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The Spoken and Written Languages in Italy from the Roman Empire to the Years of Unification and Beyond


Affiliations
1 Victoria University, Australia
2 University of Toronto, Canada
     

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This paper examines the linguistic power and influence of the Latin language that continued well after the fall of the Roman Empire until the early years of Renaissance as the language for the "literati". The Renaissance period symbolized a period of linguistic transformation attempting to develop a common language that people could make use of as means of communication. However, written communication and literacy remained the domain of the wealthy, the powerful and the church. In fact, at time of Italian unification in 1861, illiteracy was significantly high. In this respect, the Coppino Act of 1877 was instrumental in providing linguistic unification in the Italian peninsula. This paper highlights how the Italian language through a linguistic proposal and solution made the language of Dante the means of daily communication in Italy. The paper also discusses the role that other spoken languages have played in Italy prior and post Italian unification. The paper concludes by acknowledging that technological advances are influencing the Italian language especially with adolescents how they use their mother tongue.

Keywords

Italian Unification, Latin, Dante's Italian, Standard Italian, Italian Dialects, Minority Languages.
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  • The Spoken and Written Languages in Italy from the Roman Empire to the Years of Unification and Beyond

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Authors

Roberto Bergami
Victoria University, Australia
Biagio Aulino
University of Toronto, Canada

Abstract


This paper examines the linguistic power and influence of the Latin language that continued well after the fall of the Roman Empire until the early years of Renaissance as the language for the "literati". The Renaissance period symbolized a period of linguistic transformation attempting to develop a common language that people could make use of as means of communication. However, written communication and literacy remained the domain of the wealthy, the powerful and the church. In fact, at time of Italian unification in 1861, illiteracy was significantly high. In this respect, the Coppino Act of 1877 was instrumental in providing linguistic unification in the Italian peninsula. This paper highlights how the Italian language through a linguistic proposal and solution made the language of Dante the means of daily communication in Italy. The paper also discusses the role that other spoken languages have played in Italy prior and post Italian unification. The paper concludes by acknowledging that technological advances are influencing the Italian language especially with adolescents how they use their mother tongue.

Keywords


Italian Unification, Latin, Dante's Italian, Standard Italian, Italian Dialects, Minority Languages.

References