This study springs from the conviction that it is time to enlarge our understanding of the canzone villanesca's genesis and evolution by engaging concepts from two related approaches, namely, genre criticism and speech-act theory. Heretofore, when adopting the formalist approach to genre, I defined the villanesca in terms of its ‘outer form’ (metre and structure), thereby reinforcing claims by Gennaro Monti and Alfred Einstein that the canzone villanesca is essentially a strambotto (or ottava rima) transformed by the addition of a refrain after each hendecasyllabic couplet. However, it has become increasingly clear that when intrinsic qualities like attitude, tone and use-value are addressed, the result is a far more comprehensive view of the changes that the villanesca experienced during the initial phrase of its development (1537–57), when Neapolitan songwriters reproduced or varied the generic expectations of their audiences.