HUI216 Italian Civilization

1
HUI216Italian Civilization

• Andrea Fedi

2
1.9 National identity and the issue of language
3
1.9 Standard Italian its components

• Italy's national language is called by linguists
  Standard or Neo-Standard Italian
• Standard Italian is in many ways a new and
  artificial language, based on
• the literary Tuscan language of the late Middle
  Ages and the Renaissance (made famous by
  Boccaccio, Petrarch, Bembo) syntax and lexicon
• the dialect used by the educated middle-class in
  a small area of northern Tuscany (Florence,
  Prato, Pistoia), at the time of the unification
  of Italy (1820s-1880s) the lexicon, some syntax,
  the pronunciation
• words and expressions used in other parts of
  Tuscany, in other parts of Italy, and found in
  the "national Tuscan"

4
1.9 Tuscan, Florentine and Italian literature

• Mainstream literature in Italy, starting from the
  end of the Middle Ages, held Tuscan in high
  regard
• literary Tuscan was a language very close to the
  Florentine dialect, but more generic, occupying a
  middle ground among various Tuscan dialects
• Often, in the past, even authors from Venice,
  Milan or Naples would choose Tuscan as the
  language of their literary creations, even though
  they spoke Venetian, Lombard or Neapolitan at
  home or in public
• Italian literature therefore had reached a
  certain degree of unity long before the Italian
  Kingdom was created

5
1.9 Literary Tuscan and Italian culture/society

• This Italian literary language, however, could
  not be easily adopted by all Italians, because
• it had been for centuries the sole domain of an
  elite of intellectuals and writers
• it had become extremely rich and varied, but also
  difficult to use for anybody who did not have a
  university degree, or the equivalent education
• it was mostly a written language
• it was rarely spoken
• secondary schools, colleges, literary circles
• public ceremonies, formal parties, political
  meetings

6
1.9 The state of the national language in the
early 19th century, as indicated by Manzoni

• Somebody comes over, and introduces a person from
  Piedmont, or Venice, or Bologna, or Naples, or
  Genoa and, as required by good manners, we stop
  speaking Milanese, and we speak Italian
• Now tell me please if the conversation will go on
  as smoothly as before... tell me if we won't
  instead have to use now a generic and not a
  precise word, whereas before we would have had at
  our disposal the proper, specific term we will
  now have to seek the help of a circumlocution,
  and introduce a description, whereas before we
  did not have to do anything other than call
  things by their name

7
1.9 The state of the national language in the
upper society of Milan (early 19th century)

• we will now have to guess, whereas before we were
  sure of every word we had to use, in fact we did
  not even think about it it just came to us now
  we will be driven by desperation to use the
  occasional Milanese word, justified by adding
  "as we use to say here..."
• This can be defined communication as much as we
  can call 'clothing' what is full of patches,
  holes and tears again I ask you if this is the
  reciprocal understanding that exists among
  individuals that possess a common language

8
1.10 Neolatin vernaculars in Italy

• There wasn't a proper national language in
  Italy...
• before Latin was introduced in all of Italy by
  the Roman government, more than 2000 years ago
• after Latin ceased to be the only language of the
  central government and of the local
  administrations (with the collapse of the Roman
  empire, in 476 CE)
• Various vernaculars or dialects, very different
  from each other, have developed in time from
  Latin and from other Indo-European languages
  (Greek, Umbrian, Ligurian, Sican, etc.), spoken
  locally before and after the Romans

9
1.10 Neolatin vernaculars in Italy

• Italy's dialects are not simply varieties of the
  same national language, because the official
  national language (standard Italian) was
  established only during the 19th century
• Most dialects in Italy can be more properly
  classified as separate Neolatin or Romance
  languages, each with a separate phonetic system,
  a different syntax and lexicon, an original
  literary tradition, etc.
• The traditional use of the term dialects can be
  deceiving see the Web site Dialettando, esp. the
  dictionary

10
1.10 Examples of dialects in today's Italy

• Internet is a friendly, relatively inexpensive
  medium for the preservation of local cultures and
  languages
• Many are the sites whose mission is the
  preservation of the collective memories and
  traditions of small groups or local communities
• Many are the sites in which an Italian dialect is
  used, instead of the standard national language
• I have collected a few interesting links
• I'll be the first to admit that often I can only
  understand a few words, in those sites
• however, I think that even just seeing so much
  diversity with your own eyes, brings you to a
  higher level of understanding of this topic

11
1.10 Examples of dialects in present-day Italy

• While the following links are all working, more
  than a few of the sub-links inside those pages
  can be very slow or even dead
• Click here to see texts written in a dialect of
  Lombardy
• Click here to read poems written in the dialect
  of Ferrara (still in the North)
• Click here for an introductory course of
  Neapolitan dialect, in English
• A site in the dialect of Bologna, with .mp3 files
  of songs in that dialect
• European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages or
  EBLUL, a EU-sponsored agency created to support
  linguistic diversity

12
1.11 Body language in Italian society

• Different rituals
• When does yes mean yes?
• Are you screaming at me?
• Even hand gestures change from region to region.
  Body language as a whole changes too
• for example, some Italians are more inclined to
  touch the other person's hand, forearm or
  shoulder during a conversation
• some may be more liberal than others with hugs
  and kisses (kissing and hugging friends and
  relatives more than once, or for a longer period
  of time, and in more social occasions)
• Did former Prime Minister Andreotti kiss Riina?

13
1.11 Body language personal space

• The individual's perception of his/her personal
  space can also be different
• Italians tend to feel comfortable even in tight
  quarters with strangers
• when encountering somebody in the narrow aisle of
  a supermarket, they will rarely use the Italian
  equivalent of "excuse me" (permesso), if there is
  enough space to pass without coming in contact
  with the other person
• if you want to learn more, I suggest that you
  read this article entitled "Non-Verbal
  Communication across Cultures" by Max S. Kirch
  (The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 63, No. 8.,
  Dec. 1979), available in JSTOR

14
1.11 From Andrea de Jorio's La mimica degli
antichi investigata nel gestire napoletano
(Naples, 1832)
15
1.11 Excerpts from "Gesture in Italian Speech" by
Laura Raffa

• The notion that Italians 'speak with their hands'
  is only partially correct
• hand gestures complement, do not always replace
  the spoken word
• Some hand movements are global gestures, others
  are region-specific
• The handshake of the Anglo-Saxon world has been
  introduced into Italian society for the purpose
  of business negotiations and deals, and has since
  extended to less formal occasions
• Yet, generally the Italians are not as formal as
  their English counterparts and are accustomed to
  greeting each other with two kisses on both cheeks

16
1.11 "Gesture in Italian Speech" by Laura Raffa

• The act of placing the fingers of your two hands
  together and shaking your hands slightly up and
  down is a gesture that shows disapproval
• It is usually used towards younger children when
  they have disobeyed their elders
• Young adults, in a satiric look at their parents'
  and grand-parents' generation also mimic it
• Other examples of Italian gestures do not require
  a lot of discussion because of their global
  nature. Such is the act of passing the middle and
  index finger across the thumb, with its universal
  meaning of the expensive nature of a particular
  article or event
• Similarly, lightly tapping the forehead with the
  back of the hand symbolizes that the other person
  is crazy or has made a remark that is not credible

17
1.11 Italian gestures pictures, a book

• A long series of global and Italian gestures,
  explained in Italian and English, accompanied by
  pictures, and organized by theme
• http//www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Language_Lab/gesti
  /00Gesti.htm
• This site was created by Giorgio Spanò, City
  College of San Francisco
• See also Andrea de Jorio, Gesture in Naples and
  Gesture in Classical Antiquity 1832 (transl.
  Adam Kendon Indiana UP, 2000)

18
1.12 Bilingualism and diglossia (H/L high
prestige/low prestige) in Italy

• Most Italians, until the 1960s, were bilingual
• They spoke a local/regional dialect as their
  primary language at home or with their friends
  (L)
• They learned standard Italian at school (or
  through printed materials, theater, radio,
  cinema, tv), and used it in public places or in
  the presence of somebody from a different region
  (H)
• Compulsory education and television have tamed
  this special brand of bilingualism
• while most elderly are still able to speak their
  dialect, many younger Italians can only
  understand it and use it sparingly, often
  interspersing a few words from the dialect in
  their conversations, conducted mostly in standard
  Italian

19
1.12 Bilingualism in the emigrant Italian
communities the case of Argentina

• Legend has (I have often heard this anecdote, but
  I never found any serious evidence) that when
  Argentineans had to choose their official
  national language, they considered Italian as an
  option, since Italians were (and still are) one
  of the largest immigrant communities in that
  country
• They soon realized that Italians coming from
  different regions were speaking different
  dialects, and sometimes resorted to Castilian
  (the official language of Spain) to communicate
  with each other!
• keep in mind that most immigrants from the 19th
  and early 20th century had received little or no
  schooling in their home country
• As they say, if this anecdote is not true it is
  well found!

20
1.13 Foreign languages spoken in Italy(from
https//www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world
-factbook/geos/it.html and http//www.ethnologue.c
om/show_country.asp?nameIT)

• German dialects
• parts of the Trentino-Alto Adige region are
  predominantly German speaking small minority in
  Valle d'Aosta
• French dialects
• French-speaking minority in the Valle d'Aosta
  region
• Slovene
• Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia
  area (Boris Pahor)
• Romani
• Greek
• Albanian
• Catalan

21
(No Transcript)