Italian With an Accent: The Case of “Chinese Italian” in Tuscan High Schools

Abstract

Two experiments test the existence of prejudicial attitudes toward nonnative Italian speech (specifically Chinese-accented Italian) within Tuscany’s high schools, among teachers and student samples. The research explores and integrates different methodologies: explicit inquiry (overt questionnaires) as well as implicit tests (Implicit Association Test protocol). The results outlined the existence of significant implicit negative attitudes toward Chinese-accented Italian and established the discrepancy between explicit and implicit attitudes. The discussion focuses on the sociolinguistic implications of these results, with respect to educational aspects and to future directions for research.