https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Languages_of_Italy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIn English, when we mention the word \u201cdialects,\u201d what we are really referring to are merely regional accents with a few minor variations in vocabulary. In Italian, however, \u201cdialetti<\/i>\u201d are actually separate languages, which contain different vocabularies, different accents, and even different grammar rules. It\u2019s not uncommon in some areas of Italy to find small villages only 10-15 miles apart with remarkably dissimilar dialects\u2014to the point where folks of the older generation can\u2019t communicate with the people from a neighboring village. Compare that to the United States where someone from Washington D.C. and someone from Seattle, Washington (2,800 miles apart!) speak the exact same language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of mandatory schooling, the number of people with the ability to read increased during the post-war era of prosperity and many Italians added the national language to go along with their native dialect. But as recent as fifty years ago, Standard Italian was still a second<\/i> language for many people (if they spoke it at all), although the trend has since reversed and most Italians are now fully \u201cbilingual.\u201d A greater concern for the future is that many of the more obscure Italian dialects will be lost in subsequent generations. The various forms of media\u2014such as the Internet and Sky TV\u2014are now spreading foreign<\/i> languages (namely English) throughout the country. Consequently, there has been an influx of many English words and phrases into the everyday Italian, either by direct usage, or by \u201cItalianizing\u201d the words. (Even if you don\u2019t speak Italian, I\u2019m sure you could guess what \u201cdownloadare\u201d means!)<\/p>\n\n\n\nEvolution of the Standard Language<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Some of the earliest popular documents, which were produced in the10th<\/sup> century, were written in volgare<\/i> (a \u201cstreet\u201d version of Latin) rather than proper Latin\u2014in other words, in \u201cdialect.\u201d During the next three centuries, Italian writers wrote in their native dialects, which resulted in the development of several competing regional schools of literature. The year 1230 marked the beginning of the Sicilian School and of a literature showing more uniform traits. Its importance lies more in the language (a move towards a standard Italian) than its subject\u2014a love sonnet style, partly modeled on the Proven\u00e7al poetry imported to southern Italy by the Normans and the Svevi under Frederick II of Sicily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nIt was in the 14th<\/sup> century that the Tuscan dialect became more predominant. This could be due, at least in part, to the central position of Tuscany in Italy as well as the aggressive commerce in the city of Florence, which became a crossroads for business in Europe. The Medici family founded a bank that was the largest in Europe during the 15th century. They, in no small part, helped finance the Renaissance that was flourishing in their city at this time, contributing great sums of money for the support of the arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Tuscan dialect deviated very little in the formation of words and sounds from the classical Latin. Consequently, it most closely harmonized with the Italian traditions in the Latin culture. Most of all, Florentine culture produced the three literary giants who best summarized Italian thought and artistic expression of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. These writers were of course Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1525, Pietro Bembo, a Venetian, set out his proposals for a standardized language and style. His models were Petrarca for poetry and Boccaccio for prose, and the result became the modern classic standard. Therefore, the language of Italian literature was modeled after the Italian spoken in Florence during the 15th<\/sup> and 16th<\/sup> centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe dictionaries and the publications of the Accademia della Crusca<\/i>, which was created in 1583, were accepted by learned Italians as the authority in all matters of Italian language; a melding of classical purism (Latin, and later Vulgar) and living Tuscan usage was successfully achieved. During the 17th<\/sup> century, the most important literary event did not take place in Florence, however. It was delivered by the Milanese writer Alessandro Manzoni. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWith I<\/i> Promessi Sposi<\/i>, Manzoni wrote a novel that had some very specific socio-political goals in mind. First published in 1827, it has been called the most famous and widely read novel of the Italian language (final version published in 1842). The relatively recent French revolution was still fresh in everyone\u2019s memory and Manzoni, like so many other Europeans, looked to it for inspiration for changing his own country. But Italy was fragmented during this time and unification still seemed like a daunting task. So he wanted to compose a work that would unite Italians in many ways and across various social, religious, economic, and cultural differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the biggest obstacle that he had to overcome was the diversity of language throughout the Italian peninsula. Even in Manzoni\u2019s time, the language of Dante was considered the ideal\u2014but not very many people outside of Tuscany spoke it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manzoni himself, being from Milan, did not speak the Tuscan dialect perfectly. After writing his original draft, called Fermo e Lucia<\/i>, he decided to \u201ctuscanize\u201d it by going through the entire manuscript and converting many of the words into Tuscan\u2014including the name of the protagonist who went from the Milanese name Fermo, to the more Tuscan-sounding Renzo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The overall result, however, was awkward and it sounded forced and unnatural. Therefore he felt that he needed to \u201csciacquare i panni in Arno<\/i>;\u201d to wash his clothes (his language) in the Arno river\u2014or in other words, to actually acquire the Tuscan dialect himself by living in Florence and hearing it spoken in the streets every day before completing the final draft of I Promesi Sposi,<\/i> which we have today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally in the 19th<\/sup> century, the language spoken by educated Tuscans spread and eventually became the language of the new nation of Italy in 1861. But unification was not\u2014and is still<\/span> not\u2014easy. In the words of Massimo d\u2019Azeglio, \u201cL’Italia \u00e8 fatta. Restano da fare gli Italiani<\/i>.\u201d <\/i>(“We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.”)<\/p>\n\n\n\nParla come mangi!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n In summary, modern Italian has taken a somewhat twisted route to its present incarnation\u2014from the Sicilian School to Dante\u2019s vulgare<\/i> to Manzoni’s \u201claundry\u201d to being declared the state language of a new country in which almost nobody spoke it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So who speaks Standard Italian today? Almost everyone\u2026and no one. Most Italians use varieties along a continuum; from standard Italian to regional Italian to local dialects, according to what is appropriate in a given situation. Their speech patterns have variations in vocabulary and incorporate intonations and accents that are unique and typical to their hometown. Which I find charming and beautiful. After all, who would want to sound like a dictionary? Much better to parlare come mangi<\/i> (talk like you eat)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as you may have guessed, there is not one right answer for the question at the beginning of this post. They are all correct\u2026and all wrong<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIt was a trick question because I didn\u2019t even offer the Standard Italian option, which would have been: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u00c8 meglio tenere la bocca chiusa e passare per stupido, che aprirla e togliere ogni dubbio<\/em>.\u201d <\/p><\/p>
In English: \u201cBetter to keep your mouth closed and seem<\/em> like an idiot, than to open it and remove any doubt<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nHowever, the contest is precisely this: The first five NON-Italians who can correctly identify all five dialects will win a copy of my eBook. (Vi prego, italiani, non rovinate il gioco!) <\/i>ALL FIVE answers must be correct and I\u2019ll base the order of responses from the time stamp on the comments and I\u2019ll close the contest 72 hours after posting\u2014or when I have five winners, whichever comes first. In the event of a tie or dispute, the decision of the judges (well, that\u2019s just me) will be final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There you have it\u2026I await your responses! In bocca al lupo!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UPDATE: The contest is over, but you can still practice your Italian with me IN ITALY this September. Oh, and we’ll eat well, too!<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OK, let\u2019s start this post with a little Italian language quiz. Which one of the following is the correct phrase? A) Megghiu st\u00e0risi muti e passari ppi fissa, chi parrari e liv\u00e0ri ‘u suspettu. Minchia. B) Mejo tene’ ‘a bocca chiusa e passa’ pe’ stupido che apr\u00eclla e lev\u00e0 li ddubbi. Ah\u00f2! C) L’\u00e8 meglio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,42],"tags":[196,39,28,32,197,33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2514"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11881,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514\/revisions\/11881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"dialects](\"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/11-linguistic-map-Italy.png\")
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