Linguists and speakers in the classification of linguistic spaces|Linguisti e parlanti a confronto nella classificazione delle aree dialettali

An extremely long tradition distinguishes the classification of Tuscan dialects, especially with respect to the peculiar relationship Tuscan dialects have with Italian/standard language. Notwithstanding, the total number of dialects, together with the labels used in the descriptions, change over the centuries. Nowadays, while the main dialectological areas are being clearly defined by the literature together with their relative overt/covert prestige, research studies devoted to the investigation of linguistic areas from the speakers’ point of view are still lacking in Tuscany. The present study aims at offering an insight into the ways nonlinguists perceive variation in Tuscan dialects by means of perceptual dialect maps, completed by 258 students from secondary school across Tuscany. The 258 maps showed a detailed, lively and dynamic ‘common folk knowledge’ with respect to linguistic variation. They represented the perceived space not only according to landscape or geographical borders, or according to traffic and economic flows, but also according to concrete linguistic variation.