Don’t worry. Everything is OK. Italian is in no danger of becoming extinct, and anyhow, it certainly won’t die as a result of an influence from the English language.
The extinction alarm went off several days ago in Cagliari where an international convention of Italian language and culture scholars is underway.
According to Sicilian writer Vincenzo Consolo, Italian is being replaced by “a slang dictated by the invasion of Americanisms.”
According to him, in other words, Italian is a sick language without any defence system.
Calm, but self-assured – and re-assuring – is the response by Franco Pierno, assistant professor of Italian Linguistics at the Italian department of the University of Toronto.

Is the Italian language in danger of extinction?
“Firstly, some distinctions need to be made. Consolo’s words relate to a combination of literature, language, dialect influence, and English – in other words, it’s a big minestrone made up of many elements. I think we’re dealing with one of the many alarmist soundings that we’ve become accustomed (to hearing) since the ’90s, in other words, ever since we began viewing languages in terms of catastrophe theories as influenced by political and social occurrences. Talk of illness, extinction, or immune response as it applies to language isn’t news anyways. The organic metaphor had already been used during the Renaissance to describe the life (cycle) of a language and even then it entailed exaggerations. It appears to me that even today they’re exaggerating the situation. All languages are subject to external influence and evolution. There’s nothing new under the sun. Consider Pascoli’s xenophobia or Gadda’s neologism: no one today would be scandalized any more – also involving wanted contamination. Consolo also exaggerates when describing literature as being ill because it’s influenced by other elements – he doesn’t take into account a particular Italian tradition.”

Do you agree with the Sicilian writer regarding the preponderance of Americanisms?

Page 1/...Page 2

Printable Version

Email To A Friend

Voice Your Opinion