Soprannomi etnici nella letteratura dialettale napoletana dei secc. XVII-XIX

Stereotypes, prejudices, fear, hatred, antipathy, intolerance, and annoyance towards the “foreigner” – whether geographically near or far –, his customs, culture, language, etc., are phenomena that have existed forever and everywhere. Linguistically discrimination of the foreigner can manifest itself in many ways, including the coining and imposition of ethnic slurs (“soprannomi etnici”), such as macaroni used by the French to refer derogatorily to Italians as ‘pasta eaters’. +is paper aims in particular to survey and study some ethnic slurs (also called “blasoni popolari”) documented in Neapolitan dialect texts of the 17th-19th centuries and used to refer derogatorily or/and derisively to foreigners. In addition to analyzing the origin, history, motivations and uses of the words collected here, we will also dwell on the formative processes for some cases.