From Syntax to Pragmalinguistics: Comparing the Language of Film across Generations in “The Leopard” and “Perfect Strangers”

The paper analyses the language of two Italian films set in different historical and social contexts. The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) by Luchino Visconti is set in Sicily in 1860, on the background of contemporary political events, with a language corresponding both with the historical period and the social setting. In the film Perfect Strangers (Perfetti sconosciuti) by Paolo Genovese, old friends meet at a dinner table. With their informal talk, the characters’ language strives to be as close as possible to everyday language. The aim of the article is to demonstrate the differences between the language of the first film and the “natural” language of everyday life of the second one. Through comparative analysis, the article demonstrates how the differences in the historical social contexts determine the language of both films. Within the framework of pragmalinguistics, some aspects of the modality and of the information structure of the sentence are taken into consideration.