O Italian is a language of Latin origin, more precisely originated from the dialect spoken in the tuscany (central region of Italy). Italian is, of course, the official language of Italy and is also spoken in various parts of the world, such as Switzerland, the Vatican, San Marino, the United States and even in Brazil. Here there are 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.
Italian origin
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 the Peninsulaitalics with the process of unification of Italy, led by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in the 19th century.
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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 throughout Medieval Europe. Modern Italian began to develop and spread across the peninsula from the dialect spoken in the
tuscany, located 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 standardizing the language. The highlight goes to the work of the Italian writer Dantealighieri, responsible for writing the classic “The Divine Comedy” (divinecommedia, in the original). The search for the standardization of Italian is attributed to Alighieri in virtue of his work “On vernacular eloquence” (Invulgareloquent, 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 “Decamerão” (Decameron, in the original), written by GiovanniBoccaccio.
In the case of the dialect spoken in Florence (the Fiorentine form of Tuscan), the success of the language is explained for the economic success of the city and for being one of the peninsula's dialects closest to the Latin.
Italian popularization
The popularization of modern Italian on 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 across Europe and was led by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, ruled by Victor Emanuel 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 their early grades. Policies that reinforced the teaching of Italian as the main language were also carried out during the fascist period (1922-1944). The local dialects were not ignored, however, they occupied a secondary position in relation to Italian, which was popularized and extended to the entire peninsula.
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Countries that speak Italian as an official language
Naturally, Italian is the official language of the Italy, place where this language emerged. Italian is also the official language of the following countries: Switzerland, Vatican and sanmarine. In addition, this language is considered official in provinces of the Croatia and of the Slovenia, both located in a region known as Istria.
At the Rio Grande do Sul is on SantaCatherine, O Talian, dialect from the northern region of Italy, it also has status official language. In Brazil, Italian is taught in public schools in certain cities in São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Espírito Santo and Paraná. The influence of Italians in certain parts of Brazil is related to the fact that, between 1872 and 1909, around 45% of the immigrants who came to the country were Italians.|1|.
The Italian has government recognition as minority language in several places around the world, such as Argentina, United States, Malta, Albania. Even in Somalia, the 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
