Embrace or change? Identity and the Italian-Montreal accent

Have you ever cringed at a recording of your own voice?

As a broadcast journalist, I've often sat in a radio booth listening to tape of myself, zeroing in on something I can't ignore: the Italian-Montreal accent that colours my speech.

Daybreak Montreal8:53Embrace or change? Identity and the Italian-Montreal Accent

Daybreak's Rebecca Ugolini explores the perception and feelings of the Italian Montreal community with regard to accepting or choosing to change the Italian Montreal accent.

It's hard to put to paper just what I mean by an Italian-Montreal accent, but when you hear it, you'llknow.

There'sstarting a sentence with "Me, I..."There's "tree"instead of "three."

There's "ah" at the end of many words andother long,drawn-out vowels accompanied by hand gestures.

Or my personal favourite: the"g" in "sangwich." Yes, really, it'ssangwich.

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I didn't always think it was a big deal.

I grew up inVillerayand went to school in Montreal's east end,where most people had a heavier accent than mine. But shortly after recording one of my first radio pieces, a colleaguetold me that she"never realized how Italian [I] sound."

The comment wasn't ill-intentioned, but it made me obsessed with the sound of my voice.

I wanted to sound professional, and I couldn't reconcile that with having an Italian-Montreal accent. I wondered if I was alone in that struggle, so I set out to find out how other Italian-Montrealers feel about the way we talk.

Keeping your accent in check

As far as interview subjects go, Fabrizio Sciola is just about the proudest Italian-Montrealer I could have hoped to find.

Sciola runs a website that catalogues Italian-Montreal slang, and when we sat down in his east-end office, he was even wearing a polo embroidered with the Ferrari logo.

But like me, Sciola says he keeps his accent in check in a business setting.

"I've given it a lot of thought, a lot of effort, and yeah, I'm always watching myself," said Sciola.

"I'm sure it seeps through, but if I wasn't on guard, it would sound a lot worse."

Sounding smart

I wanted to know whatqualities Sciola felt society associated with the Montreal-Italian accent feelingwith some trepidationthat I already knew the answer to my own question.

"It's not the most intelligent- or sophisticated-sounding accent," he said.

"It's all perception: It may not be true, but I find that this type of Italian accent, it's more in the lower it will tend to make you look bad, not well."

Sciola wasn't alone.

The more people I spoke to, the moreI found that concerns about being judged on how you soundnot what you saywere common.

Speech pathologistVictoria Patenaudeworked with an Italian Montrealer who wanted to learn to switch his accent offwhen doing business outside ofMontreal.

It was even something I'd heard from my own mother, Alessandra Zanello. Sheworried that speaking with a heavy accent would be associatedwith negative portrayals of Italians in the media.

"That person is maybe going to be viewed as not very smartor doesn't have a real opinionor isgonnabe typecast as maybe what, in a movie, you aregonnasee, or on TV you'regonnasee," she said.

Connecting with the community

As I mulled over whether I'd internalized at least some of those stereotypes, I wanted to hear from someone who knew how to use a typically Italian-sounding accent to his own benefit.

Enter Pino Pirillo, a stand-up comedian from Rivire-des-Prairies, whose performances are peppered with Italian words, expressionsand a generous accent.

Let's embrace it, let's be proud of who we are, because at the end of the day, we're beautiful people, - Italian-Montreal comedian Pino Pirillo

"The Pino that you see on stage is the Pino who is at the bar, relaxing with his friends and having fun," he said.

Like Sciola and myself, Pirillo admits to speaking in a more conventional way when he's conducting business, but that doesn't mean he thinks Italian-Montrealers need to completely overhaul the way they talk.

"As long as whatever you're trying to say is intelligent, then say it the way you're most comfortable saying it," he said.

"Let's embrace it. Let's be proud of who we are, because at the end of the day, we're beautiful people."

No right answer

So where does this leave meand my struggle?

Italian-Montreal pride, media stereotypesand community links aside, this experience has left me no closer to knowing what to do the next time I'm sittingin a booth,listening back to a recording of myself andwondering if something needs a second take.

It's been comforting to me to see that other people in Montreal's Italiancommunity share the same struggle and doubts that I do, and it's made me think more deeplyabout how I want to portray myself as a third-generation Italian-Canadian.