marcin
(Marcin)
#1
its provincial ghettos in order to place it in
open confrontation with other idioms, from
those belonging to sub-regional cultures to
those without communication boundaries.
Apulian dialects have thus become
alternative codes of an open linguistic
system, abandoning the subaltern function
as a consequence of the unification required
by Bembo’s sixteenth-century standard. In
such a perspective, they have emerged as
vehicles of recognition in an universe of
pervasive standardization that is taking
place with the spread of English and the
diffusion of mass media: with its lexical and
semantic richness, dialect has reclaimed a
communal space, made of people, places,
recognizable relationships.
The journey, nevertheless, has been long
and difficult. Apulia is a heterogenous
region, a product of the grafting of various