What’s App in Italian Linguistics II - How do we speak when we text?

By Rebecca Gatti

Online communication has become a huge part of our lives (Credit: Pixabay)

We can certainly get a lot about a culture from how people speak. But now, with the use of social media and online chats, we can widen our knowledge focusing as well on how people “write”. If you want to follow our columnist Rebecca Gatti in this journey through Italian “digital” linguistics, buckle up and get ready to find out how Italians really speak.

In this new column, Rebecca will show you some more interesting examples of what you can find inside Italian’s chats

Ciao!

Last time we left off with the promise to take a look at more examples of what can be found within the corpus WhAP (the first Italian corpus of WhatsApp conversations).

I would like to focus on the Discourse Marker (DM) vabbè and its multiple functions in online communication: last time we saw a single example of it, but this DM is highly polyfunctional and above all binds to many other particles (conjunctions, interjections, adverbs...) thus giving many nuances to speech.

Here are some examples (all the examples for vabbè are from Daniela Santoro, a fellow member of the project):

No vabbè 

Here vabbè shows how the thing just said is so absurd as to be unbelievable to the interlocutor. It is as if he wants to dismiss what has just been said as too absurd to believe.

A: io non ci posso credere: mia madre usa TikTok                                     
B: no vabbè                                  

A: i can’t believe it: my mom is using TikTok                

B: no vabbè (=no way)

Vabbè che / Vabbè ormai 

Paired with the relative pronoun che or the adverb ormai, it denotes a sort of conclusive value, as if to emphasise that even if something does not correspond to our initial idea it can still be accepted.

A: che guardate??                                                                                             
B: The french dispatch           

A: cazzo devo andare ma non voglio vederlo in ita
A: vabbè che vado gratis  

A: what are you going to watch?

B: The French dispatch

A: fuck I also have to go but I don’t want to see it in Italian

A: vabbè that (=yet) I can watch it for free so…

(sort of: I might as well go as it’s for free…)

A: comunque non ci si traveste per il mio compleanno
A: troppo sbatti
B: vabbè ormai mi metto lo stesso outfit 

A: anyway we’re not doing a theme party anymore for my birthday

A: too difficult

B: vabbè ormai (=at this point) I’ll put the same outfit

The pairings below mark a kind of belittling of what has just been said, as if to muffle and dampen the force of the previous statement, minimising it.

Sì vabbè 

A: ma anche a Milano c’era il sole
B: sì vabbe il sole a Milano 

A: it was sunny in Milan as well

B: si vabbè (=yeah sure) sunny in Milan

Se vabbè 

A: ora vi state mbriacando? 

B: se vabbè
B: quelle c’hanno una certa

A: are you getting drunk now?

B: se vabbe (=i don’t think so)

B: they’re old

Vabbè dai 

A: dove sta adesso e dove deve portarle ste cose? Può anche prendersi un cazzo di taxi nel senso 

B: da zara a solari
A: vabbè dai manco tragico 

A: where is he staying and where does he have to bring these things? He can take a fucking taxi

B: next to zara 

A: vabbè dai (=now come on) not even that tragic

Però vabbè 

A: per i turisti
B: però vabbè comunque è piacevole andare 

A: certo 

A: it’s mostly for tourists

B: però vabbè (=but)  it’s nice to go anyway

A: of course

Eh vabbè

Vabbè preceded by the interjection eh dampens the tone of the conversation by trying to muffle what might be bad news or a difficulty

A: eh vabbè lo troviamo un posto sicuramente 

A: eh vabbè (=oh well) we will find a place for sure

Other than the examples we analysed above, we can also find generic uses of vabbè, even when it’s not paired with a specific particle:

To express concession or admission

A: beh 90€ è una sberla
A: per natale si potrebbe fare
B: vabbè vediamo 

A: well 90€ is a lot

A: we could do it for christmas

B: vabbè vediamo (=we’ll see) 

To minimise something that has been said

A: sono 80 pag di appunti
B: ah ok
B: vabbè diciamo che hai le armi per combatterla

A: it’s like 80 pages of notes

B: ah ok

B: vabbè (=well at least) let’s say that you have a chance to pass

To close or change the subject

A: eh ma loro comunque devono portare la macchina a Rozzano
B: onestamente se loro viaggiano tutto il giorno…

A: vabbè di questo ne discutiamo domani 

A: yes but they have to take the car back to Rozzano anyway

B: honestly if they’re going to travel all day…

A: vabbè (=whatever), we’ll talk about this tomorrow

Similar to vabbè, there are also other DMs that perform various functions, especially in online language. Last time I introduced you to senti, which we will look at in the next article in more detail.

What I would like to present today are other phenomena that can be found within the corpus including the co-presence of multiple languages within the same conversation and sometimes within the same message.

The use of multiple languages in WhatsApp chats is very frequent: the introduction of foreign words (not to mention loans and calques) into the discourse is typical of young people's language, which, as we know, is of fundamental importance for digital language. When using foreign words in online conversations, it is not necessary to know the language to which they belong, they are scattered throughout the conversation to vary the style.

In this case we find a mixture of Italian, English and Spanish words:

A: Ciao sister come stai? Com’è andata oggi?

B: Wei

B: Sono un po' cotta I don't know why

B: Non ho fatto praticamente nada oggi ma c'ho sonnissimo adesso

B: Tu?

A: Hi sister how are you? How’s today been?

B: Oi

B: I’m a little exhausted I don't know why

B: I did practically nada today but I’m so tired now 

B: What about you?

Italy has many regional languages and dialects, and although many are in danger of disappearing, some are alive to such an extent that they are even part of the language of young people and therefore are included in online conversations.

Here we have an example of a Lombard dialect, typically spoken in the region of Lombardia: in particular, the speaker in this chat is from the city of Brescia, the second largest city in Lombardia right after Milan.

A: ok quindi mi vesto

B: Si perfy

A: ma cosa mi metto

B: Io sono quasi pronta e poi passo da teee

A: el fa fret?

B: Guarda io metto i jeans

A: ok jeans

A: ok so i’m gonna dress up

B: Yes perfy (=perfect)

A: wait but what am I gonna wear

B: I’m almost ready and then I’ll stop by youuu

A: el fa fret? (=is it cold?)

B: Well, I’m wearing jeans

A: ok jeans

To conclude, I would like to mention that in the corpus there are also transcripts of voice messages from chats, another relatively new method of communication that is very interesting as it presupposes an interaction between spoken and written. Next time we will analyse the DM senti in detail and address the issue of the interaction between spoken and written messages.

Until then, let me know what you think and if you have any questions write to rg712@cam.ac.uk.

A presto!