Creating a Norm for the Vernacular
The article deals with the birth of a linguistic norm in Iceland and Italy. The discussion focuses on four works, which lay the foundations for the discussion of grammar and poetics in their respective vernaculars, namely Dante Alighieri’s De vulgari eloquentia and Convivio for Italian, and the Fir...
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ftopinvisindi:oai:opinvisindi.is:20.500.11815/492 2024-09-15T18:13:18+00:00 Creating a Norm for the Vernacular Tarsi, Matteo Íslensku- og menningardeild (HÍ) Faculty of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies (UI) Hugvísindasvið (HÍ) School of Humanities (UI) Háskóli Íslands University of Iceland 2017-12-21 253-273 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/492 en eng Isländska sällskapet Scripta Islandica;68 http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1168395&dswid=5473 Tarsi, Matteo. 2017. Creating a Norm for the Vernacular: Some Critical Notes on Icelandic and Italian in the Middle Ages. Scripta Islandica 68: 253–273. 0582-3234 2001-9416 (eISSN) https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/492 Scripta Islandica info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Language norm Icelandic Italian Middle ages Language policy Íslenska Ítalska Miðaldir info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2017 ftopinvisindi https://doi.org/20.500.11815/492 2024-07-09T03:01:56Z The article deals with the birth of a linguistic norm in Iceland and Italy. The discussion focuses on four works, which lay the foundations for the discussion of grammar and poetics in their respective vernaculars, namely Dante Alighieri’s De vulgari eloquentia and Convivio for Italian, and the First Grammatical Treatise and Snorri Sturluson’s Edda for Icelandic. A parallel between these four works is established, and the view that Latin has been little used in Iceland during the Middle Ages is challenged, also in accordance with both earlier scholarship (Lehmann 1937 and Walter 1976) and recent discoveries (Gottskálk Jensson 2002, 2004, 2009 and Marner 2016). It is argued that Latin is bound to have been used as a language of scholarship in Iceland as it was in Western Europe, although manuscript transmission seldom provides direct evidence in this respect. Moreover, a view that takes into account the different weight that Latin as such had in the two different speech communities, Italian and Icelandic, is advocated. This approach rests upon the fact that, whereas in Italy there was an unbroken literary tradition in Latin from Roman times to the Middle Ages, in Iceland Icelandic was the only language to be used until the Conversion, i.e. until the Latin alphabet was introduced. Thus, it is not surprising that the Icelandic vernacular was held in relatively higher esteem in Iceland, therefore leading to a relatively earlier and richer literary tradition in that language, whereas in Italy the vernacular had to be first raised in linguistic status in order to be used as literary language. Peer Reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Opin vísindi (Iceland) |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Opin vísindi (Iceland) |
op_collection_id |
ftopinvisindi |
language |
English |
topic |
Language norm Icelandic Italian Middle ages Language policy Íslenska Ítalska Miðaldir |
spellingShingle |
Language norm Icelandic Italian Middle ages Language policy Íslenska Ítalska Miðaldir Tarsi, Matteo Creating a Norm for the Vernacular |
topic_facet |
Language norm Icelandic Italian Middle ages Language policy Íslenska Ítalska Miðaldir |
description |
The article deals with the birth of a linguistic norm in Iceland and Italy. The discussion focuses on four works, which lay the foundations for the discussion of grammar and poetics in their respective vernaculars, namely Dante Alighieri’s De vulgari eloquentia and Convivio for Italian, and the First Grammatical Treatise and Snorri Sturluson’s Edda for Icelandic. A parallel between these four works is established, and the view that Latin has been little used in Iceland during the Middle Ages is challenged, also in accordance with both earlier scholarship (Lehmann 1937 and Walter 1976) and recent discoveries (Gottskálk Jensson 2002, 2004, 2009 and Marner 2016). It is argued that Latin is bound to have been used as a language of scholarship in Iceland as it was in Western Europe, although manuscript transmission seldom provides direct evidence in this respect. Moreover, a view that takes into account the different weight that Latin as such had in the two different speech communities, Italian and Icelandic, is advocated. This approach rests upon the fact that, whereas in Italy there was an unbroken literary tradition in Latin from Roman times to the Middle Ages, in Iceland Icelandic was the only language to be used until the Conversion, i.e. until the Latin alphabet was introduced. Thus, it is not surprising that the Icelandic vernacular was held in relatively higher esteem in Iceland, therefore leading to a relatively earlier and richer literary tradition in that language, whereas in Italy the vernacular had to be first raised in linguistic status in order to be used as literary language. Peer Reviewed |
author2 |
Íslensku- og menningardeild (HÍ) Faculty of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies (UI) Hugvísindasvið (HÍ) School of Humanities (UI) Háskóli Íslands University of Iceland |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tarsi, Matteo |
author_facet |
Tarsi, Matteo |
author_sort |
Tarsi, Matteo |
title |
Creating a Norm for the Vernacular |
title_short |
Creating a Norm for the Vernacular |
title_full |
Creating a Norm for the Vernacular |
title_fullStr |
Creating a Norm for the Vernacular |
title_full_unstemmed |
Creating a Norm for the Vernacular |
title_sort |
creating a norm for the vernacular |
publisher |
Isländska sällskapet |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/492 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
Scripta Islandica;68 http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1168395&dswid=5473 Tarsi, Matteo. 2017. Creating a Norm for the Vernacular: Some Critical Notes on Icelandic and Italian in the Middle Ages. Scripta Islandica 68: 253–273. 0582-3234 2001-9416 (eISSN) https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/492 Scripta Islandica |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11815/492 |
_version_ |
1810450967181656064 |