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the centuries, Italy has received many cultures from lands around the Mediterranean and beyond the Alps, which either superseded prevailing Italian cultures or were absorbed by them.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.

In this collection of six scholarly essays on the Italian language, Giulio Lepschy discusses issues ranging from Italian literary and spoken history to prosody and a play of the Italian Renaissance.

This book makes accessible the major structural features of the dialects of Italy and emphasises the importance of a detailed understanding of the dialects for issues in general linguistic theory.This book makes accessible the major structural features of the dialects of Italy and emphasises the importance of a detailed understanding of the dialects for issues in general linguistic theory. Selected contents include:* Phonology* Morphology* Syntax* Lexis* The Dialect Areas * Sociolinguistics of DialectsContributors: Paola Benica; Gaetano Berruto; Guglielmo Cinque; Michela Cennamo; Patrizia Cordin; Thamas Cravens; Marie-Jose Dalbera Stefanaggi; Franco Fanciullo; Werner Forner; Luciano Giannelli; John Hajek; Hermann Haller; Robert Hastings; Michael Jones; Michele Loporcaro; Martin Maiden; Marco Mazzoleni; Zarko Miljacic; Mair Parry; Cecilia Poletto; Lorenzo Renzi; Lori Repetti; Giovanni Ruffino; Giampaolo Salvi; Glauco Sanga; Leonardo Savoia; Alberto Sobrero; Rosanna Sornicola; Tullio Telmon; John Trumper; Edward Tuttle; Alberto Valvaro; Laura Vanelli; Ugo Vignuzzi; Nigel Vincent; Irene Vogel.