Italian is a language which has undergone great transformations in the last fifty years according to the sociocultural changes which the country has encountered. Such changes have led the country from the after war reconstruction to the new economy of a globalized society. Those who want to compare the Italy of the nineteen fifties with the present one would probably find few common features, the changes having occurred in the economy, the media, the schools and universities, the trade unions and political delegations, etc. It is enough, for instance, to think of the fact that the Italy of the fifties was still a country of emigration, whereas today’s Italy attracts large-scale immigration.

References

Berruto, G.

1987 Sociolinguistica dell’italiano contemporaneo. Roma: La Nuova Italia.

Mioni, A.

1975 “Per una sociolinguistica italiana: Note di un non sociologo”. Foreword to Joshua Fishman. La sociologia del linguaggio. Roma: Officina 1975.