Living Memory: The Social Aesthetics of Language in a Northern Italian Town

Living Memory investigates the complex question of language and its place at the heart of Bergamasco culture in northern Italy.

- Integrates extensive participant observation with sociolinguistic data collection
- Reveals the political and social dynamics of a national language (Italian) and a local dialect (Bergamasco) struggling for survival
- Introduces the original concept of the "social aesthetics of language" the interweaving of culturally-shaped and emotionally felt dimensions of language-choice
- Written to be accessible to students and specialists alike
- Part of the Blackwell Studies in Discourse and Culture Series