Study on the hierarchy of language and style ----with a focus on the "Questione della lingua" in Italy

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02409
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: European literature
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: Kasuya Keisuke 一橋大学, 大学院言語社会研究科, 教授 (10192535)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 言語問題 / イタリア / 俗語論 / 言語規範

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study pays attention to the fact that the interpretation about the idea of “volgare illustre” proposed by Dante Alighieri in his work “Vulgari eloquentia” constitutes one of the most controversial points of the “questione della lingua” in Italy. Thus, “italianisti” like Trissino and Perticari looked for the support of their argument in Dante”s work through considering the “volgare illustre” to be anchored in the dimension of “language”. On the contrary, “fiorentinisti” like Machiavelli and Manzoni refuted the thesis of “italianisti” and regarded “volgare illustre” as a mode of expression of style in order to confirm the centrality of the language of Firenze in Italy. This study sheds light on the role of Dante’s “Vulgari eloquentia” as the touchstone for taking positions in the controversy about the linguistic norm in Italy, and through it, makes clear the significance of the “questione della lingua” in the wider scope of the history of linguistic thought.

Free Research Field

言語思想史、言語社会学