Overview
Luciana Fellin (fellin@duke.edu) Professor of the Practice of Italian and Linguistics, Director of the Italian Language Program. I received a Laurea in English and German Literature from the University of Bologna, and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona where I specialized in sociolinguistics with a dissertation on language socialization practices and dialect revival in Italy. I have taught at the Universities of Trento and Bologna, as well as, San Diego State. My research interests include sociolinguistic aspects of second language learning and teaching as well as the study of language ideologies as linked to language obsolescence, maintenance and revival. I am currently working on an ethnographic project investigating language and identity in Italian American communities which include third, fourth+ generation Italian Americans whose ancestors immigrated to the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and Italians who have come to the US in the most recent, 21st century migratory wave. In addition to exquisitely linguistic practices such as code switching and mixing I look at gesture, prosody and food related symbolic practices and their role in identity construction. Recent discussion of this work can be found in “The Question of Language in the Italian American Experience” in L’Italia allo Specchio, (2015) Finotti, Johnston (Eds.) Venezia Marislio Editore pp. 449-462, and “The Italian new wave: identity work and socialization practices in a community of new Italian immigrants in America.” In Forum Italicum, May 2014 pp. 1-19. Work on language teaching and learning includes “Come insegnare italiano agli oriundi italiani? Il caso degli italo-americani.”, DITALS, edited by Pierangela Diadori, DITALS, vol. 7 (2010), Università per Stranieri di Siena; “Observe, document, reflect elaborate! Language learning through ethnographic observation and collaborative projects” in Gavioli, L. & F. Zanettin (Eds.) TAIL: Translation And Interpreting for Language Learners: A volume of teaching/learning activities in honour of Guy Aston, Anna Ciliberti and Daniela Zorzi. Associazione Italiana Linguistica Applicata, November, 2018.
