Italian

Although our group did not speak any Latin during our time in Rome, we did learn to speak some basic Italian. It struck me how similar Spanish and Italian are – in fact, 82% of vocabulary is similar and the sentence structure is very alike. Their definite articles are also clearly related:

Spanish: El, la, los, las

Italian: Il, lo, la, l'

These similarities are due to their Latin root, therefore anyone studying Spanish/ Latin will be more able to understand basic written and spoken Italian.

Here are some ‘must know’ Italian phrases if you are planning on visiting Italy:

English	Italian
Hello/ good morning	Buongiorno
Good afternoon	Buon pomeriggio
Good evening	Buonasera
Excuse me	Mi scusi
I do not speak much Italian	Non parlo molto bene italiano
Goodbye	Ciao/Arrivederci
Yes/ No	Si/ no

History of Italian:

Standard Italian dates back to the 12^th century however linguists are able to see how Vulgar Latin formed the separate language in 900AD.

In 1200, we can view this change by looking at Dante’s epic poetry, known as Commedia. This group of poetry was based on Virgil’s Aeneid and Cicero’s work; however, he used a distinct language. These poems were read across Italy and for a long time, his dialect was considered the ‘canonical standard’ of higher class Italian. Dante was from Florence and even today, the dialect of Firenze is the official Italian language.

Italian was influenced greatly by historical events, for example, the conquest and Italian occupation of Napoleon helped to spread the language. After this, Italian was known as ‘lingua franca’ which was used as a Latin substitute across much of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Despite this, only 2.5% of the population of Italy spoke the standardised language in 1861.

The popularity of Italian has been partly due to its role in music as it is considered the universal language of music and is written to demonstrate tempo and directions on sheet music. Due to this, musicians all around the world understand Italian and this may encourage them to learn more of the language.  

The language itself:

Italian is a member of the Romance and Italic languages and derived diachronically from Latin. However, Italian contrasts other Romance languages in the way that it retains a difference between short and long consonants, like Latin.

The Italian alphabet consist of only 21 letters as 〈j, k, w, x, y〉 are not counted although they exist in loanwords such as ‘weekend’. The letter (h) is generally silent, especially when at the beginning of a word, i.e. ‘ho’ (I have). The (h) has been changed to (g) in many cases, for example I pull is ‘traho’ in Latin but ‘traggo’ in Italian.

The map below shows the population density of Italian speakers across Europe. The darkest purple means ‘lingua madre’ which are mother tongue speakers or L1 whereas the other shades show that Italian is a learned language (L2). This shows that although the vast majority of native speakers live in Italy itself, quite large proportions of Europeans learn language as a second language. Italian is still common in Africa and America due to a high Italian influence and immigration.

The Latin Language

This Rome trip showed me how useful Latin really is. We we’re able to translate signs, inscriptions and this enabled us to learn a lot more about the history than many other tourists.

Latin is fascinating as there are many English words derived from it, therefore we can see how our language developed. But we can also see how our language changed, for example we no longer have cases and we have practically ceased to use the subjunctive mood.

But why else should students learn Latin? It is a fascinating subject which allows students to read classical literature, allowing them to learn about Roman customs. For example, Ovid’s poem 3.2 (as mentioned in previous post) was a ‘set’ poem for AS-level Latin. This one poem taught me so much about the races: about seating arrangements, the chariot races and Roman Gods and Goddesses. But not only did it do this, but the way Ovid wrote the poem encouraged me to explore these themes further and learn more.

Also, Latin is a very logical subject. At the end of the day, with many school subjects, if you learn the content, you should do well in an exam, however even if someone learns the grammar and vocabulary, people still need to approach texts with ingenuity and a firm basis of their own language. In fact, studying Latin does teach people about their own language two as it improves the English vocabulary greatly, especially about analysing texts.

Learning Latin is also a different approach to languages. When learning modern languages, there is a huge focus on speaking, which people may not like. Since Latin is based more on translations and interpretations rather than innovative responses, it widens the audience of language learners.

To conclude, although the study of Latin may not directly be used in a students’ future, it will improve their native language and will help to create an inquisitive and “intellectually rigorous kid”¹.

 

As William Harris wrote:

"From another point of view, the study of Latin does foster precision in the use of words. Since one reads Latin closely and carefully, often word by word, this focuses the student's mind on individual words and their usage. It has been noticed that people who have studied Latin in school usually write quite good English prose. There may be a certain amount of stylistic imitation involved, but more important is the habit of reading closely and following important texts with accuracy."

As quoted from the National Review:

"I will say at once, quite firmly, that the best grounding for education is the Latin grammar. I say this not because Latin is traditional and medieval, but simply because even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin cuts down the labor and pains of learning almost any other subject by at least 50 percent."

¹Sourced from: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2009/may/24/latin-in-schools (Accessed 23/11/2013)