The Italian Language in the United States

2 1. Introduction. The ecology of the Italian language in the United States The study of the fate of the Italian language 1 in the United States is essentially the investigation of the results of its contact with American English, primarily occurred through the well-known migratory phenomenon that, within approximately a century (1860-1970), brought about 6 millions Italians to the New World. 2 Language contact is a multidimensional and multidisciplinary area of study in which interrelationships between the languages in contact and their environment are the key to comprehending why and how people use them in a given way. In other words, the study of language contact entails the investigation of the totality of the relations between the languages of the contact and a given environment, as well as the study of the history of their speakers. This suggests that the study of language contact is essentially a study in language ecology. Indeed, it is within an ecological perspective that the results of these investigations may be integrated. I primarily consider the present research as a study in language ecology, specifically, as the study of the ecology of the Italian language in the United States. But before making any observations within such a framework, it is important to understand why and in which way it is ecological. Drawing on the most important reference in the linguistics literature, I will therefore outline the fundamental notions and principles of such an approach. 1 With ‘Italian language’ I refer to the several dialectal/non-standard varieties that essentially constituted the linguistic repertoire of the Italian immigrants in the United States. 2 Today, over 15.7 million people in the United States identify themselves as Italian Americans. They constitute nearly 6% of the U.S. population (A Profile of Today’s Italian Americans: 2003).