L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS ge evolved through the cen- turies to become what we s p e a k t o d a y . A n d w e shouldn't make the mistake t o t h i n k t h a t I t a l i a n w a s born, there and then, in the late 13th and early 14th cen- tury, when Dante and his literary companions wrote. As all languages, Italian is the fluid evolution, merging a n d m i x i n g o f e a r l i e r idioms. As for all romance languages, that merging and mixing took place on the s o l i d b a s i s p r o v i d e d b y Latin. Mind though, we're not talking about Cicero's Latin, but of the one used by people in the street and in their homes, filled with jar- gon, foreign loans and local i n f l e c t i o n s . T h e e a r l i e s t written attestations of what can be considered "Italian vernacular" date back to the 10th century and they are legal documents: in such c a s e s y o u n e e d a l l p a r t s i n v o l v e d t o u n d e r s t a n d clearly what they sign, so you use the language they speak and are more familiar with. This tell us that, while the literary evolution of ver- naculars was to happen much later, their use was widespread even before the year 1000. I s a i d v e r n a c u l a r s because every area of Italy had one, a bit like it happens today with our dialects. In each region, Latin changed and evolved on the basis of linguistic and cultural con- taminations that were uni- que to each area, and based o n t h e l a n g u a g e s s p o k e n b e f o r e t h e a r r i v a l o f t h e Romans and after they had l e f t . F o r e i g n i n f l u e n c e s would leave their mark, too, and create further variation among the vernaculars of Italy. But when it came to embrace one and only one, Florentine was the winner, and one may wonder why. T h e e x p l a n a t i o n i s q u i t e simple and straight forward: in the 13th and early 14th century, that is, in the years when Italian became a com- mon language among poets, Florence was the heart of Italy's culture and economy, a city that, thanks to its geo- g r a p h i c a l c e n t r a l i t y , h a d become pivotal also in the f i e l d o f c o m m e r c e . Moreover, the Florentine vernacular was, among all those spoken back then, the o n e t h a t m o s t r e s e m b l e d Latin. A l l t h i s d o e s n ' t m e a n Italian became immediately the language of Italy. Quite the opposite, in fact. For centuries, local vernaculars and dialects kept being way more common and things didn't change much even after the Unification of the c o u n t r y i n 1 8 6 1 , w h e n Italian became the nation's official language: even our f i r s t k i n g , V i t t o r i o Emanuele II, preferred his own dialect, Piedmontese, to the official idiom of its king- dom. To be truthful to history, I t a l i a n t r u l y b e c a m e o u r n a t i o n a l l a n g u a g e o n l y when media like the radio and especially television — a n d w e a r e t a l k i n g t h e second post-war period here — brought it into the homes of everyone, from North to South, from East to West, regardless of social position and professional status. Yes, it was a long ride for Italian to become the language of Italy. Today, it is recognized as an official language in Italy, S a n M a r i n o , S w i t z e r l a n d and in Vatican City. It is also recognized as such in parts of Croatia and Slovenia. It is spoken commonly by a large a m o u n t o f p e o p l e i n A l b a n i a , A r g e n t i n a , Australia, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Canada, Costa Rica, Malta, Egypt, Eritrea, France, Germany, Israel, L i b y a , L i e c h t e n s t e i n , L u x e m b o u r g , P a r a g u a y , Philippines, Puerto Rico, R o m a n i a , S a u d i A r a b i a , Tunisia, UAE, the UK, the US and Venezuela. All in all, there are about 63 million people speaking Italian as a first language in the world (60 million in Italy alone) a n d a b o u t 3 m i l l i o n a s a second language. According to the US Census Bureau, about 709,000 Americans speak Italian at home, with it being the 5th most studied language in the country. The m o s t I t a l i a n s t a t e s ? According to statistics, that crown goes to New York and New Jersey, with 294,000 and 116,000 mother tongue speakers respectively. The importance of Dante f o r t h e d e v e l o p m e n t a n d growth of our language into what it is today is both evi- dent and immense, yet, you may wonder why we should still celebrate him as we do, why Italy feels so connected to her Sommo Poeta. You m a y e v e n a s k h o w a Medieval poet manages to b e s u c h a " p o p i c o n . " Because he is, believe me: everyone knows Dante. You see, Dante for us is not simply a dusty figure we learned about in school, as much as we may find hard to admit it. I'm not going to sugar the pill: we didn't like Dante back then. Then you grow older, you pick up the Divina Commedia again — everyone has a copy of it at home. That, and the Bible — a n d a l l o f a s u d d e n , i t s beauty strikes you: it's not even a matter of understan- ding what Dante says, it's just the music of it, to the p o i n t t h a t s o m e o n e w h o doesn't know a single word o f I t a l i a n w o u l d f e e l t h e same. And you know what's more striking? That Dante is part of the everyday life of people who never experien- ce this romantic, theatrical D a n t e a n e p i p h a n y , t o o , b e c a u s e e v e r y t i m e t h e y speak, every time they use Italian to communicate with o t h e r s , t o e x p r e s s l o v e , friendship, rage, fear, happi- ness, it's his language they use. We owe Dante an inte- grant part of our identity, a means to create our art and enrich our lives, day after day. Dante is our own patri- mony, he is one of the best ambassadors Italy and the Italian language could have in the world. It does not — and should not — surprise, then, that Italy decided to celebrated her Poeta on the 7 0 0 t h a n n i v e r s a r y o f h i s death, which falls this year. The next twelve months are filled with events, comme- morations and exhibitions, especially in the cities most t i e d t o h i m — F l o r e n c e , V e r o n a , F o r l ì , R a v e n n a . Aware of how our lives will, likely, be still affected by the p a n d e m i c f o r t h e n e x t months, digital platforms got involved, too, with the creation of YouTube chan- n e l s , p r o j e c t s b a s e d o n books dedicated to Dante's t r a v e l s a c r o s s I t a l y , a n d beautiful online photo exhi- bitions. The symbolic begin- ning of all celebrations? The 2 5 t h o f M a r c h w h i c h , since 2019, has been Dante's Day in Italy, or Dantedì, as we call it: this is the day scholars believe the poet began, in 1300, his imagi- nary journey through the Otherworld, a journey at the end of which the Italian lan- guage was born. So, this is why we should, i f w e s t i l l h a v e n ' t , g e t t o know Dante Alighieri. Not only because of an anniver- s a r y , b u t b e c a u s e t h e r e ' s only to gain from shaking hands with him and making h i m p a r t o f o u r l i v e s . Because he gave us our lan- guage, showing us how its beauty can soothe the soul and mend what's broken. Continued from page 4 Modern Italian, as we speak it and learn it in school, owes a lot to Dante (Photo: Millafedotova/Dreamstime)

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