LINGUISTICA ITALIANA I

                                   TEST FINALE - 18 gennaio 2022



1)      Indicate and briefly describe the textual sources that have transmitted late Latin to us.


2)      Identify among the following texts the first organic non-literary Italo-Romance text:

o   Memoriali bolognesi

o   Vaticano latino 3793

o   Libro dei conti dei banchieri fiorentini


3)      Choose and comment on one of the following themes:

o   New merchants

o   Pauperism

o   Movable type printing


4)      Explain the notion of koinè and the context in which it emerged?


5)      Give an accurate definition of diatopic variation and provide a concrete example, possibly
even from a language other than Italian (e.g. your own language), arguing the choice and clarifying
the contexts of use.


6)      Explain the notions of “language” and “dialect” with reference to the Italian situation and
also provide examples from the linguistic situation of your country.


7)      Explains how and why the questione della lingua re-emerges in the 19th century and who the
actors involved are.


8)      Explains the role of schools in the spread of Italian.


9)      Which of the following statements are true?

o   The Italian language derives from spoken Latin.

o   According to Dante Alighieri, Latin was an artificial language

o   The De vulgari eloquentia is an important defence of the Florentine spoken in the 16th century.

o   The first vocabulary of the Italian language was created by Pietro Bembo.

o   The main models for the codification of written Italian were the 17th-century Florentine
authors.

o   The koinè (from Greek koinè diàlektos) was one of the first attempt to promote a common
language.


10)   Which of the following statements are false?

o   An after-effect of the Great World War was the spread of Italian.

o   In 1868, Manzoni was commissioned by the Ministry of Education of the new Italian State to
chair a commission on language.

o   The 1861 census brought to light a high rate of literacy in northern Italy.

o   Industrialisation and urbanisation are connected phenomena.

o   During fascism the use of foreign words was banned.

o   The Italian Constitution does not recognise linguistic equality.