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Oct 12, 2008-Oct 19, 2008 |
Defending the Italian language
Professors fear influence of youth, media and internet on new "Italian" words
By Niccolò Marras
Originally Published: 2005-03-13
Professor Alfredo Luzi, teacher of Contemporary Italian Literature at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Macerata, is analyzing the change in the Italian language under multiple influences. He maintains that action must be taken to prevent severe damage to the beauty and musicality of Italian.
"We've been infected by linguistic provincialism. Not using foreign words means not being 'fashionable.' More and more, words of English origin are entering our vocabulary, but things are going too far," said Luzi, "when even public services are called by non-Italian names. On Italy's highways, for instance, there are signs mentioning Call Centres. What are they - centres for treating calluses? How many Italians know the meaning of these words?"
In a series of lectures in Toronto at various locations, Alfredo Luzi discusses the influence of song writing and youth lingo on the evolution of the Italian language. Recently, however, he completed a study on the language of the press, and spoke with Tandem about it.
"The current controversy on the defence of Italian is meaningless. Imposing a language by decree, like fascism tried to do, is simply unthinkable. We must work through opinion leaders," said Luzi, "who influence public opinion - TV and radio stations, the press, cultural institutions, etc. We've even reached the point where Italian convention programs mention coffee breaks; why not the Italian equivalent, pausa caffè?"
Luzi also denounced the lack of valorization of Italian cultural institutes abroad in the battle for protecting the Italian language. "A very prestigious institute in Switzerland has just been closed down. We should rely on these institutions to defend Italian culture in its widest sense, including our language. Every cultural structure must be strengthened, as Italian is a language of European culture and thus deserves protection. Moreover, right behind the language there is the whole patrimony of art, music, crafts, economy and so on. Defending our language means, at the same time, defending and promoting all these aspects."
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