Maria Grazia Sindonimgsindoni@unime.itUniversità di Messina

FUHGGEDABOUDIT: QUANDO L’ITALIANO SBARCA IN AMERICA

IN BREVE…

• 1a parte

• La rappresentazione: quali strategie, metodi, obiettivi?

• La rappresentazione: quali interessi e quali ideologie?

• Esempi di rappresentazione

• 2a parte

• Studio sull’autopercezione delle identità culturali di italoamericani di cosiddetta «seconda generazione»

LA RAPPRESENTAZIONE

• Linguistica e semiotica

• De Saussure -> strutturalismo; post-strutturalismo

• Semiotica

• Foucault, Lévi-Strauss, Barthes

• Barthes -> significato, significante -> testo -> interpretazione

• Studi semiotici <-> studi sociosemiotici (Halliday 1978) <-> studi multimodali (Kress e van Leeuwen 1996, 2001, 2002, 2006, Kress 2010, etc.)

LEGGERE LE IMMAGINI

• Studi sociosemiotici

• Sistemi semantici

• Metafunzioni

• Ideazionale

• Interpersonale

• Testuale

LA RAPPRESENTAZIONE

LA RAPPRESENTAZIONE

LA RAPPRESENTAZIONE

LEGGERE UN TESTO (ESERCIZIO 1)

GENERALIZZAZIONE DI GRUPPO E STEREOTIPO• "Group generalizations are flexible and permeable to new, countervailing, knowledge-ideas,

interpretations, and information that challenge or undermine current beliefs. Stereotypes are rigid and resistant to change even in the face of compelling new evidence.

• Second, group generalizations incorporate intragroup heterogeneity while stereotypes foster intragroup homogeneity. Group generalizations embrace diversity - 'there are many kinds of Jews, tall and short, mean and generous, clever and stupid, black and white, rich and poor'. Stereotypes cast certain individuals as exceptions or deviants - 'though you are Jewish, you don't behave as a Jew would, you are different'.

• Finally, while generalizations provide mere clues about group culture and behavior - stereotypes purport to proffer immutable rules applicable to all the members of the group . Stereotypes develop easily, rigidify surreptitiously, and operate reflexively, providing simple, comfortable, convenient bases for making personal sense of the world. Because generalizations require greater attention, content flexibility, and nuance in application, they do not provide a stereotype's security blanket of permanent, inviolate, all-encompassing, perfectly reliable group knowledge.“ (Cortes, 2001)

FESTA

BACKSEATS ITALIANS• Backseats Italians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fBFm4OD2W0 (Esercizio 2)

• Italian invasion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbRKAVZBlRc (Esercizio 2)

• Stereotype:

• http://www.nationalstereotype.com/the-most-common-stereotypes-about-italians/ (Esercizio 3)

GOOGLE IMAGES• Italian American people

IMMIGRANTS

GUIDOS

ITALIAN AMERICAN GANGSTERS

ITALIAN FOOD

YOU KNOW YOU’RE ITALIAN WHEN...

You have a nonna. You eat Sunday dinner at 2:00 You know what a rice ball really tastes like. Your car has a green red and a white bow with a horn attached on the mirror! You know the words to Dominick the Donkey! The Godfather is your role model. Your nonna's meat balls are the bestFavorite movies: Godfather, Good Fellas, Bronx Tale, The Last Don... and you live by them.

You've been hit with a wooden spoon or had a shoe thrown at you by either your mother or your nonna.

Your father owns 5 houses, has $300,000 in the bank, but still drives a 76 Monte Carlo.

You share a bathroom with your 5 brothers, have no money, but drive a $45,000 Camaro or Firebird.

INTERROGATIVI E IPOTESI

• Quale è la percezione degli italoamericani della cultura e della lingua italiana?

• Fino a che punto la nostra Italia è diversa dalla loro Italia?

• Il potere dei media• “Cultural transfer effect”.

METODO

• Ricerca sociolinguistica

• Rapid appraisal method (Bergman 1991, Stalder 1996) • Selezione di un campione di informatori

• Questionari individuali

• Obiettivi: esplorare gli atteggiamenti della comunità di parlanti e compilare una wordlist in base alle indicazioni lessicali degli informatori

DATI • Forma scritta

• Lessicali/Pragmatici

• Percezioni sulla propria cultura e lingua/percezioni sul proprio gruppo di appartenenza (intragroup-intergroup, Trudgill, 1996, 2001)

• Rappresentazione degli italoamericani nei media: identificazione/rifiuto

INFORMATORI E QUESTIONARIO

• 63 persone (work in progress)

• Questionario di 19 domande, 11 chiuse e 8 aperte

• Questionario diviso in due parti:

• 1) variabili sociali e linguistiche

• 2) lexical items, speech acts e percezioni del comportamento linguistico personale, del gruppo di appartenenza e della rappresentazione fittizia (cinema, TV)

Female43%

Male 57%

Gender14-18

5%

19-2562%

26-3014%

31-3919%

Age

DATI SUL CAMPIONE

High School Diploma

47%

Degree48% Master's Degree

5%

Educational background

BILINGUISMO E LEGAMI CON L’ITALIA

Bilingual Parents born in Italy? Both parents are Ital-ian

0

5

10

15

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45

Yes No

Words to define Italian-Americans0

5

10

15

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30

18 1815

18 1815

WopGreaseballGuineaDagoGuidoMafiaGino

DEFINIZIONI DELL’ITALIANO DA PARTE DEI NON-ITALIANI

WOP• Merriam-Webster -> Italian (usually offensive)

• Wordreference -> cafone italiano (slang)

• Urban Dictionary -> an epiteth used for those of Italian descent. WOP stands for WithOut Papers. Many Italian immigrants had no papers to identify themselves and were branded as WOPs (epiteto usato per persone di origine italiana. WOP sta per «senza documenti». Molti emigranti non avevano documenti e furono quindi definiti WOPs)

GREASEBALL• Merriam-Webster -> a person of Hispanic or Mediterranean descent (usually offensive)

• Urban Dictionary -> another derogatory term for an italian. A greaseball is someone who looks like they don't take showers all that often. Italians seem to be naturally greasy and unheigenic. Therefore this name was made to describe this certain breed of italians who lack etiquette and basic hygeine.” [sic]

GUINEA• Urban dictionary -> The most vile racial slur that can be used against an

Italian-American. Refers to the Guinea Coast of Africa; using this slur is a very offensive way of implying that Italian-Americans are non-whites (something we tend to get very defensive about!!). Unlike the "N-word", which African-Americans sometimes use to address each other, no Italian-American would ever address another Italian-American using this word. Nor would they use the word "wop" (also offensive, but not in a racial way). HOWEVER, it IS common for Italian-Americans to refer to each other as "dago"; this is used the same way that blacks use the N-word with each other.”

GUINEA AND GUIDO

• Urban dictionary -> Italian racial slur; Only for One Italian to define another Italian. As Black People use the word N*gga. Guineas and Guidos are NOT the same thing. People usually say, Guidos are Italian. Not true. Guidos are basically wanna-be Italians. Men that dress like the stereotypical Italian or Italian American just to receive recognition by others. Many people tend to call Italians "Guido". Best bet is to just not call an Italian a Guinea if your NOT Italian, unless you want a pissed of Italian wanting to kick your ass.

GUIDO (URBAN DICTIONARY)• A sad pathetic excuse for a male; not necessarily of Italian descent, but most likely; usually native to the New York/New Jersey Tri-State area.

WARDROBE: tight zipper shirts, tracksuits, designer jeans, fuzzy kangol hats, tiny hoop earrings, fake gold chains, and related Euro-trash garb and tacky cheese-wear.

NATURAL HABITAT: Known to frequent Tri-State area malls looking for club gear to waste their week's pay on (most likely spotted shopping at "Bang Bang" in Staten Island). During the day when not at their food delivery, telemarketing, or construction job, can be located at their local gym tanning or lifting weights. Can be found nightly at mainstream danceclubs they read about online (SF, Webster Hall, Etc.). Most notable for cruising the Jersey shore in an old car (Honda, Mustang, etc.) which has been tinted, painted and sports $1,000-$3,000 rims in a feeble attempt to look like new. Guido cars usually have a boomin' system through which cheesy music like freestyle, commercial club/trance and hip-hop (anything KTU plays) is loudly blasted.

GENETIC LINKS: Directly related to modern day urban-guidos, A.K.A. "wiggers," A.K.A. "wegros;" urban-guidos are white males who once exhibited the traits referenced above, but have now instead opted to keep it unreal, with wardrobes consisting of clothes from labels like FUBU and Rocawear which they bought on sale at Macy's.

DAGO• Merriam-Webster -> a person of Italian or spanish descent (usually offensive)

• Commento di un utente:

“Mick called Rocky dago in the first Rocky movie when Rocky gets a message from Mick about Apollo looking for sparring partners. I wondered by the tone if it was meant to be offensive or not”

ESPRESSIONI O PAROLE PIÙ COMUNI RIPORTATE DAGLI INFORMATORI

• Formule di saluto (ciao, come va?, come stai?, che fai?, che sucess?)

• Turpiloquio (stupido, favangul,sfatcheem, va fa napoli, t’amazz, strunz, cabbados, mangiacake)

• Lessico del cibo (proshoot, antipast)• Interiezioni (San Antonio!, mama mia, manangia, mizzica,

vergogna!)• Atti linguistici regolativi (camina, mangia mangia, alestatati,

muov)• Modi di dire (E bruna ma bedda, this is na brutta figura)

Movies0

10

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40

50

60

The GodfatherCasinoA Bronx TaleDonnie BrascoGoodfellasOther

Film più popolari che presentano personaggi e ambientazione italo-americana

TV Shows0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

45

18

3 3

The Sopranos

Everybody Loves Raymond

Welcome Back Carter

Other

Serie TV più popolari con personaggi italo-americani

PAROLE/ESPRESSIONI USATE DA PERSONAGGI

• Formule di saluto (salud, ciao, how you doin?)• Lessico del cibo (antipast, salsiche)• Turpiloquio• Fatismi (Fuggedaboudit, You wanna piece o’ me?, Do

you know who I am?, He’s a friend of ours, Are you talking to me?)

• Proverbi/ modi di dire (Leave the gun, take the cannoli, It’s nothing personal, it’s only business)

You Others05

1015202530354045

Yes No

Not sure

Hai mai sentito queste parole/espressioni fuori da cinemaTV?

SIMBOLI DI «ITALIANITÀ»

Most important symbol0

5

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1512

36

12

6

12

15

12

6

People

Family

Food

Soccer Team

Film

Language

Flag

Culture

Sports

RISULTATI• Atti illocutivi stereotipati• Influenza reciproca fra uso e riproduzione nei media• Conflitto di lealtà

• …. Made in Jersey? Jersey Shore?

While the shows and movies can be entertaining, I find that they totally do not represent Italian-Americans AT ALL. Italians are more than people who curse, cook, drink wine, eat in large, obscene amounts, cheat on his or her spouse, and of course involve themselves in criminal activity. Italians discovered this country, we invented the telephone, we have wonderful cinematic accomplishments that DO NOT involve crime. We were the creators of the MODERN WORLD through the Renaissance!! Italian-Americans are highly educated and SO SO SO MUCH MORE than what popular culture believes us to be. There has to be a way to change this.