Living Memory investigates the complex question of language and its place at the heart of Bergamasco culture in northern Italy. * Integrates extensive participant observation with sociolinguistic data collection * Reveals the political and social dynamics of a national language (Italian) and a local dialect (Bergamasco) struggling for survival * Introduces the original concept of the "social aesthetics of language": the interweaving of culturally-shaped and emotionally felt dimensions of language-choice * Written to be accessible to students and specialists alike * Part of the Blackwell Studies in Discourse and Culture Series