La scrittura dell’italiano

Not long ago I read this fine essay on the writing of Italian. The author focuses on the activity of the first “scriventi” (not “scrittori”) – that is, “writers” as such, not professional writers or poets; those who, in ancient times, ventured into the drafting of documents of any kind, formalizing the spoken language into a written form, by dint of brave experiments. The vulgar progressively detached from Latin and assumed its own dignity as a literary language. Family diaries, ledgers, deeds, letters, personal notes: the populace was finally able to record their lives and their business in their own idiom.
This work illustrates the cries and uncertain first steps of a baby language. It is possible, thanks to extracts of ancient texts quoted, to note the gradual development of grammar, the spelling hazards and the stabilization of the style. A good book for those who want to explore the origins of Italian and realize how little is taken for granted, for a language, in the transition from spoken to written form. Italian has the reputation of being a language where “everything is pronounced as written”. Langeli, by illustrating the uncertainties of the early writers, offers further proof that it is not exactly so.
The cover shows the hilarious scene of the letter written by Peppino de Filippo under the imperious dictation of Totò: