Standardization patterns and dialect/standard convergence: A northwestern Italian perspective

Abstract

AbstractThis article is inspired by the typology of “dialect/standard constellations” outlined in Auer (2005, 2011), which aims to detect common dynamics in the current processes of dialect/standard convergence in Europe. The specific sociolinguistic situation addressed in this article involves Italian, Piedmontese, and Occitan in Piedmont, a northwestern region of Italy. We analyze a set of linguistic features with the aim of depicting the dynamics of intralinguistic and interlinguistic convergence as they relate to the ongoing standardization processes in these languages. Some adjustments to the two types of repertoires drawn by Auer (diaglossia and endoglossic medial diglossia) are proposed to better suit them, respectively, to the Italo-Romance continuum between Piedmontese rural dialects and standard Italian (which actually consists of two separate subcontinua with intermediate varieties) and to the relationship between Occitan dialects and their planned standard variety (as well as that between Piedmontese and its “Frenchified” standard variety). (Language standardization, dialect/standard convergence, Italian, Piedmontese, Occitan.)*