Americanismi d’Italia, italianismi d’America. Cenni sulle tracce lessicali della Grande Emigrazione

Abstract

The Italian migration to the United States spurred a particularly dynamic and multifarious language contact between Italian varieties and American English. This lasted for more than 400 years and is characterized by wide geographic diffusion and variable intensity. Its most significant years were those of the Grande Emigrazione (approximately from 1880 till 1927). This period attracts particular attention due to its remarkable intensity, as its linguistic results – among others – clearly show. Two indicators of the intensity and deep impact of this language contact is on the one hand the presence of Americanisms in Italian varieties, and on the other hand, the sporadic Italian elements of single contemporaneous varieties of American English, both going back to those years. The object of this paper is to describe some of these linguistic elements.