The mass media represents one of the most important characteristics of the contemporary times. Thanks to the printed press,
radio, television and internet, the ways we communicate and get informed have changed substantially.
The most important features of these new forms of long distance
communication are deeply characterized by a specific peculiarity they have in common: the use of the Italian language, which presents itself as a versatile language, rich of expression possibilities of style and jargon. Therefore, the Italian language has the tendency of progressively acquire more and more traits of orality, a component that has imposed along the last century more difficulties in its use, having from 50 to 60 of its dialects almost exclusively oral. This language that has been daily broadcasted by television, radio and web, and also from motion pictures and music, and tries to mimic the flow of conversational speech with the specific intent of accomplishing absolute spontaneity of expression.
The choice of a language that can be understood by
everybody and therefore can be put in use immediately is justified by the primary purpose of mass media: to inform, to disseminate cultural and scientific subjects, and to entertain. So, the Italian of communication proposes a compromise: a common language which everybody can recognize naturally and with immediacy. An Italian that in many aspects proposes an innovative style that diverges from the grammatical rules of the standard language and follows the contemporary language in all its manifestations.
This paper proposes a thorough analysis of the major forms of communication and their modern forms of cultural entertainment: motion pictures, music and comics, going through the many evolutionary steps of linguistics in the last 40 years.