«Così s’è formata la lingua italiana». La (storia) linguistica italiana raccontata alle giovinette di fine Ottocento

Rita Fresu

Primo

2023-01-01

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Abstract

The contribution focuses on the educational production of the Lombard writer Anna Vertua Gentile (1845-1926), known above all for her literature of female conduct, analyzing, specifically, a chapter of the book In collegio. Letture per giovinette (1889 [1890]), that contains a microhistory of the Italian language for girls. Through narrative fiction, which simulates a classroom lesson, Vertua Gentile offers young learners ideas and notions on the language of the new State, on its relationship with dialects, on the differences between literary language and everyday language, on the importance of writing (even for a woman), balancing the different positions that had been developing after the Manzoni’s innovative proposal and the animated linguistic-pedagogical debate that followed. The text therefore proves valuable not only for reconstructing the linguistic theory underlying the author’s educational practice, but also for focusing on the circulation and reception of linguistic ideas spread at an academic level in school environments and among an audience of non-specialists.