgeofbothItalian(cf.example[8])andSicilian(cf.example[27]).Thismeansthatsomelanguage skills are being passed on.The question iswhether these passiveskillswilltranslateineffectivelanguageskillslaterinlife.

11. Conclusion

ThisarticlehasservedtoprovideadescriptionofthelinguisticrepertoireandlanguageshiftoftheItaliancommunityinAustralia.ThecensusdataandthedatafromtheexperimentalstudypresentedinthisprofilealsomakeitclearthattherearenogroundsforoptimismonthemaintenanceofeitherItalianoranyoftheItalianregionalvarietiesinAustralia.ThedatapointtothefactthatshifttoEnglishhasalreadyoccurredinthesecondandsubsequentgenerations.However,thesegenerationsstillshowssignsofbeingtrilingual;asseeninex-ample(27),whichshowsthatoneofthegrandchildrenunderstoodhergrand-motherwhen she spoke in Sicilian (see also similar reports inBettoni andRubino1996;Rubino2000,2002,2004;Cavallaro2006,2010).Thesesignsofpassiveknowledgeofadialectandthefactthatthesechildrenarelearning

148 F. Cavallaro

Italianatschool,however,donotalterthefactthattheirworkinglanguageisEnglish.Arrestingorreversingthisnoticeableshiftmaybebeyondthecommunity’s

capabilitynow.Moreresearchandresourcesshouldbedirectedtothesettingupofmoreeffectivelanguageprogramsinpreschool,primary,andsecondaryschoollevels.Whiletherearepositivesignsfromthenewermigrantcommu-nities(forexample,Vietnamese,Chinese,andSomali),theyounggenerationsof childrenofnon-English-speakingbackground inAustraliahavenotbeenmaintainingthecommunitylanguagesverywell.Thefactthatschoolbringsaboutsuchamarkedshiftawayfromthecommunitylanguagehasnotbeenproperly addressed by the education systems inAustralia and, asCavallaro(2010) proposes, is an indictment of the school’s language programs. Theproblemliesinthefactthatmainstreamlanguageprogramsarenotdesignedfor themaintenance of immigrant community languages.The result is thattherearefewerandfewerchildrenintheclassroomwhospeakacommunitylanguageasanL1.Thissituationcanonlyleadtoadecreaseinlanguagepro-ficiencystandardsintheclassroom.Foryearsnowthelanguageskillsofchil-drenfromnon-English-speakingbackgroundhavebeenallowedtolanguish.Thesesamechildrenarethentaughttheircommunitylanguageasasecondorforeign languageatschool(Gatt-RutterandCavallaro1991).Unfortunately,studentsattendingthesesecondlanguageprogramsarenotachievingveryhighstandards of proficiency. The exceptions seem to be the students attendingcontent-basedandimmersion-typeprograms(seeClyne[1986]foradiscus-sion of theBayswater South program andBerthold [1989] for theBenowaHighSchool,inQueensland).8Morerecently,averypositivedevelopmenthasbeentheestablishmentoftwoschoolsofferingbilingualprograms.ThesearetheItalianBilingualSchoolinLeichhardtinNSW(www.ibs.nsw.edu.au)andtheInternationalGrammarSchoolinUltimo,alsoinNSW(www.igssyd.nsw.edu.au).AttheItalianBilingualSchool,scienceandtechnology,humansocietyandenvironment,creativeandpracticalartsaretaughtsolelyinItalianalong-side Italian language classes. English, mathematics, personal development,healthandphysicaleducationaretaughtinEnglish.ThelanguagesofferedattheInternationalGrammarSchoolareFrench,German,Italian,andJapanese.Upto80minutesofdailyclasstimearededicatedtolanguageclassesandcoresubjectsoftheschoolcurriculumarealsointegratedintheselectedlanguage.ThediscouragingLMresultsintheUnitedStates(Veltman1984;Fishman

etal.1985;Hakuta1986)andintheAustralianschools(cf.above)wherepres-surefromthedominantlanguageandculturehasfrustratedattemptstomain-tain the language of the first-generation immigrants, and themore positiveonesfromCanada(SwainandLapkin1986)andEurope(BaetensBeardsmore(1993),pointtothefactthatatpresenteffectivelanguagemaintenanceisnotbeingachievedbytheAustralianschoolsystem.Norarethethreeundergradu-


ateyearsatuniversityenoughtobringstudentstoanative-likestandardinthelanguage.Ifnothingisdonetoimprovethesituation,thenitpromotesacycleofunderpreparedstudentswhointurnbecomelanguageteachers.Thepresentresearchhighlightsthefact thatparentsandgrandparentslackthenecessaryknowledgeofhowtobringuptheirchildrenbilingually.Immigrantcommuni-tiesneedimmediateaccesstoinformationregardingthebenefitsofbilingual-ism,anditshouldbestressedto theparents thatacquiringa languageotherthanEnglishdoesinnowayjeopardizethechildren’sacquisitionofEnglish.The research evidence is conclusive that transgenerational language shiftamongimmigrantcommunitiesisalmostinevitable(Veltman1984;Fishmanetal.1985;Hakuta1986;O’Bryanetal.1976;Wardhaugh1983).However,aspointedoutbyCavallaro(2005),soistheresearchevidenceonwhycommu-nitylanguagesshouldbemaintained.Moreresearchshouldbeaimedatdevel-opingpractical,effective,andachievablestrategiestohaltor,wherepossible,reversethelanguageshiftexperiencedbyspeakersofcommunitylanguagesinAustralia.AsfarasItalianisconcerned,itcouldstillplayanactiveroleinthecommunityforsometimetocome.BeingthestandardandnationallanguageofItalymeansthatitenjoysarelativelyhighstatusinthecommunityanditisregardedasthelanguageofwideruse—bothsociallyandpoliticallywhencomparedtotherestricteduseofvernacularslikeSicilian.TogetherwiththefactthatItaliandialectsareperceivedbyItalo-Australiansasbeinglessimpor-tantmeansthat,intheAustraliancontext,thesedialectsareunlikelytosurviveintothethirdgenerationandbeyond.

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Correspondenceaddress:[email protected]

Appendix:Transcriptionconventions

Note:inalltranscriptions,italicsdenoteItalian;bolditalicsdenoteSicilian;thelettersbeforetheinteractionnumberdenotethecouplewhoseinteractionwasrecorded:“A”meansRobertandLaura,“B”meansitcamefromRodandJane’srecordings.

// //and // // Denoteoverlappingspeech(note) Author’snotes[?] UnclearwordinEnglish;twoquestionmarksdenotetwoun-

clearwords[...] DenoteslongtractoftheconversationtotallyinEnglishjobs UnderlingingdenoteswordsspokenwithanEnglishpronun-

ciation

150 F. Cavallaro

Notes

1. ForadetailedanalysisoftheAustraliansituation,seeClyne(1991,2005),ClyneandKipp(1996,1997),Kipp,Clyne,andPauwels(1995),andKippandClyne(1998).

2. Inthisarticletheterm“dialect”isusedtorefer to“Italo-Romancedialects”andissignifi-cantlydifferent to thedefinitionnormallygiven to “dialect”within anEnglish context. InEnglishdialectologytheterm“dialect”istraditionallysynonymouswith“languagevariety.”Thatis,alanguageistypicallycomposedofanumberofdialectsthatdiffergrammatically,phonologically,andlexicallyfromeachotherandareassociatedwithaparticulargeographicalarea.Onthecontrary,Italo-RomancedialectsarenotvarietiesofItalian.AnexampleofsuchavarietywouldbeItaliano regionale(RegionalItalian).TheItaliandialectsareautonomouslinguisticsystemsspokeninItalyandinmanycasesarenotmutuallyintelligible.

3. Leoni(1990:87)hassuggestedthat“Australitalian”isactuallybasedonitaliano popolare,whichisavarietyofItalianspokenexclusivelybythoseindividualswhohaveoneoftheItalo-Romancedialectsastheirmothertongueanditisdifferentfromspontaneous,colloquialvari-etiesofItalian.

4. ThenumberofspeakersofStandardItalianinthefirstgenerationisverysmall.Mostmigrantscamefromruralareasandhadverylittleformaleducationandwouldhavehadadialectastheirfirstlanguage(Rubino2006).

5. Multilingualism here refers to the situation where a child has been brought up speakingmorethanonecode(incontrasttobilingualismwherethechildisbroughtupspeakingtwolanguages).

6. Thenamesoftheparticipantshavebeenchangedtoprotectanonymity.However,thepseud-onymsused reflect theparticipants’ choiceof eitherEnglish-soundingnames (e.g.,RobertinsteadoftheItalian,Roberto)orthefactthattheypronouncedtheirnamesinananglicizedway(e.g.,[lo:ra]insteadoftheItalian[laura]).

7. English/ItalianMIXindicatesEnglishroots towhichItaliangrammaticalmorphemeshavebeenadded.

8. Content-basedprogramsdohave limitations.However, the results arecomparativelygood(seeClyne1991).

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