Language choice, attitudes, identity: how fans view Italian singers who choose English

Abstract

As both a cause and an effect of globalisation, English has emerged as the language of international communication in many contexts. ELF (English as a lingua franca) and the hegemony of English over national languages inevitably bring up issues of attitude and identity. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how Italian audiences perceive English and its use by non-native singers. A research questionnaire was thus submitted to the fans of three Italian singers who write songs in English: Elisa, Raphael Gualazzi, and Birthh. The dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part consists of a literature review, where a theoretical background was outlined in order to present the main topics of the research. The second part consists of the research and the discussion of the data collected. The results suggest that, although ELF is frequently presented as a neutral tool for international communication, the use of English in this context is actually often perceived as linguistically neutral yet culturally charged, partly due to the powerful influence of anglophone music and artists on the rest of the world.