The aim of this article is to analyse the relationship that second- and third-generation Italian migrants in Australia have with the Italian dialect of their family. We report on the survey we recently carried out among young Italian-Australians, mainly learners of Italian as a second language. First, we analyse the motivation behind learning Italian as a heritage language. We then move on to describe their self-evaluation of their competence in the dialect of their family, and their perception thereof. Surprisingly, our survey reveals that not only are Italian dialects still understood by most second- and third-generation Italians (contrary to what people may think), but Italian dialects are also perceived by young Italian-Australians as an important part of their identity. For them, dialect is the language of the family, particularly in relation to the older members. It fulfills an instrumental function, as it enables communication with some family members who master neither English nor Italian, but above all, it is functional to the construction of their self and their social identity.

La presente recensione punta a fornire una descrizione e una valutazione critica del volume di Paolo Torresan Un Alfabeto di 73 Lettere. Strategie per la Didattica Linguistica. Nella prima sezione vengono delineati l'argomento e la struttura del la-voro, descrivendone brevemente le tre parti che lo compongono. Nella seconda sezione vengono approfonditi i contenuti delle singole parti e i rispettivi capitoli. Nella terza sezione si individuano i possibili fruitori del libro ed infine, nella quarta e ultima sezione, si tenta una valutazione in prospettiva critica, sottolineandone i punti di forza ed eventuali criticità.

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This article examines the translation of discourse markers in drama dialogue. Discourse markers are an important feature of spoken language, and unsurprisingly, they abound in drama dialogue. Yet very few studies have addressed the issue of discourse markers in theater translation. While some scholars suggest that discourse markers do not add anything to the propositional content of the sentence (Bazzanella 1994), our study reveals that it is very difficult to omit them in translation. In this article we suggest that an approach based on pragmatics could inform the practice of translating discourse markers in a playtext without overriding the importance of the rhythm of a spoken utterance, which is vital for rendering a play in translation (Bartlett 1996).

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