This paper examines the use of Italian digital language, which is often evaluated in negative terms. Considering the fact that internet communication occupies an important place in the life of modern man, the study of the features of digital language has been the subject of much research. For those born in the digital age (it. nativi digitali), digital has become the norm to the extent that it is difficult to imagine life without multimedia interaction through modern means of communication (Bralic 145). Digital text is different from traditional written text and the rapid obsolescence of new media is changing the habits of digital language users. Italian, which has existed exclusively in the traditional written form for centuries, and has received full spoken use in the last seventy years (largely thanks to television), faces today a new revolutionary phase of development in which the majority of Italians in everyday life use written digital language. In this way, the digital age marked a return to the Italian written language. However, the language of forums and social networks is an informal language (e-Italian), quite different from the former, exceptionally formal, written Italian. The aim of this paper is to study and explain the linguistic features of the Italian language in Internet communication. The focus is on the language of blogs, forums, and social networks written in Italian over the last three years, from the beginning of 2018 to the end of 2020. The question is whether everything that deviates from the norm in the language is wrong or if, on the contrary, demonstrates the stability and ability of the language to adapt to new media and thus new conditions. Language phenomena that are associated with social networks have been known and studied in Italy for the last twenty years. The first Italian monograph on the subject is Il parlar spedito. L'italiano di chat, e-mail e sms from 2004 by Elena Pistolesi. Despite the fact that the author deals with e-mail, text messages and chats in her work, she actually studies and describes the same linguistic characteristics that we find on social networks nowadays. Speaking of internet communication in general, the main change that has taken place over time is the transition from a restricted and elitist use to a "network in everyone's pocket". Within the framework of Internet communication, it is difficult to speak exclusively of the "language of the network" as Internet communication environments are not uniform. Actually, they are so diverse that it is possible to observe different registers and styles in different social contexts, as is the case with more traditional communicative contexts. Today, there are many studies on this language issue at a wider level and by drawing attention only to the Italian language, which we deal with in this paper, it can be seen that the importance of the language of the network is greatly recognized. Some of the linguists that deal with this issue in their research and works as regards the Italian language are M. Tavosanis, G. Antonelli, V. Gheno, L. Serianni and B. Mastroianni. The Italian linguist Antonelli believes that the Italian language we come across on social networks is the first real written informal Italian after centuries during which writing was considered a highly formal context. Antonelli calls it e-Italian and underlines that it is a language that is neither truly written nor truly spoken, it is rather a digital language (italiano digitato), i.e. a variety that is different from traditional written Italian (2014, 15). For educated speakers, digital language represents just one of the stylistic forms, or one of the possible language registers, while, by contrast, those who write only when expressing themselves digitally, digital language is the only written Italian they make use of (Antonelli 2020, 78). There are some general characteristics of digital Italian that are shared by most users who, while writing online, rely on different varieties of the Italian language while, on the other hand, they create their own specific set of phenomena which we do not find in any other language use. The language of social networks is partly marked by the social requirements of the network and the need of the individual to be accepted and respected within an online community. By doing this, the language serves to achieve the prestige and status they aspire to (Mastroianni 106-107). Anyway, even the users of new media do not consider the language of the network as a written language, nor do they attribute to it the status of a written language. This fact leads to a great spelling and syntactic freedom in forming a message. Many language features that we can observe have been noticed since the earliest use of social networks. Furthermore, the language in online interactions used to differ more from the standard language as older devices had more technical limitations regarding space, time and the cost of the message. As a result, a greater ingenuity was required for communication than it is nowadays. More specifically, the whole range of acronyms and abbreviations was actually motivated by the lack of available characters and the high call charges for the connection to the network (Gheno 2017, 42). It is also important to point out that the use of language experiments is typical of the language of young speakers and it is no coincidence that young people are generally the first users of every new technology. Therefore, the similarities between the speech of the young and the Italian neo-standard language are well known, as well as typical phenomena of the language of young people appear within the colloquial register that is typical of virtual conversations. Even though we often refer to users who are not adolescents anymore, we can talk about the "youthfulness" and the creativity of the idiom that guarantees expressiveness, irony, emotionalism and which is used to distinguish from the traditional language standard by means of linguistic features such as shifts in meaning, exaggeration, deformation of the lexical aspect of words, figures of speech, abbreviations, superlatives, repetitions and untabooed use of vulgar and sexual lexis. Pragmatically speaking, we rely on the common use of the nickname when introducing and greeting. Omnipresent emoticons and emojis are used as a support for words since they allow for clarification of expression or making a joke. Their passive-aggressive use is not rare and it is considered that adding smiley faces reduces the offensive nuance of a particular post. In this context, it is worthy of mention an interesting experiment on Twitter which was conducted by F. Chiusaroli, J. Monti and F. Sangati. They translated the famous Italian novel Pinocchio into Pinocchio in Emojitaliano. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that smiley faces and texts are bound to coexist rather than replace each other. Though the features of the language of the network can be considered as a sign of creativity in its various forms, the most highlighted feature of any type of social communication on the network is the lack of attention to spelling since the content is much more important. Inattention to language is one of the most discussed aspects of social networks, and, at the same time, the one that speaks of the emphasized sensitivity of Italians towards their language. Frequently, the fact that interactions in the virtual world are fast and misunderstood as informal and transient suggests that attention to linguistic normative structure is less important in spite of the stigma suffered by those who make certain types of errors (which, in the end, completely distracts from the content) The major changes on social networks are the result of the transition from the elite use of the network to the "mass network" (Gheno 2017, 103). The changes are also heading towards the direction that has yet to be identified. Thus, we notice that the use of certain language features on social networks such as abbreviations, acronyms and other similar phenomena was a way of distinction, but also a necessity dictated by technical limitations such as restricted space for writing messages and the high cost of network connection. Therefore, it comes to no surprise that in recent years we have witnessed a writing normalization directed towards approximating some kind of linguistic norm. Finally, after having removed the space and time limitations and as a result of the possibility of spell checking that is suggested by smart devices while writing, even the so-called "language play and use of creative forms of writing" has become practically a waste of time. The fact that we are in the normalization phase can also be seen thanks to other novelties on social networks. One of them is caused by the policy of some platforms that is aimed at using one's own name and abandoning the nickname, leading to an interesting social effect demonstrating that haters do not necessarily hide behind nicknames. Moreover, there is a tendency to give more importance to the interlocutor who signs with his own name, as contrasted with those who use a nickname. It becomes normal again to introduce yourself by your real name and surname, without leaving the impression of a person that is hidden behind a mask or nickname. The use of language on social networks has changed thoroughly over time and continues to change even today, both in Italian and in other languages. It is highly probable that over time users will pay more attention to the impression they leave online and, thus, be more careful when it comes to the language, they use by respecting the prescribed language norms. In addition to dealing with language dilemmas, it is necessary to establish the right habits that will allow us to live a comfortable life online and accept the fact that we have become like mini public figures who are responsible for what they say. We should also keep in mind that, on social networks, the most emphasized part of our online personality is presented primarily by words.
