Mother Tongues and Other Reflections on the Italian Language (Toronto Italian Studies) - Hardcover

Lepschy, Giulio C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802037291 ISBN 13: 9780802037299

Verlag: University of Toronto Press, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

Italian is unique among modern European languages, for although it has a history going back eight centuries, it has only consolidated as a spoken national language during the twentieth century. Previously, it was a written, literary language, and people spoke regional dialects that were strikingly different from each other. This has intriguing implications for understanding notions such as mother tongue, native speaker, and literary language, and Giulio Lepschy discusses these and other issues in this collection of six scholarly essays on the Italian language.

Lepschy also explores a little understood aspect of Italian prosody (the system of secondary stresses), and analyzes a Venetian play of the Renaissance, La Veniexiana, in which a 'gendered' reading helps to clarify some grammatically controversial passages. These aspects of the play had been examined by Carlo Dionisotti, the eminent Italianist whose life and works are the subject of the final essay. Lepschy's approach combines the insights of modern linguistic theory and the findings of fresh and original philological investigations. His essays will be essential to anyone interested in the Italian language.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Giulio Lepschy is Emeritus Professor, University of Reading, and Honorary Professor, Department of Italian, at University College London.

Giulio Lepschy is Emeritus Professor, University of Reading, and Honorary Professor, Department of Italian, at University College London.

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'This set of lectures displays the intellectual sharpness, the formal clarity, and the stylistic 'friendliness' that distinguish the entire corpus of Professor Lepschy's published writings. The work is of great interest to the specialist while being perfectly accessible to the college student and curious general reader. At a time when critical discourse in language and literature is normally shrouded in technical, often incomprehensible jargon, Lepschy's clarity of thought and style is a welcome breath of fresh air.'

'All the chapters are of a very high standard, offering masterly treatments of some important topics in Italian linguistics, together with thought-provoking comments on literary texts and a splendid assessment of the life and work of a great literary and linguistic scholar, Carlo Dionisotti. Giulio Lepschy's style of exposition is admirably lucid throughout, even when his material is complex and controversial, and the studies are documented comprehensively.'

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Toronto Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0802037291
• ISBN 13: 9780802037299
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 152
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Mare Nostrum Group B.V.; gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk; ; Doelen 72; Breda; 4831 GR; Niederlande