Reading between the code choices: Discrepancies between expressions of language attitudes and usage in a contact situation

International audienceAccording to a national survey on language usage, Veneto dialect (spoken in Veneto, one of Italy’s northeastern regions) benefits from the widest usage range compared to other regional dialects spoken in the Italoromance domain. We collected 35 hours of interactional data and conducted attitudinal interviews. From these data, we examined a family’s language policy (nuclear and extended family) and its influence on a child’s (Francesco, aged 17–30 months) language environment and acquisition of norms of usage. The juxtaposition of the attitudinal interviews of the adults in Francesco’s environment with the interactional data collected revealed numerous discrepancies between the adults’ expressed attitudes and their production. We argue that attitudes do not necessarily predict language choices and that the relationship between the two is more complicated than a cause-and-consequences one, in particular when these concern dialect usage. Rather, there is a dynamic link between attitudes and language choices as these are constantly (re)defined, negotiated and reconfigured during interaction