A matched-guise experiment on language attitudes towards the dialect of Trento

Abstract

The present work contributes to the sociolinguistic understanding of language attitudes towards dialects in Italy. Following the technique developed by Lambert and his associates in 1960, a matched-guise experiment was conducted to investigate the attitudes of the Italian population with respect to the dialect of the city of Trento. A sample of 120 candidates was asked to rate twelve recordings, eight of which belonged to the same four speakers who performed both in Italian and in urban Trentino dialect. The speakers were formerly selected by means of a pre-survey according to their degree of Italian standardness and dialect nativeness. In the experiment participants evaluated the voices in terms of socio-economic status, competence, and solidarity traits. It was predicted that dialect speakers would be generally rated less favourably if compared to Italian speakers, especially on status and competence attributes. Such attitude was expected to be shared to a greater extent among candidates from outside Trentino-Alto Adige than among those born and grown up in that region. Moreover, it was assumed that evaluations would be positive towards dialect guises on solidarity traits. Lastly, it was hypothesised that female speakers would be graded more negatively with respect to male guises in dialectal contexts, in particular as far as status and competence areas were concerned. A tendency to favour Italian guises emerged in status and competence traits, especially on the parts of non-Trentino judges. The data showed that female speakers were favourably rated by Trentino participants in terms of social proximity when using dialect, whereas no significant differences appeared between male Italian and dialect guises. The evaluations given by respondents from outside Trentino-Alto Adige varied for each speaker, with the young male Italian guise being significantly favoured in almost all traits. Overall, correctness appeared to be associated to the Italian guise in all speakers, both on the parts of Trentino and non-Trentino judges. It was concluded that the language attitudes that emerged from the experiment were favourable towards the national standard. Speakers of Trento dialect were held socially near solely by individuals sharing the same region of provenance. Competence and socio-economic status were generally accorded to standard speakers, in that dialect appears to convey lower accuracy and proficiency levels to its users.