How And Why? Effects Of Covid -19 And Lockdown On University Students' Language: An Italian Study

Abstract

In 2020, Italy became the first country in Europe to impose a nationwide lockdown with restrictive measures that particularly affected northern regions. As part of a larger Italian study, 20 students from the University of Turin were asked to describe their experiences of the lockdown and pandemic emergency using a photovoice task. We analyzed the texts using LIWC and investigated the differences in the use of linguistic categories between March 2020 and March 2021. Differences between pandemic phases were found primarily between the first months of the lockdown and one year later. Over time, participants expressed themselves cognitively rather than emotionally. In contrast to other studies, at the emotional level, words related to sadness decreased, while those related to anxiety increased. Our interpretation of the results suggests the peculiarity of the course of the pandemic in Italy, as well as the continued expansion of measures to contain the virus.