Comparative linguistics English- Italian

L’ITALIANOITALIAN

ITALIANA. General information

• Italian is a Romance language spoken by 62 million people in Italy and Switzerland and by 126 million people as a second language in the world.

• It derives from Latin and it is the closest national language to Latin. It retains its origins with both Latin and Greek.

ITALIANA.II. History- ETRUSCAN CIVILIZATION

Etruscan civilizaton was developed in Italy after about 800 BC. Later, it gave way in the 7th century to a culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbours in Magna Graecia (Great Greece), the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy. After 500 BC the political destiny of Italy passed out of Etruscan hands.

ITALIANA.II. History

Between 17th and 11th century BC , Greeks established contacts with Italy.

Between 8th and 7th century BC, Greek colonies were established

Ancient Rome was at first an agricultural community founded at 8th BC.

Senatus Populusque Romanus

ITALIANB. History

After 6th century, Italian was divided into oligarchic city- states.

Italian Unification (1861- 1922)

Republic of Italy: 1946

ITALIANA.III. Dante Alighieri

Italian language was first vulgar Latin.

The father of Italian language is DANTE. He is still credited with standardizing the Italian language and the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official langauge of Italy.

 IVRA MONARCHIE SVPEROS PHLAEGETONTA LACVSQVE LUSTRANDO CECINI FATA VOLVERVNT QVOVSQVE SED QVIA PARS CESSIT MELIORIBVS HOSPITA CASTRIS ACTOREMQVE SVVM PETIIT FELICIOR ASTRIS HIC CLAVDOR DANTES PATRIS EXTORRIS ABORIS QVIA GENVIT PARVI FLORENTIA MATRIS AMORIS. 

DANTE

21 lettere (letters)- 5 vocali (vowels) and 15 consonanti (consonants)

ITALIANB. Phonetics- The sounds of Languages

letter sound Phonetic transcription

example

a open /a/ cara

e openclosed

/ε//e/

sènzacassétta

i closed /i/ micio

o openclosed

// stòriaamóre

u closed /u/ uva

21 lettere (letters)- 5 vocali (vowels) and 15 consonanti (consonants)

J- (english words): jeans (gins) jet (get)K- (cappa) km, kg, poker, koalaW- (doppia vu) würstel, whiskyX- (ics) taxi, xenofobia, xerodermaY- (ipsilon),style/stail, yogurt/iogurt, boy/boi

ITALIANB. Phonetics- The sounds of Languages

a f m r

b g n s

c h p t

d l q v- z

ITALIANB. Phonetics- Suprasegmentals- Stress

As you know, in any utterance some vovels are perceived as more prominent than others and they be prominent with respect to the parameters of pitch- loudness and length which constitute a cover term, stress. In italian, the use of stress is common and on some of the vowels it is obligatory such as : caffè or perché. There are two types of accents in Italian. One of them is an acute accent (´) and the other one is a grave accent (`) are used.

ITALIANB. Phonetics- Suprasegmentals- Obligatory Stress at the end of polysyllabic words: onestà,

perché etc. with monosylabic words containing

diphtongs: più, può etc. with monosyllabic words which can be

confused with the words written the same.Ché (perché) Che - pronoun

Dà (dare-verb) Da- preposition

dì (giorno) Di- prepositionPg. 11

ITALIANC. Phonology- The function and patterning of soundsConsanantal Clusters

Gl + i Egli, Figli, degli,

Gl + Vowels except i

Gleba, Gloria, Glucose

Gn + Vowels Vergogna, Bologna, Cologna, Ognuno

Gh + e- i Ghette, Laghi,-

Gi + a – o- u Giacca, Giudice

Ch+ e - i Oche, Chimica, Chilo

Ci + a - u - o Camicia, Ciuffo

Gli + Vowels Figlia, Moglie, Coniglio

Sci + Vowels Sciarpa, Sciocco, Sciupare

ITALIAND. Morphology

IL RAGAZZ-O

LA RAGAZZ-A

LE RAGAZZ-E

I RAGAZZ-I

ITALIAND. Derivational Morphology - AFFIXES

LIBR- Oradice-stem desinenza-ending

Italian is morphologically rich and uniform language.

Libr-iccin-o A small book

Libr-ett-o A small and pretty book

Libr-on-e A big and heavy book

Libr-acci-o A bad and immoral book

Brutto: in-brutt-ment-o: imbruttimento

ITALIAND. Inflectional Morphology

In Italian, there are both suffixes and prefixes but more significantly, desinenza (ending) may refer to number, gender in nouns, adjectives or even pronouns and also mood, tense, person/gender and number aspects of the verbs.

• Number (nouns and adjectives)Il ragazzo -> i ragazziLa casa bianca-> le case biancheIl libro pesante-> i libri pesanti

• Verb (person and number agreement)parl-o -> I- present tense first singular parl-iamoparl-i parl-ateparl-a parl-ano

pro-drop head- initial SVO

ITALIANE. SYNTAX

Pens-are Scriv-ere Sent-ire

Io pens-o. Io scriv-o. Io sent-o.

Tu pens-i. Tu scriv-i. Tu sent-i.

Egli/ Lui pens-a. (esso)Ella/ Lei pensa. (essa)

Egli/ Lui scriv-e. (esso)Ella/ Lei scrive. (essa)

Egli/ Lui sent-e. (esso)Ella/ Lei sente. (essa)

Noi pens-iamo. Noi scriv-iamo. Noi sent-iamo.

Voi pens-ate. Voi scriv-iate. Voi sent-ite.

Loro pens-ano. Loro scriv-ono Loro sent-ono.

Ieri Paolo and Laura hanno fatto un escursione in montagna. Il tempo è stato bello per tutta la giornata. I due ragazzi sono tornata a casa stanchi ma contenti.

Marco era in casa e stava studiando Latino, quando ha udito un rumore soffocato provenire dalla stanza di sua sorella. Sapeva che in casa non c’era nessuno perché tutti quella sera erano usciti. Senza spaventarsi, ha messo da parte i libri e lentamente si è avvicinato alla porta della stanza, trattenendo il respiro per non insospettire chi si era probabilmemnte intrufolato nella casa.

L’uomo si alzò, prese il microfono, espose le ragioni … .

ITALIANE. SYNTAX

ITALIANE. SYNTAX- INVERSION YES/NO and WH Qs

Qs Yes/No-

Dove vivi?Vivo a Roma.

Sai che oggi era l’ultima giornata mia al lavoro?Ehh ssiiiii.

Che hai fatto di bello oggi?Niente.

Non sapevi che era qua?Noo, ma come posso sapere?

Chi chiede il mio nome?Signorina Rossi.

Sei un turco?Si, sono un turco.

ITALIAND. SEMANTICS-NOUNS

Italians use a number of metonoyms, metaphors and antonomesia in their daily speech and they love using them as conversational strategies.

Per ubriacarmi mi basta un bicchiere. Antonia non ha orecchio. Sei un casanova ( implied by the great actor Giacomo

Casanova) Questa stanza é una Sibiria.

In Italian, adjectives may be before or after the noun.

ITALIAND. ADJECTIVES

Il nostro vicino è un uomo povero.

OR

Il nostro vicino è un povero uomo.

ITALIAND. ADJECTIVES

Pg.165

Roberto è alto.

Comparative

Roberto è più/meno alto di Giovanna

Roberto è alto come Giovanna.

Superlative Roberto è altissimo.

ITALIAND. ADJECTIVES

ADJECTIVE + mente :Camminiamo lentamente.

Adesso non posso uscire: ci vedremo domani.Noi viviamo laggiù.Qui piove.Questa pianta cresce ovunque/ dappertutto.Luca studia molto.Forse ha ragione Laura.

MICA: Non sono mica stato io. Mica è brutto questa film.

ITALIANE. ADVERBS

ITALIANF. Prepositions

ITALIANF. Prepositions

ITALIANE. VERBS- Modo Indicativo

Passato prossimo & Trapassato prossimo Trapassato remoto & Futuro anteriore

ITALIANE. VERBS- Modo Condizionale

ITALIANE. VERBS- Modo Congiuntivo

ITALIANE. VERBS- Attiva & Passiva & Riflessiva

Il medico visitò il malato.

Il malato è visitato dal madico.

Gender is important!

ITALIANE. VERBS- Riflessiva

io mi lavo=I wash myself

tu ti lavi=you wash yourself

lui/lei si lava=he/she washes him/herself

noi ci laviamo=we wash ourselves

voi vi lavate=you wash yourself

loro si lavano=they wash themselves

ITALIANBASIC VOCABULARY

Know him? Enrico Fermi?The founder of atomic bomb

ITALIANF. ITALIAN MODERN LITERATUREBorn in Cuba in 1923, Calvino was raised in Italy, where he lived most of his life. He died in Siena at the age of sixty-one in 1985.My favorite writer: ITALO CALVINO

“Mr. Palomar is standing in line in a cheese shop, in Paris. This is a shop whose range seems meant to exemplify every conceivable form of dairy product; the very sign, "Spe-cialites froumageres," with that rare archaic or vernacular adjective, advises that here is guarded the legacy of a knowledge accumulated by a civilization through all its history and geography. This shop is a dictionary; the language is the system of cheeses as a whole: a language whose morphology records declensions and conjugations in countless variants, and whose lexicon presents an inexhaustible richness of synonyms, idiomatic usages, connotations, and nuances of meaning, as in all languages nourished by the contribution of a hundred dialects. It is a language made up of things; its nomenclature is only an external aspect, instrumental; but for Mr. Palomar, learning a bit of nomenclature still remains the first measure to be taken if he wants to stop for a moment the things that are flowing before his eyes.” http://des.emory.edu/mfp/calvino/

ITALIANF. ITALIAN MODERN LITERATURE

An Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, 1980), an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory.

UMBERTO ECO

http://www.umbertoeco.com/en/

ITALIANF. ITALIAN MODERN LITERATUREAn Italian poet, novelist. (1908- 1950)

CESARE PAVESE

“We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.”

“No woman marries for money; they are all clever enough, before

marrying a millionaire, to fall in love with him first.”

“Give me the ready hand rather than the ready tongue.”

“Lessons are not given, they are taken.”

Hard Labor & Your Villages & August Holiday & Death will come etc.

Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi (Death will stare at me out of your eyes)

Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhiquesta morte che ci accompagnadal mattino alla sera, insonne,sorda, come un vecchio rimorsoo un vizio assurdo. I tuoi occhisaranno una vana parola,un grido taciuto, un silenzio.Cosí li vedi ogni mattinaquando su te sola ti pieghinello specchio. O cara speranza,quel giorno sapremo anche noiche sei la vita e sei il nulla.

Per tutti la morte ha uno sguardo.Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi.Sarà come smettere un vizio,come vedere nello specchioriemergere un viso morto,come ascoltare un labbro chiuso.Scenderemo nel gorgo muti.

Death will come and will have your eyes –the death that is with usfrom morning to evening, sleepless,deaf, like an old regretor an absurd vice. Your eyeswill be a futile word,a cry kept silent, a silence.Thus you see them every morningwhen alone you stoop over yourselfin the mirror. O dear hope,that day we too will knowthat you are life and nothingness.

Death keeps an eye on each of us.Death will come and will have your eyes.It will be like giving up a vice,like watching a dead facere-emerge in the mirror,like listening to closed lips.We will go down into the vortex mute.

Amalfi Coast

Sanremo Music Festival

Eros Ramazzotti & Laura Pausini

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hTVG3qC4RE

Luciano PavarottiGiuseppe Verdi

ReferencesSensini, M. (2010) La lingua e i testi. Arnoldo Mondori ScuolaO’Grandy, W. (1997) Introduction to Linguistics. St. Martin’s

Press, New York.Fromkin, V. (1988) Introduction to Language. Holt, Rineheart.Wardraugh, R. Introduction to sociolinguistics. Wiley-

Blackwell.