Clusivity in Italian: The Pragmatic Interpretation of "si canta" and "(noi) cantiamo"

This bachelor's thesis investigates the issue of 'clusivity' in Italian, more precisely the pragmatic interpretation of the forms si canta and (noi) cantiamo. It starts from Gaetano Berruto's assertion (Sociolinguistica dell'italiano contemporaneo, 2017) that there is a semantic-pragmatic difference between the two constructions: the form si canta would be perceived as inclusive, while the form (noi) cantiamo would tend to have an exclusive value. The aim of the work is to verify whether and how Tuscan speakers perceive this difference and whether the issue can be demonstrated both in the light of authentic linguistic data and through the insights of native speakers. From a methodological point of view, the research is based on a questionnaire study among native Tuscan speakers and on the analysis of linguistic material taken from film dialogues, literature and jokes. The empirical part integrates the results of all these approaches and provides an overall picture of the phenomenon. The results of the thesis contribute to a better understanding of the pragmatic implications of first-person plural constructions and show the extent to which their inclusive or exclusive interpretation is perceived depending on the province, level of education, age and linguistic style of the speakers.