O Italian is a language of Latin origin, more precisely originated from the dialect spoken in tuscany (central region of Italy). Italian is, of course, the official language of Italy and is also spoken in different parts of the world, such as Switzerland, the Vatican, San Marino, the United States and even Brazil. Here there is a considerable number of people who speak Italian as a second language due to the large flow of Italian migrants who came to Brazil in the past.
Topics of this article
origin of italian
The Italian language has its origins directly linked to the Latin – the official language of the Roman Empire. Modern Italian, however, only began to develop during the Middle Ages. This language became popular throughout Peninsula Italic with the process of unification of Italy, led by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in the 19th century.
Also access: Read about the fall of the Roman Empire and learn about Italian history
During the Middle Ages, each region of the Italian Peninsula also had a local dialect as a vernacular language. This particularity was not restricted to the region of Italy, but was common to all Medieval Europe. Modern Italian began to develop and spread across the peninsula from the dialect spoken in tuscanylocated in central Italy.
This popularization of the Tuscan way of speaking (Tuscan speech in Florence is called Fiorentino) happened around the 13th century and is directly related to the growth and enrichment of the city of Florence, one of the important commercial centers of Italy in the late Middle Ages and during the Renaissance Period. This Tuscan language became the Italian language.
Experts point out some classic works that were important in the standardization of the language. The great highlight goes to the work of the Italian writer dante Alighieriresponsible for writing the classic “The Divine Comedy” (divine Comedy, in the original). The search for the standardization of Italian is attributed to Alighieri due to his work “On vernacular eloquence” (In vulgar eloquent, in Italian). In this book, the author identifies different dialects spoken on the peninsula and stipulates one of these dialects as a symbol for the region. Another work written in Tuscan at the time was “Decameron” (decameronin the original), written by Giovanni boccaccio.
In the case of the dialect spoken in Florence (the Florentine form of Tuscan), the success of the language is explained by the economic success of the city and the fact that it is one of the dialects of the peninsula closest to Latin.
Don’t stop now… There’s more after the publicity 😉
Popularization of Italian
The popularization of modern Italian in the peninsula only happened during the Unification of Italy. This process, which gave rise to the modern Italian State, accompanied the strengthening of nationalist movements throughout Europe and was led by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardiniagoverned by Victor Emmanuel II.
With the formation of the Kingdom of Italy, a series of laws was created by the Italian government that encouraged the teaching of the language in schools in its initial series. Policies that reinforced the teaching of Italian as a primary language were also carried out during the Fascist period (1922-1944). Local dialects were not ignored, however, they occupied a secondary position in relation to Italian, which was popularized and extended to the entire peninsula.
Also access: See how the 1934 World Cup was organized by Fascist Italy
Countries that speak Italian as an official language
Of course, Italian is the official language of Italy, where this language originated. Italian is also the official language of the following countries: Switzerland, Vatican It is San marine. Furthermore, this language is considered official in provinces of Croatia and the Sloveniaboth located in a region known as Istria.
At the Rio Grande do Sul is at Santa CatherineO Talian, dialect originating from the northern region of Italy, also has status official language. In Brazil, Italian is taught in public schools in certain cities of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Espírito Santo and Paraná. The influence of Italian in certain parts of Brazil is related to the fact that, between 1872 and 1909, about 45% of the immigrants who came to the country were Italian.|1|.
Italian has government recognition as minority language in different parts of the world, such as Argentina, United States, Malta, Albania. Even in Somalia, Italian has status of official language. In the case of this country, this is due to the fact that the region was colonized by Italians between 1890 and 1941.
|1| SKIDMORE, Thomas E. A History of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1998, p. 130.
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History