Svantaggio linguistico: dibattito internazionale e specificità italiane

This article goes back to the international debate on the deprivation / diversity theory in socio-linguistics and highlights the prominence of Basil Bernstein's theory of restricted and elaborated codes. It then illustrates some salient aspects of the socio-linguistic context in Italy, where the international socio-linguistic categories only partially apply. The potentialities of the various types of interlinguistic contacts in Italy, especially those related to National / Vernacular bilingualism, are then discussed from the educational point of view.