Connection and Contact. Italian Connectives in Spoken Fassano Ladin

Abstract

This paper investigates a peculiar language contact situation, namely the Ladin area in Trentino-South Tyrol, in order to verify the presence and distribution of Italian discourse markers and connectives in a bilingual context. Based on a bilingual speech corpus, I will point out how Ladin speakers distinguishes between the pragmatic and semantic level of connection, using Italian forms in the first case and Ladin ones in the latter. In conclusion, I will focus on Italian connectives perché ‘because’ and allora ‘then, therefore’ and their equivalent Ladin forms , i.e. percheche / ajache and enlouta / donca.

Keywords

• connettivi
• segnali discorsivi
• contatto linguistico
• perché
• allora