In the context of great linguistic diversity that characterises Italy, the case of singular V pronouns is a prime example of regional variation. Lei (third person singular feminine) is mostly accepted as the default singular V pronoun and voi (second person plural) is considered obsolete in many regions of Italy. However, in some geographical locations, e.g. Naples and Calabria, singular voi is documented as very vital in many domains of everyday life, both private and public. In addition, evidence from Bresin (forthcoming) suggests that the extent to which the T pronoun tu (second person singular) is used in specific situational contexts may also vary significantly from region to region.

Surprisingly, an updated and comprehensive account of the geographical distribution of singular address pronouns in Italy – after Rohlfs’s study (1968) – is missing. This paper examines the contribution that two recent studies, specifically designed to investigate regional variation in contemporary Italian, provide towards filling this evident gap.

The LinCi project covered 31 Italian cities, interviewing 12 informants of different gender, age and educational level in each city. Although a major focus was on lexicon, one question enquired about the pronoun used to address a person with whom one is not familiar.

The study by Bresin (forthcoming) covered 5 Italian regions and focused on address in restaurant encounters, with data from about 100 participants in each region reporting on how they address and are addressed by waiters.

This paper discusses some of the limitations of those two studies. Considering the serious methodological challenges, including the need for naturally occurring data, the coverage of the whole national territory, and the representativeness and comparability of the samples, is a comprehensive account of how singular address pronouns are used in the various parts of contemporary Italy is still a worthwhile goal to strive for?

References

• Bresin, A. (forthcoming). Language variation in Italian service encounters. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Nesi, A., & Poggi Salani, T. (2013). La lingua delle città. LinCi. La banca dati. Florence: Accademia della Crusca.
• Rohlfs, G. (1968). Grammatica storica dell’italiano e dei suoi dialetti. Vol. 2: Morfologia. Turin: Einaudi.