How the Unique Linguistics of ‘The Sopranos’ Became Essential to the Story

Michael Lindsey looks at the unique linguistics of The Sopranos, particularly noting how New Jersey, and the family’s Neapolitan Italian roots are essential to the story telling.

The setting is essential to The Sopranos the show’s identity is inherently tied to where the characters are from and more specifically to how they speak as well it’s steeped in references to the Mob movie genre and Italian-American culture of which it became a huge symbol in itself.

Lindsey also discusses the speech patterns of Italian immigrants from this region, especially those in lower social classes.

A clear correlation between living in rural areas being older and being less educated …have sociolinguistic associations in Italy of lower social status which clearly contributes to their decline. On top of that, in the popular imagination they are associated with famous criminal subcultures like that depicted in “The Sopranos”.