Wiedererzählungen in deutsch-italienischen Interviews mit zweisprachigen Menschen

Processes of retelling, by means of which the speakers reshape and reinterpret the same memories in a new speaking context, represent a fruitful topic in the field of bilingualism as well. This article seeks to address the recall and reconstruction processes of the same autobiographical experiences recounted by German-Ital-ian bilinguals in both languages. On the basis of the qualitative analysis of expli-cative interview passages from the corpus Zweisprachige Narrationen (Thüne 2001), it will be shown that the retrieval language brings about a more precise access to autobiographical memories and emotions connected to that specific language. Moreover, it will be highlighted that retellings represent reconstructed forms characterized by their own structure.