L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 L'Italo-Americano SIMONE SCHIAVINATO A ccording to the peo- ple at the Istituto Treccani — one of Italy's most presti- gious cultural insti- tutions — there are 270,000 words in the Italian language, and that's without considering the declined and conjugated variations of them, in which case, the number rises considera- bly. Indeed, Italian is a rich and beautiful language, but its cur- rent situation is more complex and varied than it may appear at first sight. Of those 270,000 words, the average Italian uses only about 47,000: we call them our lessico comune, or everyday lexicon. These are words we know and use with ease, but that are not necessarily basic. Let's s a y w e u s e m o s t o f t h e m t o make our way of speaking and writing richer and more com- plex. If we take an even closer look at how we talk and write, we quickly realize our everyday lexicon is even smaller, and counts only about 2,000 words! We call this lessico fondamen- tale, or fundamental lexicon, a n d i t c o n s i s t s o f e x t r e m e l y common words, whose meaning we know since we are children. Regardless to our level of educa- tion, 90% of our everyday chats and talks is made up of it: words like cosa, il, a, and vedere are part of this category. When we go to school, we learn other terms, which become part of our lexical knowledge: words like idiota, impaurire or impianto form the lessico di alto uso, or words everyone knows, but we don't use as often as the lessico f o n d a m e n t a l e . L a s t b u t n o t least, we have another 1,900 words that aren't as common as others from the previous catego- ries, but everyone understands: w e c a l l t h i s l e s s i c o d i a l t a d i s p o n i b i l i t à , a n d i n c l u d e s words like forchetta, pepe or asino used to signify "stupid." All this to say our language is varied, complex and multi-laye- red, and this is what makes it really beautiful. Yet, things have been changing in recent years, with linguists complaining about t h e w a y t h e v o c a b u l a r y o f Italy's everyman and everywo- man has been getting smaller a n d s m a l l e r , c o u r t e s y o f a n increasingly deficient schooling system and the overall simplifi- cation of the way we communi- cate, especially via social media. A direct result of it is that many beautiful words of our vocabu- lary are so little used they are in danger of disappearing. This is where Zanichelli's recent initiative Parole da Sal- vare (#paroledasalvare) comes in. According to Zanichelli's s p e c i a l i s t s , t h e r e a r e 3 , 1 2 6 words in our language used so little they are at risk of being forgotten, in favor of far more common, but not as nuanced and rich in meaning ones,. The aim of the initiative is to rediscover little used lexical items and to make them once again part of our everyday vocabulary. The project has been develo- ping on several different levels, the most curious and interesting b e i n g , w i t h o u t a d o u b t , t h e Parole da Salvare Tour. Since the end of September, a large, itinerant and interactive dictio- nary has been traveling through the peninsula to rise people's i n t e r e s t i n n e g l e c t e d I t a l i a n words and expressions: in what Zanichelli calls Area Z, an area a lessico illimitato — where there is no restriction of lexicon — people can choose a neglec- ted word and "adopt it," beco- ming responsible for using it correctly in their everyday inte- ractions. The words available are presented on a touch screen, from where they can be posted on social media to increase their visibility. If you are part of a more ana- logical generation, you can also get proper, old fashioned post cards, each dedicated to a word to save, which you can send to whomever you like. The first stop of the tour was Milan, followed by Turin and Bologna, where it was met with great success. At the moment, and until the 19th of October, Area Z is in Florence, and will then touch upon two great cities of the Italian South: Bari (21-26 October) and Palermo (31 Octo- ber - 7 November). To increase its visibility and, indeed, to enter the most important place to be when it comes to teaching and learning the Italian language, Parole da Salvare is also active each of the cities' schools. B u t w h a t a r e , p r a c t i c a l l y , I t a l y ' s w o r d s i n n e e d t o b e rescued? There are plenty of examples, actually. For instance, we the word abbindolare — from the term bindolo, a part of the spinning wheel — which means ingannare, to deceive. Or we could pick the word sciatto, sloppy or shabby, instead of the more common trascurato. We could surprise our interlocutors with the funny-sounding sala- melecchi, an overly flattering type of speech, or call the water coming out of a fountain zam- p i l l o . W i t h m o r e t h a n 3 , 0 0 0 words to be rescued, the choice is huge, really. As an incise, Zanichelli will mark each of them with a little flower sign on their next Italian language dic- tionary, which is coming out in 2020. Languages are living entities and it's only natural they evolve and change in time, keeping in pace with the world around. At the same time, it is essential for them to maintain the complexity and richness that made them beautiful, and contributed to create their literature and expres- sivity. The way we speak and write tells a lot about who we are, but it can also become a way to support and protect our own history, culture and heritage. That's why Parole da Salvare's i m p o r t a n c e g o e s b e y o n d t h e project itself and the time it will be in our squares: maybe we should all make a promise to our Italian roots and "adopt" a lesser known word even if Parole da Salvare won't come to our door- step, just to make sure it won't be lost to yet another foreign loan or ugly neologism. Just to protect what's ours and defines us as Italians. The Parole da Salvare (words to be saved) project wants to bring you life into almost forgotten words (Copyright: Dreamstime) Parole da salvare: a new way to protect and love the Italian language LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

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