Lori Repetti

VOWEL LENGTH IN NORTHERN ITALIAN DIALECTS

Many varieties of Italo-Romance spoken in northern Italy have both long and short vowels, but lack consonant length distinctions. Using a moraic model to organize and analyze the data, first, I will show that the long vowels in the dialects of northern Italy derive from different historical processes. In sorne northern Italian dialects (Emilian) long vowels arise from lengthened vowels in original open syllables, but the long vowels of some other northern dialects (Friulian) are the result of compensatory lengthening due to apocope of word final vowels (save a). Second, I will suggest a model for the synchronic generation of the various types of stressed syllables in northern Italian dialects.

Where did all the dialects go? Aspects of the influence of Italian on dialects

The influence of standard Italian on the minor Romance languages spoken in Italy (i.e. the Italian dialects) permeates all aspects of their grammar. In this article, I provide an example of the way in which Italian prosody can affect dialects, a poorly studied type of influence. I show that a speaker may have a range of options available when speaking ‘dialect,’ including forms that are influenced by Italian to a greater or lesser degree.

Linguistic identities of Italian in Italy and North America

In the European linguistic landscape Italy stands out for its high stratification and rich diversity, with evolving identities, and with evolving relations between its language and dialects, alloglot languages, and a great number of immigrant tongues. While Italy boasts one of the historically most prestigious civilizations, its national language, unlike English, does not have the status of a language for international communication, and, unlike Spanish or Chinese, it does not span entire continents. Yet the language has spread across continents without an empire and armies, primarily through migrations of people who left the country at different times and with different purposes. This unique situation has led to complex and variegated social and linguistic identities in Italy. Regarding the latter, Beccaria’s Mia lingua italiana (2011), Bruni’s Italia. Vita e avventure di un’idea (2010), Dardano’s La lingua della nazione (2011) and Trifone’s Storia linguistica dell’Italia disunita (2010) were all published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. Some of these texts are polemical in nature, but all are concerned with the theme of identity, the question of unity versus disunity, the relations between the unitary language and the country’s multilingual history. The articles in this issue of Forum Italicum explore the theme of linguistic identities further, highlighting questions of multilingualism within Italophone territories and in the diasporas. If DeMauro (1963) was able to compare the Italian peninsula to a ‘selva di dialetti’ when referring to the years of the country’s unification, with most people speaking dialect exclusively or predominantly in everyday communication, and relatively fewmastering standard Italian, the reverse is true today. Following an astounding transformation that has taken place in the course of the last 150 years, the Italian language has reached all social strata throughout the

Review: La sintassi dei pronomi relativi in italiano moderno (con particolare riguardo alla concorrenza tra che e PREP. + cui/il quale nella preposizione relativa ad antecedente temporale)LarssonLars: La sintassi dei pronomi relativi in italiano moderno (con particolare riguardo alla concorrenza tra che e PREP. + cui/il quale nella preposizione relativa ad antecedente temporale). (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis: Studia Romanica Upsaliensia 46.) Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell International, 1990. Pp. 320.

Lansings translation can be useful since il follows the poems so literaIly. His translations of the poetry do, however, require careful reading and rereading lo comprehend the English syntax. In summary, Lansings workmanlike translation of the Convivio is a welcome addition to the library of adjunct texts in the MedievaI and Italian tradition. Though the format of the series seems to lessen the usual scholarly adjuncts to the translation, requiring the reader to consult other works for background information, Lansings translation of the prose text will no doubt be essential to many Italian non-medievalists and nonItalian medievalists for its clear English style. The c10se translations of the canzoni themselves may be useful to those less familiar with older Italian poetry; read together with Ryan s prose renditions, the reader has both the literal and the overall meaning. In conjunction with other works, Lansings Convivio translation is an excellent too1.