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This chapter investigates the mechanisms of null subject licensing in direct interrogatives, an environment which is generally neglected in investigation into null subjects, using data from a range of early Romance and Germanic languages considered to be asymmetric pro-drop languages, i.e. languages in which null subjects are favoured in main clauses. We find that there is subtle variation between the languages in question, but that two factors in particular – interrogative type and person – are crucial in conditioning this variation, and we sketch analyses based on the differential availability of Agree relations with left-peripheral elements. Therefore, null subjects in main interrogative clauses are licensed in two slightly different manners in the two language families – a fact which we show follows from differences in the structure of their left periphery and in agreement morphology

This research project aims to further our knowledge of the processes Latin underwent to become the Romance languages of the Medieval period. More specifically, it examines the reorganisation of the demonstrative system which took place during the period where Late Latin was gradually evolving into Old French and Old Italian. This doctoral thesis builds on prior work in the field of socio-historical linguistics, and also on the socio-cultural history of the Latin West. It makes use of advances in digital technologies within the Humanities and Social Sciences, notably digital analysis techniques and methodology from the field of Corpus Linguistics. This research explores a little-known and under-researched type of text – Notarial Charters. It focuses on the pragmatico-semantic analysis of 6 word forms that have traditionally been considered demonstratives – the indexical expressions HIC, ISTE and ILLE, and the endophoric expressions IS, IDEM and IPSE. Phonetic and morpho-syntactic aspects of these demonstratives are considered where this allows for a better understanding of the demonstratives pragmatic-semantic properties. A digitised corpus of notarial charters from 7th-10th century Gaul and Southern Italy are analysed using a comparative approach, aided by the text analysis software TXM, developed by the CACTUS team (Corpus en diachronie, textométrie et usages), part of the research group IHRIM (UMR 5317).Our research offers a new perspective on the analysis of Latin demonstratives that takes into account the latest advances in the field of pragmatic-semantics. Numerous studies on demonstratives as a linguistic category have been carried out in recent decades, allowing us to propose new theories concerning not only the function of demonstratives synchronically, but also diachronically. Currently, this type of study is available for Old French and, to a lesser extent, Latin, especially the Late Latin found in hagiographical texts. At this time, studies of this type on Old Italian seem to be lacking. By offering a new theory on the function of Latin demonstratives with a diachronic perspective, which aligns well with similar work on Old French, we hope to provide a new theoretical framework which can be adapted for all forms of Latin across time, from Archaic Latin to Old French. The inclusion of Old Italian demonstratives in this study allows for a more complete picture of the evolution of Latin demonstratives into the demonstratives of Medieval Romance languages., Ce travail de recherche vise à mieux nous renseigner sur le processus de filiation du latin aux langues romanes, et plus spécifiquement sur la réorganisation du système démonstratif qui a lieu à l’époque du passage du latin tardif à l’ancien français et à l’ancien italien. En bénéficiant des apports et avancées de la linguistique sociohistorique mais aussi de l’histoire socio-culturelle de l’Occident latin, cette thèse exploite les acquis du tournant numérique de la recherche en SHS en s’appuyant sur les méthodologies de la linguistique de corpus et les outils d’analyse numériques. Il explore un genre textuel jusque-là mal connu et inexploité par les linguistes, à savoir les chartes notariales. La recherche est centrée sur l’analyse pragmatico-sémantique des six formes traditionnellement considérées comme des démonstratifs, les indexicaux HIC, ISTE, ILLE, et les endophoriques IS, IDEM, IPSE. La phonétique et la morphosyntaxe des démonstratifs sont prises en compte seulement quand elles permettent de mieux saisir leurs propriétés sémantico-pragmatiques. Les analyses sont menées dans une perspective comparatiste à partir d’un corpus numérique de chartes notariales rédigée en Gaule et en Italie méridionale entre le 7e et le 10e siècle. Le corpus est exploité à l’aide du logiciel TXM, développé par l’équipe Cactus (Corpus en diachronie, textométrie et usages) au sein de l’IHRIM (UMR 5317).Notre travail de recherche propose d’étudier les démonstratifs latins sous un nouveau jour en prenant en compte les derniers avancements des études sémantico-pragmatiques. De nombreuses recherches sur le démonstratif en tant que catégorie linguistique ont été menées durant les dernières décennies. Elles nous permettent de proposer de nouvelles explications concernant non seulement le fonctionnement des démonstratifs en synchronie mais aussi en diachronie longue. Nous disposons aujourd’hui de ce type de travaux sur l’ancien français et dans une moindre mesure sur le latin (notamment sur le latin tardif des textes hagiographiques). En l’état actuel, ce type d’études sur les périodes anciennes de l’italien semble faire défaut. En proposant une nouvelle explication du fonctionnement des démonstratifs dans la diachronie longue du latin qui s’accorde avec les propositions faites pour l’ancien français, nous espérons fournir un nouveau cadre théorique qui s’adapte à toute la diachronie du latin (du latin archaïque à l’ancien français) et qui permet de mieux articuler les enjeux de l’évolution des démonstratifs latins vers les démonstratifs romans puisque nous essayons d’y inclure les démonstratifs de l’ancien italien., Questo lavoro di ricerca si propone di informarci meglio sul processo di filiazione dal latino alle lingue romanze, e più specificamente sulla riorganizzazione del sistema dimostrativo che avviene al momento del passaggio dal latino tardo al francese antico e all’italiano antico. Beneficiando dei contributi e dei progressi della linguistica socio-storica ma anche della storia socio-culturale dell’Occidente latino, questa tesi sfrutta i resultati della svolta digitale della ricerca nelle science umane facendo affidamento sulle metodologie della linguistica dei corpora e sugli strumenti di analisi numerica. Il lavoro esplora un genere testuale finora poco conosciuto e non sfruttato dai linguisti, vale a dire le carte notariali. La ricerca e incentrata sull’analisi pragmatico-semantica delle sei forme tradizionalmente considerate come dimostrativi, gli indessicali HIC, ISTE, ILLE, e gli endoforici IS, IDEM, IPSE. La fonetica e la morfosintassi dei dimostrativi vengono presi in considerazione solo quando consentono una migliore comprensione delle loro proprietà semantico-pragmatiche. Le analisi sono svolte in prospettiva comparativa da un corpus digitale di atti notariali scritti in Gallia e nell’Italia meridionale tra il 7° e il 10° secolo. Il corpus viene sfruttato utilizzando il software TXM, sviluppato alla Scuola Normale Superiore di Lione dal gruppo di ricerca Cactus del laboratorio IHRIM (UMR 5317).Il nostro lavoro di ricerca si propone di studiare i dimostrativi latini sotto una nuova luce, tenendo conto degli ultimi progressi negli studi semantico pragmatici. Molte ricerche sul dimostrativo come categoria linguistica sono state condotte negli ultimi decenni. Ci permettono di proporre nuove spiegazioni riguardanti non solo il funzionamento dei dimostrativi in sincronia ma anche in lunga diacronia. Ora abbiamo questo tipo di studi sul francese antico e, in misura minore, sul latino (in particolare sul latino tardo dei testi agiografici). Allo stato attuale, questo tipo di studi sui periodi antichi dell’italiano sembra mancare. Proponendo una nuova spiegazione del funzionamento dei dimostrativi nella lunga diacronia del latino – che concorda con le proposte fatte per il francese antico – speriamo di fornire un nuovo quadro teorico che si adatti all’intera diacronia del latino (dal latino arcaico al francese antico) e che permette di spiegare meglio l’evoluzione dei dimostrativi latini verso i dimostrativi romani poiché cerchiamo di includere i dimostrativi dell’italiano antico.

This paper provides a corpus-based analysis of compounding in Old Italian. The semantic and formal properties of compound words attested in Old Italian are described and discussed through the theoretical tools provided by Construction Morphology. The analysis confirms that compounding is exploited since the earliest attestations of the language. It reveals that Old Italian compounds are mostly right-headed endocentric or exocentric: particularly, endocentric [ADV-Y]Y, [A-N]N|A and exocentric [V-N]N are the most productive schemas. Moreover, this study highlights a significant influence of Latin on Italian compounding, whereby many Old Italian compounds are Latin loanwords and calques which served as a model for the creation of new native compounds.

Lexicological and lexicographical studies on multiword expressions in Romance languages have significantly increased in recent years. Even though some attention has been paid to Multiwords functioning as adjectives and adverbs, the structural and the functional relation between them has not been clarified yet. Employing both a qualitative and quantitative approach, this corpus-based investigation aims at exploring the diatopic distribution and the evolution of Romance multiword lexemes having the form of a prepositional phrase and the function of an adjective or/and an adverb (or both functions). According to data taken from corpora of Latin, Old Italian, Old Spanish and Middle French, this contribution investigates the relationship between the different degrees of schematicity and the productivity of this kind of multiword lexemes in order to highlight the evolutional path and the diachronic/diatopic principles engaged in the multiword modifying system across the different Romance languages taken into consideration.

In this work the complex distribution of null subjects in Old Florentine of the thirteenth century is analysed. The main theoretical question answered is the following: what are the factors that rule the distribution of null and lexical pronominal subjects in Old Italian? It is well known that there are differences between Modern and Old Italian which show that it is not possible to apply the standard view on pro drop to Old Italian. The data cannot be explained by the traditional proposal that the inflected verb licenses pro drop when it is in C°, since pro drop can also occur in non-V2 contexts. It is argued that the complex distribution of Old Italian null subjects can only be made sense of if the null subject depends on different types of null topics which have different licensing conditions in main clauses and embedded clauses.

Iacopone da Todi’s “laudario” is a fundamental text of Medieval Italian literature. Despite its importance, this text hasn’t been published on the basis of objective and systematic criteria so far. The critical edition by F. Ageno (1953) improved Bonaccorsi’s incunable of 1490 (which had been the reference text until then) by means of the so-called “Umbrian laudari” (mss. London, British Library, Additional 16567 = L; Chantilly, Musée Condé, XIV.G.2 = Ch). However, that edition is still too much in Bonaccorsi’s debt as for various "loci" and the Perugian linguistic surface. The lack of explanation of the editorial criteria and the absence of critical apparatus are other evident limits of that edition. G. Contini criticised Ageno’s idea, according to which the entire tradition of the “laudario” stemmed from the so-called “Umbrian archetype”. Contini discovered, in the “Laudario urbinate” (ms. Roma, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, V.E. 849 = Urb), a witness independent of the “Umbrian archetype”; afterwards, R. Bettarini’s researches confirmed Contini’s discovery. F. Mancini’s edition (1974) tried to exploit the non-Umbrian sectors of the tradition; it got significant results, but it has many faults. Firstly, as for the “constitutio textus”, there is no precise methodological criterion. Secondly, Mancini doesn’t propose any analysis of Iacopone’s metric. Furthermore, while he believes it’s possible to reconstruct the “original” linguistic surface, his justifications are not convincing. The necessity of a critical edition based upon strong philological criteria and a careful “recensio” is thus clear. L. Leonardi has emphasised that need several times and he has planned and refined a methodological and operational approach. This thesis provides the critical edition of a portion of the “laudario” (eight texts) according to those criteria. It is based on a selection of witnesses, which were transcribed by a team coordinated by Leonardi. That selection represents the four families of Iacopone’s “laudario”, that is the Umbrian, the Tuscan-umbrian, the Venetian and the Tuscan family. In the critical edition, the Umbrian group is taken as reference point, as it preserves a consistent and homogeneous text. Moreover, the text of the Umbrian family is preserved in ancient manuscrits and it is presumably close to the “original” as for the linguistic surface. Alongside that criterion, special attention has been paied to non-Umbrian readings. The thesis is divided into two main sections, in addition to a foreword and the bibliography. Within the first section, chapter I describes the state-of-the-art and defines the methodological approach. Chapter II, first of all, clarifies the goals of the edition; secondly, it offers some notes upon the corpus of edited texts, the manuscripts chart, and a paragraph devoted to the surface manuscript (L). Chapter III is dedicated to the editorial criteria and the critical apparatus. The first paragraph deepens the editorial criteria. The second one firstly contains a retrospective on critical apparatus in previous editions of Iacopone; secondly, it justifies the tripartite structure of the apparatus in the current edition. Chapter IV takes stock of the new discoveries of this edition. The first part underlines the data which allow us to confirm the four families of Iacopone’s “laudario”. The second part points out the textual improvements made by this edition. Chapter V offers some remarks upon Iacopone’s metric by relying on data provided by the edited texts. The second section of the thesis presents the critical edition of the texts with introduction, critical notes and philological commentaries., Le “laudario” de Iacopone da Todi est un texte fondamental de la littérature italienne du Moyen Âge. En dépit de son importance, il n’a pas encore fait l’objet d’une édition fondée sur critères philologiques objectifs et systématiques. En effet, si l’édition de F. Ageno (1953) dépasse l’incunable de Bonaccorsi de 1490 (jusqu’alors le texte de référence) en recourant aux “laudari” soi-disant “ombriens” (mss. London, British Library, Additional 16567 = L ; Chantilly, Musée Condé, XIV.G.2 = Ch), elle doit encore trop à la “princeps”, à laquelle elle se remet en ce qui concerne plusieurs “loci” et dont elle hérite la forte patine linguistique pérugine. Le manque de justification des choix éditoriaux et l’absence de tout apparat critique constituent d’autres limites évidentes de cette édition. L’idée d’Ageno selon laquelle le soi-disant “archétype ombrien” devait être à l’origine de toute la tradition du “laudario”, a été critiquée par G. Contini, qui identifie dans le “Laudario urbinate” (ms. Roma, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, V.E. 849 = Urb) un témoin indépendant de cet “archétype ombrien”; son intuition a ensuite été confirmée par R. Bettarini. L’édition de F. Mancini (1974) essaie d’exploiter les secteurs non-ombriens de la tradition et aboutit à des résultats significatifs, mais présente beaucoup de défauts. D’abord, il lui manque un critère méthodologique précis pour la “constitutio textus” ; ensuite, Mancini ne propose aucune analyse de la métrique de Iacopone; par ailleurs, l’éditeur croit pouvoir restituer la patine linguistique “originale”, mais ses arguments ne sont pas convaincants. La nécessité de fournir un texte critique fondé sur des critères philologiques solides et sur une “recensio” soignée est évidente et a été soulignée plusieurs fois par L. Leonardi, qui a aussi déterminé et affiné une ligne méthodologique et opérative dans cet objectif. La présente thèse fournit l’édition d’une partie du “laudario” (huit pièces) selon ces critères, à partir d’une vingtaine de témoins sélectionnés, transcrits par une équipe sous la direction de Leonardi et représentant les quatre familles de la tradition du “laudario” de Iacopone : ombrienne, toscane-ombrienne, vénitienne et toscane. Le critère d’édition suivi a été de prendre comme point de repère le groupe ombrien, porteur d’un texte cohérent, homogène, dont témoignent des manuscrits anciens et linguistiquement proches de l’original présumé. Ce critère a été pondéré grâce à la comparaison avec les variantes des manuscrits non ombriens. La thèse se compose de deux sections précédées d’un avant-propos et suivies de la bibliographie. Dans la première section, le chapitre I est dédié à l’établissement de l’état de la question et à la définition de la ligne méthodologique suivie. Le chapitre II, d’abord, propose les objectifs de l’édition ; ensuite, présente quelques notes sur le corpus des textes publiés, la table des manuscrits utilisés et un paragraphe dédié au manuscrit de surface (L). Le chapitre III est dédié aux critères éditoriaux et à la question de l’apparat critique. Le premier paragraphe approfondit les critères d’édition ; le second présente, d’abord, une rétrospective sur les apparats critiques établis dans les éditions précédentes de Iacopone ; il justifie, ensuite, la tripartition de l’apparat proposée dans cette édition. Le chapitre IV dresse un bilan des nouvelles découvertes qu’on peut déduire des données mises à disposition par l’édition critique. Sa première partie souligne les données qui permettent de confirmer la structure de la tradition ; sa deuxième partie détaille les améliorations apportées par cette édition au texte de Iacopone. Le chapitre V propose quelques remarques sur la métrique de Iacopone, à partir des données tirées des éditions. La deuxième section de la thèse, enfin, présente les textes critiques avec introduction, notes ecdotiques et commentaires philologiques.

This paper examines the synchronic competition and diachronic substitution of three Latin temporal expressions: tum, tunc (‘at that time’, ‘then’), and later dumque (originally, ‘while-and’), and its Old Italian outcome dunque (‘then’). Besides providing a new path of development and a new etymology for Italian dunque, we describe in detail the steps by which these forms gradually replaced one another and examine the factors at play in their renewal, showing that such forms all display a similar inference-driven functional expansion from propositional to discourse-organizational meanings. However, their subsequent development led to a functional similarity that is only partial, as is often the case in semantic–pragmatic cycles. While discussing the nature of this cycle, we focus on the speaker’s role in this type of change, which in our view can be summarized in the speaker’s cyclical application of recurrent functional principles: phonetic efficiency, analogy, and regularity in semantic change.

It. ostare ‘obstruct, hinder’ is considered a borrowing from Lat. obstare. However, some Old Italian occurrences bear the meaning ‘take off, remove’, which is far from the Latin sense. After an introductory section (§1), in which methodological problems are discussed, the article analyses the occurrences of o(b)stare derived from the OVI databases (§2), containing Old Italian texts. A final section focusses on the origin of the verb and its meanings (§3).

The diachronic development of Modern Italian pronouns, in particular of the 3pl dative loro ‘to them’ (Cardinaletti 2010; Egerland 2010), could be seen as the first step in a linguistic cycle in which elements become more and more structurally deficient, going from strong XPs, through weak deficient XPs, and finally to clitic X°s. However, historical data from Old Tuscan varieties show that there is much distributional instability and variation which is not easily accommodated in Cardinaletti and Starke’s (1999) tripartite typology. It will be claimed that the diachronic development of dative loro can be captured in terms of a close interaction between the internal structure of pronouns (where reanalysis as upward movement and the Head Preference Principle derive different degrees of structural deficiency), and general rules governing sentence structure.

In this article I will show that there is not a single diachronic path that leads to the loss of the verb second property so that different languages can have different ways towards a non V2 grammar. I will also show that the progressive loss of subject inversion contexts is not the only factor that played a role in the change, because there are V2 languages in which nominal subject inversion was never attested but they are still V2, i.e. they have I to C movement. I will identify various factors which may play a role and are related to the type of verb second found in different languages. I will consider various types of factors and show that they can play a role or not in the loss of V2 depending on the type of V2 that the language displays. I will also identify an additional factor that has not been considered in the literature namely the type of complementizer system: a change in this area can contribute to destabilizing the V2 grammar.

Prosper of Aquitaine was a Christian writer who lived in the first half of the 5th century AD. His Epigrammata, a compilation of about a hundred epigrams based on Saint Augustin's works, were widely read during the Middle Ages. Often associated with the spurious Poema coniugis ad uxorem, Prosper's work also served as a very popular textbook to learn Latin in medieval school. The Epigrammata are trasmitted by several manuscripts, many of which contain Latin and vernacular glosses written by young scholars. This kind of glossed school books can give us useful information about both Medieval education and the linguistic dynamics of Latin learning, also providing data about the relations between Latin and vernacular in written language. The essay focuses on a single Italian manuscript copy dating to 1425, now held at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. A critical edition of the text and his glosses is provided, along with a philological survey and a linguistic analysis suggesting that the manuscript may have been copied and glossed in the southern-central Marche.

The essay focuses on the manuscript Rieti, Biblioteca Paroniana, I.2.6, a collection of religious sermons dating around the middle 15th century. As some scholars suggest, the codex's first owner could have been Roberto Caracciolo da Lecce (1425-1495), a famous Italian preacher who is also supposed to be the main scribe of the sermons. Other unknown scribes add small texts on the margins of the manuscript: among these, five spells copied by a late-15th hand deserve some attention. The essay provides the first critical edition of these spells, along with a linguistic study arguing that they were probably written in Salento (southern Apulia): this fact could confirm the link between the manuscript and Roberto Caracciolo's monastic entourage. The philological analysis also highlights some other features of the manuscript, hitherto unknown: above all, one of the sermons in the codex displays a code mixing between Latin and Italian vernacular, providing new linguistic data about public preaching in Italy during the late Middle Ages.

This work aims at analysing a particular type of support verb constructions, namely those selecting a body part noun, e.g. prendere corpo, mettere bocca, mettere piede, dare una mano. Body part nouns differ from other nominal elements typically employed in support verb constructions, in that (i) they are not predictive, (ii) they are highly referential, although they may undergo semantic bleaching when they compare in a support verb construction. This paper proposes a corpus-based analysis of Old and Contemporary Italian support verb constructions employing body parts nouns. In particular, this analysis aims at verifying i) their semantic properties (e.g. the idiomatic meaning and the noun referentiality), ii) their syntactic properties (e.g. the argument structure and the coding of participants), iii) their syntagmatic properties (e.g. the syntagmatic configuration and the lexicalization degree of constructions).

La Divina Commedia non ha soltanto condizionato fin dalle origini l'intero percorso della letteratura e della lingua italiana, ma continua ancora oggi a ispirare opere e autori dagli stili più diversi, dalla musica al cinema e ovviamente al fumetto. All'interno della vasta produzione di fumetti ispirati alla Commedia dantesca, questo contributo si concentra sul fumetto Disney "L'Inferno di Topolino", parodia dell'Inferno dantesco realizzata da Guido Martina (testi) e Angelo Bioletto (disegni) per i numeri 7-12 di Topolino (1949-1950) nonché capostipite del fortunato filone delle cosiddette "Grandi Parodie Disney". L'obiettivo è proporre una lettura linguistica della parodia disneyana: dopo aver brevemente elencato i principali tratti distintivi del genere parodia nel suo insieme, si procede all'analisi de "L'Inferno di Topolino" focalizzando l'attenzione da un lato sulle modalità di realizzazione linguistica dell'intento parodico e dall'altro sullo specifico fumettistico della trasposizione disneyana. Si mettono così in evidenza diverse strategie di riproduzione / imitazione dell'italiano antico dal punto di vista morfologico, sintattico e lessicale. The Divine Comedy has not only had a profound influence on Italian Literature and Language since the very beginning, but it also continues to be a source of inspiration for many authors and works of different styles and cultural fields, from music to film etc. Within the vast amount of comics inspired by Dante's masterpiece, this paper focuses on the parody of Dante's Inferno "L'Inferno di Topolino" ("Mickey's Inferno"). This comic book story was created in Italy back in 1949-50 for the Topolino Magazine by Guido Martina (writer) and Angelo Bioletto (cartoonist), two of the first comic book artists of Disney Italian comics, and it is the very first of the famous Disney Great Parodies. This study proposes an interpretation of this Disney parody from a linguistic perspective. After listing the main distinguishing features of parody as a whole, it provides an analysis of the comic book history "L'inferno di Topolino" by focusing on the linguistic techniques used to accomplish the parodic purpose on the one hand, and on the specific of a comic book parody on the other. Many strategies of imitating old Italian morphology, syntax and lexicon are pointed out.

La Divina Comèdia no només ha condicionat tot el curs de la literatura i l'idioma italians des dels seus orígens, sinó que continua inspirant obres i autors dels estils més diversos, des de la música al cinema i, per descomptat, als còmics. Dins de la vasta producció de còmics inspirats en la Comèdia de Dante, aquest article se centra en el còmic de Disney "Hell of Mickey Mouse", una paròdia de l'Infern de Dante realitzada per Guido Martina (textos) i Angelo Bioletto (dibuixos) per els números 7 - 12 de Mickey Mouse (1949-1950), que inicia així mateix l'afortunada sèrie de les anomenades "Grans Paròdies de Disney". El nostre objectiu és fer una interpretació lingüística de la paròdia de Disney. Després d'enumerar breument les principals característiques de la paròdia del gènere en el seu conjunt, es procedeix a l'anàlisi de "L'infern de Mickey Mouse", centrant l'atenció, d'una banda, en les modalitats de realització lingüística de la intenció paròdica i, d'altra banda, en l'específica translació del còmic de Disney. D'aquesta manera, es destaquen diferents estratègies de reproducció / imitació de l'antic italià des del punt de vista morfològic, sintàctic i lèxic., The Divine Comedy has not only had a profound influence on Italian Literature and Language since the very beginning, but it also continues to be a source of inspiration for many authors and works of different styles and cultural fields, from music to film etc. Within the vast amount of comics inspired by Dante’s masterpiece, this paper focuses on the parody of Dante’s Inferno “L’Inferno di Topolino” (“Mickey’s Inferno”). This comic book story was created in Italy back in 1949-50 for the Topolino Magazine by Guido Martina (writer) and Angelo Bioletto (cartoonist), two of the first comic book artists of Disney Italian comics, and it is the very first of the famous Disney Great Parodies. This study proposes an interpretation of this Disney parody from a linguistic perspective. After listing the main distinguishing features of parody as a whole, it provides an analysis of the comic book history “L’inferno di Topolino” by focusing on the linguistic techniques used to accomplish the parodic purpose on the one hand, and on the specific of a comic book parody on the other. Many strategies of imitating old Italian morphology, syntax and lexicon are pointed out., La Divina Comediano no solo ha condicionado todo el curso de la literatura y el idioma italianos desde sus orígenes, sino que continúa inspirando obras y autores de los estilos más diversos, desde la música al cine y, por supuesto, a los cómics. Dentro de la vasta producción de cómics inspirados en la Comedia de Dante, este artículo se centra en el cómic de Disney "Hell of Mickey Mouse", una parodia del Infierno de Dante realizada por Guido Martina (textos) y Angelo Bioletto (dibujos) para los números 7 - 12 de Mickey Mouse (1949-1950), que inicia asimismo la afortunada serie de las llamadas "Grandes Parodias de Disney". Nuestro objetivo es realizar una interpretación lingüística de la parodia de Disney. Tras enumerar brevemente las principales características de la parodia del género en su conjunto, se procede al análisis de "El infierno de Mickey Mouse", centrando la atención, por una parte, en las modalidades de realización lingüística de la intención paródica y, por otro lado, en la específica traslación del còmic de Disney. De esta manera, se destacan diferentes estrategias de reproducción / imitación del antiguo italiano desde el punto de vista morfológico, sintáctico y léxico., La Divina Commedia non ha soltanto condizionato fin dalle origini l’intero percorso della letteratura e della lingua italiana, ma continua ancora oggi a ispirare opere e autori dagli stili più diversi, dalla musica al cinema e ovviamente al fumetto. All’interno della vasta produzione di fumetti ispirati alla Commedia dantesca, questo contributo si concentra sul fumetto Disney “L’Inferno di Topolino”, parodia dell’Inferno dantesco realizzata da Guido Martina (testi) e Angelo Bioletto (disegni) per i numeri 7-12 di Topolino (1949-1950) nonché capostipite del fortunato filone delle cosiddette “Grandi Parodie Disney”. L’obiettivo è proporre una lettura linguistica della parodia disneyana: dopo aver brevemente elencato i principali tratti distintivi del genere parodia nel suo insieme, si procede all’analisi de “L’Inferno di Topolino” focalizzando l’attenzione da un lato sulle modalità di realizzazione linguistica dell’intento parodico e dall’altro sullo specifico fumettistico della trasposizione disneyana. Si mettono così in evidenza diverse strategie di riproduzione / imitazione dell’italiano antico dal punto di vista morfologico, sintattico e lessicale.

This diploma thesis focuses on the evolution of the present indicative of Italian language, the thesis presents the evolution starting from Latin and finishing with a description of linguistic situation of Italian of the 19th century. The thesis incorporates two parts that are both connected - the theoretical and the analytical ones. In the first part, the basic notions such as morfology, paradigm, grammatical categories are presented and defined. Next chapters are dedicated to the situation in Latin, Old Italian and Italian of the 19th century. The second part deals with research of applied forms of selected Italian verbs. Two language corporas - OVI and DiaCORIS - are used for this part. OVI represents the period of Old Italian, while DiaCORIS describes the period of the Italian of the 19th century. The aim of this diploma thesis is to describe the main tendencies reguarding the evolution of present indicative and through language corpora to provide some examples of selected verbs.

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Resum: En italià modern (IM), els mots additius negatius són elements focalitzadors que típicament se sotmeten a la concordança negativa amb una negació oracional o amb un altre element legitimador de la negació. En aquest article investiguem l’evolució diacrònica d’un element additiu negatiu, neanche ‘ni/ni tan sols’. En italià antic (IA, varietat florentina entre 1200 i 1370), no hi ha testimonis de focalitzadors additius negatius morfològicament complexos com neanche. En canvi, l’element corresponent no negatiu additiu, anche, podia combinar-se amb un marcador negatiu o amb algun altre element negatiu: né/non… anche ‘ni/ni tan sols’. Mostrem que en IA (i) el mot additiu no negatiu anche es pot fer servir tant com un element de polaritat afirmativa com negativa; (ii) anche pot funcionar com un marcador aspectual/temporal amb el significat de ‘(no) encara’ i també com un focalitzador additiu amb el significat ‘ni tampoc/ni tan sols’; (iii) les diferents interpretacions es reflecteixen en diferents posicions sintàctiques, p. ex., anche té una interpretació aspectual en la posició postverbal amb abast sobre el sintagma verbal (vP), i té una interpretació additiva en posició preverbal prenent abast sobre un sintagma determinant (DP); i, finalment, (iv) anche desencadena una interpretació semàntica de focus en els dos casos: com a marcador additiu i com a marcador aspectual/temporal (vg. Rooth 1985, Chierchia 2013 per a la semàntica de focus). També afirmem especulativament, basant-nos en arguments teòrics i empírics, que la interpretació aspectual podria ser un subtipus d’interpretació additiva. Expliquem l’evolució diacrònica que porta de ‘neg(ació) + anche’ en IA a neanche en IM suggerint que la gramaticalització de neanche s’origina a partir d’una construcció en la qual l’element additiu anche és immediatament adjacent a la dreta a la disjunció negativa né (p. ex., né + anche > neanche). Paraules clau: additiu, additiu negatiu, focus, marcador aspectual, gramaticalització. Abstract: In Modern Italian (MI), negative additives are focalizing elements that typically obey negative concord with a clausal negation or another licensing negative element. In this paper we investigate the diachronic evolution of one negative additive element, neanche ‘neither/not even’. In Old Italian (OI, Florentine variety of 1200-1370), there is no evidence of morphologically complex negative additive focalizers such as neanche. Instead, the non-negative additive counterpart of neanche, anche, could combine with a negative marker or some other negative element: e.g. né/non… anche ‘neither/not even’. We show that, in OI, (i) the morphologically non-negative additive anche can be used both as a negative and as a positive polarity item; (ii) anche can function either as an aspectual marker with the meaning ‘(not) yet’, or as an additive focalizer with the meaning ‘neither/not even’; (iii) its different interpretations are mirrored by different syntactic positions, i.e. anche has an aspectual interpretation in the postverbal position taking scope over a verbal phrase (vP), and it has an additive interpretation in the preverbal position taking scope over a determiner phrase (DP); and (iv) anche triggers a focus semantic interpretation under both conditions: as an additive and an aspectual marker (see Rooth 1985, Chierchia 2013 on focus semantics). We account for the diachronic evolution from neg(ation) + anche in OI to neanche in MI by suggesting that the grammaticalization of neanche originates from a particular construction in which the additive anche is immediately to the right adjacent to the negative disjunction né (i.e. né+anche>neanche). Key words: additive, negative additives, focus, aspectual marker, grammaticalization.

Scelta di voci redatte nel 2015/2016 per il TLIO (Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini).

This paper aims at showing how today’s databases could change the traditional relationship existing between Philology and historical Lexicography, with specific reference to Old Italian lexicography and OVI dictionary (TLIO) and databases. Through the analysis of some Old Italian words meaning ‘beginning’ ((in)cominciamento, (in)comincianza, inizio), this paper presents a new philological method to manage the Corpus OVI extensive documentation: while traditional historical lexicography operates by identifying ancient occurrences of a particular word and, on this ground, by interpreting and defining their meaning, the «new» corpus-based (or, more likely, corpus-driven) historical lexicography can go further, placing that word inside the structure of ancient lexicon, that is, inferring from the documentation the distribution and the (possible) specificity of the lexeme. Relying on a study carried out by Cosimo Burgassi and by myself, this paper introduces some new interpretative categories targeting the study of words’ (in the case in point, Romance words’) history, such as «Rate of Connotation» (‘quoziente connotativo’) and «latent Latinism» (‘latinismo latente’).

Si presentano i primi risultati di un progetto incentrato sugli antichi commenti italiani alle opere di Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio. Il progetto prevede l'allestimento e la pubblicazione di un archivio digitale interrogabile.