Italian, The Language Regarding Love

Posted by on February 17, 2012

Italian is a world renowned romance language. When spoken it draws a romantic feel. It is a featured language in the music genre as well as the food industry. Italian Operas are very popular and there are many musical terms that derive from Italian. The food industry is littered with Italian dishes and phrasing. Because of the popularity of Italian it is often a language that people desire to learn. There are many ways to learn a language including complete immersion into an Italian speaking environment or even language learning software like Rocket Italian reviews. No matter how one goes about learning this wonderful language it certainly is well worth it.

Italian

The Italian language is the native tongue of over 65 million people worldwide. It is the national language for many countries, including Italy and it is one of the four national languages of Switzerland. It has a long history. The predecessor of the Italian language was Latin; Italian grew into a more poetic romantic language in comparison.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a turning point for the Italian language. Italian was being used in the courts of every state of the country. Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia had been revived and a new vibrant interest regarding the linguistic field took shape within the 16th century. This renewed attention sparked much controversy regarding the criteria that should be responsible for the institution of a modern literary Italian language as well as a modern spoken language.

Debate

The debate regarding the Italian language that began with Renaissance divided scholars into different schools of thought. There were the purists, the Florentines, and the courtiers. There was also a fourth faction that believed the best Italian was that adopted by the papal courts.

Purists

The purists were a faction of scholars headed by the Venetian, Pietro Bembo. They argued that the language should be similar to that of the great literary classics like Petrarch and parts of Boccaccio. The Divine Comedy although considered by some to be a great classic was not good enough in the eyes of the purists. It did not emblem the lyrical Italian that the purists were seeking.

Other Schools Of Thought

The Florentines which included Niccolo Machiavelli believed that the Italian spoken by the ordinary people in their own time was the best version of Italian. The courtiers felt that each local vernacular should contribute to the new standard. Eventually the purists won.

Accademia Della Crusca

The purist’s ideas prevailed over the others and this lead to the formation of the Accademia Della Crusca in Florence. This was established in 1582-1583. This was known as the official legislative body of the Italian language. The academia della cursca is responsible for the publication of Agnolo Monosini’s Latin Tome, Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604. This publication was then followed by the first ever Italian dictionary in 1612.

The Italian language has gone through many transformations to become the language it is today. The 16th century controversy is widely responsible for the lyrical romantic Italian language. There weren’t language software programs back then like Rocket German reviews or Rocket Italian to help. This is why a consensus had to be reached as to what form of Italian would become the country’s language. No matter the reason, learning Italian is sure to broaden your linguistic and cultural horizons.

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