Some Fluctuations of the Linguistic Norm in Modern Italian
https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2025-4-45-78-93
Abstract
The article focuses on the current problem of changes in the language norm in the Italian language caused by both objective trends in the unification of languages in the era of information globalization and the subjective features of its formation and development. Italian is a Florentine dialect of the 14th century, “intertwined” in the works of the natives of Florence – Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. But this language was a written language; it was spoken by an extremely narrow group of educated people (no more than 3 % of the population). Founded in the 16th century, the Kruska Academy pursued a deliberate policy of rejecting new vocabulary and grammatical phenomena in order to preserve the purity of the language. This language was not a native but a learned language, since even in Florence the dialect deviated from the samples of the 14th century. The situation began to change after the unification of Italy in 1861. The State adopted an Italian language education program. The following factors played an important role: the appearance of the radio and the media in Italian, the education of children in school, maintenance of documentation and administrative activities in the official language, mass resettlement of residents of southern Italy to the northern regions and, most importantly, the advent of television in the 60s − 70s of the 20th century. Italian became an oral, native, spoken and popular language, and, accordingly, subjected to change. But grammars and textbooks designed to preserve the language norm are slow to respond to these changes. Students notice discrepancies in what they study as a linguistic norm, and what they hear and read in modern texts, which lead them to reasonable uncertainty and doubts. The collected corpus of materials contains examples of grammatical and lexical fluctuations. The changes in the language norm are analyzed and recommendations are given to students and teachers of the Italian language regarding these phenomena.
About the Author
T. R. Titova
MGIMO UNIVERSITY
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Tatiana R. Titova, PhD (Philology), is Associate Professor
Roman Languages Department
119454; 76, Prospect Vernadskogo; Moscow
Spheres of research and professional interest: Italian grammar, norm and usage,
Italian language; linguistic norm; history of the Italian language; intercultural communication cultural linguistic, country study
References
1. Alig’eri, Dante. Malye proizvedeniia. [Small works]. Podg. I.N. Golenishchev-Kutuzov. M.: Nauka, 1968. Ss. 270−287.
2. Alisova, T.B., Cherdantseva, T.Z. Ital’ianskij iazyk. Grammaticheskij ocherk, literaturnye teksty s kommentariiami i slovarem. [The Italian language. Grammatical essay, literary texts with comments and dictionary]. Izd-vo Moskva. Un-ta, 1962, 207 s.
3. Akhmanova, O.S. Slovar’ lingvisticheskikh terminov. [Dictionary of linguistic terms]. Izd. 3-e, stereotipnoe. M.: KomKniga, 2005. 576 s.
4. Balli, Sharl’. Iazyk i zhizn’ [Language and life] : Per. s fr./ Vstup. stat’ia V.G. Gaka. M.: Editorial URSS, 2003. 232s. (Zhenevskaia lingvisticheskaia shkola.)
5. Bueno, Tommazo. Problema normirovaniia i standartizatsii iazyka v ital’ianskoj lingvistike [The problem of normalization and standardization of language in Italian linguistics]. Diss… kand. filol. n., M., 2003.
6. Vinogradov, V.V. Problemy literaturnykh iazykov i zakonomernosti ikh obrazovaniia i razvitiia. [Problems of literary languages and patterns of their formation and development]. M.: 1967. 134 s.
7. Itskovich, V.A. Norma i ee kodifikatsiia. [The norm and its codification]. Aktual’nye problemy kul’tury rechi. M., 1970. S. 9−39.
8. Kasatkin, A.A. Ocherki istorii literaturnogo ital’ianskogo iazyka (XVIII-XX vv.). [Essays on the history of the literary Italian language]. L., 1976. 202 s.
9. Koseriu, Euhenio. Sinkhroniia, diakhroniia i istoriia (problema iazykovogo izmeneniia). [Synchrony, diachrony, and history (the problem of language change)]. 2-e izd., stereotipnoe. M.:Editorial URSS, 2001. 204 s.
10. Krysin, L.P. Sovremennaia literaturnaia norma i ee kodifikatsiia. [The modern literary norm and its codification]. Russkij iazyk v shkole. 2002. № 2. S. 82−87.
11. Mil’orini Bruno. Ital’ianskaia grammatika [Italian grammar]. SPb.: Karo, 2002, 304 s.
12. Petrova, L.A. Prakticheskaia grammatika ital’ianskogo iazyka. [Practical grammar of the Italian language]. Ucheb. dlya un-tov i fak. inostr. yaz. M.: Vyssh.shk., 2001. S. 204−217.
13. Rozental’, D.E. Spravochnik po russkomu iazyku. Slovar’ lingvisticheskikh terminov [Handbook of the Russian language. Dictionary of linguistic terms]/ D.E.Rozental’, M.A. Telenkova. M.: OOO «Izdatel’skij dom «Oniks 21 vek»: OOO «Izdatel’stvo «Mir i obrazovanie», 2003. 623 s.
14. Semenyuk, N.N. Norma iazykovaia. Lingvisticheskij entsiklopedicheskij slovar’. [The language norm Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary]. M.: Sovetskaya enciklopediya, 1990. S. 337−338.
15. Skvortsov, L.I. Norma iazykovaia. Russkij iazyk. Entsiklopediia [Linguistic norm. Russian language. Encyclopedia. Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia]. M.: Sovetskaia entsiklopediia, 1979. S. 163−165.
16. Solntsev, V.M. Variantnost’ [Variation]. Russkij iazyk. Entsiklopediia. M.: Bol’shaia rossijskaia enciklopediia, 1998. S. 60−61.
17. Titova, T.R. Ital’ianskij kon’iunktiv: ot latyni do nashikh dnej [Italian Conjunctiva: from Latin to the present day] : monografiia / T.R. Titova. Mosk. gos. in-t mezhdunar. otnoshenij (Un-t) MID Rossii. MGIMO-Universitet, 2019. 150 s.
18. Shcherba, L.V. Iazykovaia sistema i rechevaia deiatel’nost’. [Language system and speech activity]. Izd.2-e, stereotipnoe. M.: Editorial URSS, 2004. 432 s.
19. Agostiniani, Luciano – Damico Boggio, Orestina – Guardigli, Pierluciano – Poggi Salani Teresa – Schiannini Donata. La lingua tra norma e scelta, [The language between norm and choice]. Padova, Liviana Editrice, 1983, P.1−167.
20. Beccaria, Gian Luigi, Il mare in un imbuto. Dove va la lingua italiana, [The sea in a funnel. Where does the Italian language go], 2010. Torino, Einaudi.
21. Bozzone Costa Rosella. Viaggio nell’italiano (corso di lingua e cultura italiana per stranieri), [Travel in Italian (Italian language and culture course for foreigners)], seconda edizione, Torino, Loescher, 2004. P. 493−496.
22. Coletti, Vittorio. Nuova grammatica dell’italiano adulto, [New grammar of adult Italian, Bologna], il Mulino, 2021. 365 p.
23. De Mauro, Tullio. Storia linguistica dell’Italia unita, [Linguistic history of United Italy], 1970, p. 170.
24. Greisbard, Lidia. Corso superiore di grammatica, [Higher course of grammar], Mosca, 2000, 320 p.
25. Katerinov, Katerin. La lingua italiana per stranieri. Corso superiore, [The Italian language for foreigners. Upper course], 3<sup>-a</sup> edizione del 1976, 2000, Edizioni Guerra – Perugia,
26. Lotti, Gianfranco. L’avventurosa storia della lingua italiana. Dal latino al telefonino. Edizione Tascabile Bompiani [The adventurous history of the Italian language. From Latin to mobile. Bompiani Pocket Edition], 2000. 256 p.
27. Serianni, Luca. Gli Italiani e la propria lingua. Dove il sì suona. Intervento di Luca Serianni all’omonima mostra: Firenze/Uffizi [Italians and their own language. Where the yes sounds. Intervention by Luca Serianni at the exhibition of the same name: Florence/Uffizi], 2003, 2 p.
28. Serianni, Luca. La lingua italiana tra norma e uso, in Riflettere sulla lingua, a cura di C. Marello & G. Mondelli, Firenze, La Nuova Italia [The Italian language between norma and uso, in Reflecting on the Language, edited by C. Marello & G. Mondelli, Florence, La Nuova Italia], 1991. pp. 37−52.
29. Zanichelli, Dardano, Maurizio e Trifone, Pietro. Grammatica italiana con nozioni di linguistica. Terza edizione. [Italian grammar with notions of linguistics. Third edition], Bologna, 1996. 789 p.
30. Contenuti/ riflessioni du alcune paticolari dell’italianodi oggi https://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/contenuti/riflessioni-su-alcune-particolarit-dellitaliano-di-oggi-il-cambiamento-non-investe-solo-la-lingua-ma/36490 (Date of request September 10, 2024)
31. https://www.corriere.it/scuola/16_febbraio_24/ferrara-copparo-piccolo-matteo-inventa-parola-petaloso-accademia-crusca-risponde-7296e148-dac9-11e5-956c-6f7e55711737.shtml (Date of appeal: December 23, 2024)
32. https://www.corriere.it/cultura/16_dicembre_11/francesco-sabatini-linguistica-filologo-libro-mondadori-accademia-crusca-congiuntivo-17dc905c-bfbd-11e6-ab31-2a5a06e0ce0a.shtml (Date of appeal: March 5, 2025)
33. https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/maio-congiuntivo-infinito-ne-sbaglia-tre-volta-sola-1495267.html 16 Febbraio 2018 - 16:52 (Date of appeal: March 5, 2025)
34. https://www.giornalettismo.com/congiuntivo-giuseppe-conte-video/ (Date of appeal: March 5, 2025)
35. Italiano standard la norma linguistica https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/litaliano-standard-la-norma-linguistica/7447583 (Date of appeal: May 30, 2024)
36. Lingua italiana così evolve sui social network https://www.agendadigitale.eu/cultura-digitale/lingua-italiana-cosi-evolve-sui-social-network/ (Date of appeal: June 20, 2024)
37. Lingua italiana, come e perché sta cambiando https://www.buonenotizie.it/cultura-e-tempo-libero/2021/06/04/lingua-italiana-come-e-perche-sta-cambiando/greggio/ (Date of appeal: November 20, 2024)
38. Lingua italiana speciali https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/speciali/Schwa/3_De_Santis.html (Date of appeal 21 September 2024)
39. Trasformaizoni sociali e cambiamenti nella lingua https://www.viv-it.org/storia-linguistica-italia/trasformazioni-sociali-e-cambiamenti-nella-lingua (Date of appeal: December 20, 2024)
40. Variazione linguistica https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/variazione-linguistica_(Enciclopedia-dell%27Italiano)/ (Date of appeal: January 3, 2025)
Review
For citations:
Titova T.R. Some Fluctuations of the Linguistic Norm in Modern Italian. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 2025;11(4):78-93. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2025-4-45-78-93
Views:
119
Email this article 