Roberta Ferroni

Playing with languages: code-switching between Italian-Brazilian immigrants during a ruzzola tournament

This article examines the language strategies, in particular code-switching, implemented by a group of Italian immigrants who live in the city of Sao Paulo and are enrolled in a ruzzola tournament. In this bilingual context we saw that, in accordance with the language skills of the players and interaction management requirements, the language of interaction is constantly negotiated. The data analyzed tend to indicate that even very minimal and rudimentary use of the language can help contribute to the individual’s Italian identity, and that certain activities that are perceived as traditional in the culture of origin can function as a vehicle for renewed interest in the language of the country of origin. This study adopts as our theoretical and methodological reference the bilingual conversation procedural model developed by Auer (1984), Alfonzetti (1992), De Fina (2007a, 2007b), and the contextualization theory of Gumperz (1982).

BUENO STIAMO PRATICANDO: ANÁLISE COMPARATIVA DOS SINAIS DISCURSIVOS UTILIZADOS EM SITUAÇÕES INTERATIVAS ENTRE APRENDIZES DE LÍNGUAS PRÓXIMAS

Este artigo compara os sinais discursivos utilizados em contextos interativos entre aprendizes de italiano como lingua estrangeira, cuja lingua materna e o portugues brasileiro e o catalao-espanhol. Comparando-se os dois corpora, emerge que os marcadores discursivos podem ser expressos nao somente na LE, mas tambem por meio da LM. A categoria dos marcadores interativos mais frequentes e aquela dos fatismos e dos mecanismos de aprovacao, ao passo que os marcadores metatextuais sao totalmente ausentes. Quando os marcadores discursivos sao expressos em LM, e frequente a ausencia de atividades de negociacao, porque prevalece nos interactantes o desejo de levar a termo a tarefa que lhes foi atribuida.

Estratégias utilizadas por aprendizes de línguas afins: a troca de código

In this paper we examine code-switching, an achievement strategy consisting in the use of a word or phrase from L1, L3 or L4 within an utterance in L2, as employed by learners of Italian as a foreign language who have Brazilian Portuguese as their mother tongue, while performing a written task in pairs. The research, based on tools provided by an ethnographic approach, shows that code-switching constitutes a potential for developing interlanguage and for the acquisition/learning of a foreign language and that such strategy, in addition to compensating eventual linguistic gaps originated by a lack of proper resources for expression in L2, is used by speakers as a typical procedure in bilingual conversation, in order to facilitate the communication.