The Linguistic Experience of Italians in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1890-1914: Language Shift As Seen Through Social Spaces ______
THE LINGUISTIC EXPERIENCE OF ITALIANS IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, 1890-1914: LANGUAGE SHIFT AS SEEN THROUGH SOCIAL SPACES ________________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board ________________________________________________________________________ in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ________________________________________________________________________ by Maria Italiano-McGreevy January 2013 Examining Committee Members: Augusto Lorenzino, Dissertation Advisor, Spanish and Portuguese Jonathan Holmquist, Examination Committee Chair, Spanish and Portuguese Paul Toth, Internal Reader, Spanish and Portuguese Gabriella Romani, External Reader, Italian Studies, Seton Hall University ! ABSTRACT From 1890-1914, Argentina received a large influx of Italian immigrants who wanted to “hacer la América”, or live the American dream of economic prosperity. With Italian immigrants representing nearly half of all immigrants entering Argentina, the government strived to create a new sense of Argentine pride and nationalism. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate and analyze the linguistic experience of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, Argentina, applying Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social space and linguistic markets, and contact language theories to explain the attrition and shift of the Italian language. This study identifies three relevant social spaces that contributed to the linguistic experience of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires: 1). conventillos or immigrant housing 2.) school community, and 3.) mutual aid societies. Within each social space thrived a linguistic market which language played a key role in the way people interacted and identified with each other. First, the conventillos were part of an alternative linguistic market in which cocoliche, a transitional language, thrived as a way for Italians to communicate with immigrants from different countries.
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