Analysis of False Phraseological Anglicisms in Modern Italian Language

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to assess the pragmatic salience of two false phraseological Anglicisms found in present-day Italian language, namely I know my chickens and Don’t expand yourself/extend yourself and their ability to perform illocutionary acts. False phraseological units are idiomatic phrases that look and sound English, but are made by Italian speakers and are used with a different meaning in English. Examples are retrieved from web-based corpora enTenTen and itTenTen and archives of three main Italian newspapers La Reppublica , Corriere della Sera and La Stampa . The author has also implemented a qualitative analysis of lexicographic sources, such as monolingual dictionaries of English and Italian, Italian-English bilingual dictionaries and idiomatic dictionary. The research included the study of the typical contexts in which false phraseological Anglicisms occur, the frequency of their occurrence, possible Italian equivalents and the ability to perform corresponding illocutionary acts. Their degree of pragmatic salience is higher when compared to their Italian semantic equivalents. Regardless the limited number of false phraseological units and low quantitative impact, when used sensu stricto , they represent indisputable evidence of English influence on the present-day Italian language.