A Linguistic History of Italian offers a clear and concise explanation of why modern Italian grammar has become the way it is. It focuses on the effects of historical changes on the modern structure of Italian, revealing patterns and structures which are not always apparent to those who are only familiar with modern Italian. Although the book concentrates on the internal history of the language, the emergence of Italian is considered against the wider background of the history of italian dialects, and other external factors such as cultural and social influences are also examined.

Italy has a long and fascinating history that has been recorded since the earliest days of Rome itself: we know how politics, ideas, culture, art, architecture, music and much more, have developed over nearly three millennia. At the heart of the life of the peoples of the Italian peninsula and islands is their language. A Linguistic History of Italy tells the story of how the language spoken in Italy developed from Latin to multiple dialects, to the selection of Florentine for a national written language and how Italian became the common language of the entire nation. At each step on this amazing journey language intertwines with other components of Italian social life. The chapters of A Linguistic History of Italy take you through the history of Italian society, art, ideas and language. The chapters focus on the turning points in language history ¿ when Latin `became¿ Romance, when local dialects were first used in writing, when Florentine was selected as the national language for literature, when Italian became the `national language¿ ¿ and show how those moments only fully make sense when seen in a broader context. The text is written in both English and Italian, so you can improve your linguistic skills while immersing yourself in Italian culture. And the many images give a visual feast of Italian beauty through the centuries.

This volume brings together the papers published in Historiographia Linguistica 9:3 (1982), which was devoted to the history of linguistics in Italy, with Marazzini's paper first published in Historiographia Linguistica 10:1/2 (1983), and an original article by Franco Lo Piparo expressly written for this volume. The present volume provides in addition an index of subjects, as well as an index of names, which supplies bio-bibliographical references to authors discussed.

This inaugural volume in a new series offers an overview of current research in Italian linguistics by specialists in Great Britiain. Topics range from the formation, present state and future prospects of Italian dialects, to the notion of 'standard' in the context of the European tradition. Further contributions cover the different strands of Renaissance Italian, the problem of language death and the presence of Italian as lingua franca in the Mediterranean area. Research into contemporary language includes gender issues in Italian lexicography and the ambivalent 'politically correct' forms referring to minorities. The volume concludes with studies on the translation of legal texts and on the status accorded to different languages within the European Union. The book will be invaluable for university students of Italian or of linguistics and will provide a comprehensive survey for all interested in the Italian language and its history.

Grandgent, a professor at Harvard from 1896-1932, pens a fascinating account of the early development of the Italian language which will be of particular interest to linguists and medievalists. (Foreign Language-Dictionaries/Phrasebooks)

This volume brings together the papers published in Historiographia Linguistica 9:3 (1982), which was devoted to the history of linguistics in Italy, with Marazzini’s paper first published in Historiographia Linguistica 10:1/2 (1983), and an original article by Franco Lo Piparo expressly written for this volume. The present volume provides in addition an index of subjects, as well as an index of names, which supplies bio-bibliographical references to authors discussed.

These articles provide new explorations into phonological patterns attested in the minor Romance languages ('dialects') spoken in Italy. The goal of this book is both theoretical and empirical. First, it aims to introduce non-Italianists to the phonological structures of the Italian dialects, including northern Gallo-Romance dialects, central and southern dialects, plus a Francoprovencal dialect spoken in southern Italy and a Catalan dialect spoken in Sardinia. Second, the collection provides readers with sophisticated analyses of complex and poorly understood and under-studied phonological phenomena. Over half of the articles contain data collected by the authors, and most of the data have not been available in English language publications. The richness of the empirical material and the sophistication of the theoretical analyses make this collection a particularly important contribution to both phonology and Romance language studies.

Through the centuries, Italy has received many cultures from lands around the Mediterranean and beyond the Alps, which either superseded prevailing Italian cultures or were absorbed by them. But the result is always a mixture. The linguistic evolution of Italy parallels this development, and presented as part of the cultural history it beomes a colorful and exciting tale.--dust jacket.