THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN ARTICLE
PANROMANCE PHENOMENON
Keywords:
diachrony, Latin, Italian, synthetic languages, analytic languages, definite article, indefinite articleAbstract
In order to improve the understanding of the Italian article, its form, function and use in the modern Italian language, we have presented its development since the inception. Our goal is to observe the article more clearly at the present moment by means of a diachronic approach: the fact that the definite article originated from the Latin demonstrative pronoun ille and the indefinite article originated from the Latin number unus affects the behaviour and use of definite and indefinite articles in the modern Italian language. Through the analysis of the transition from Latin to Romance morphosyntax, we have presented the main features of synthetic and analytic languages. We have analyzed the presence of articles in Romance languages , with particular focus on the development of their form and function in the Italian language from the earliest written documents through the antique literature in order to point out the changes specific to its present form. In conclusion, we express the idea that details pertaining to articles, especially when it comes to the definite article, such as its pronoun quality and its omission in proverbs, in certain verbal expressions and prepositional phrases (derived from Latin cases: genitive, dative and ablative), appear through the influence of the Latin language which lacked the article in its system.
References
Dardano, Trifone 1997: M. Dardano, P. Trifone, La nuova grammatica della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli Editore S.p.A.
Dardano 2005: M. Dardano, Nuovo manualetto di linguistica italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli.
Мoderc 2006: S. Moderc, Gramatika italijanskog jezika, Beograd: Udruženje nastavnika italijanskog jezika Srbije.
Renzi 1974: L. Renzi, Per la storia dell’articolo romanzo, in: Atti del XIV Congresso Internazionale di Linguistica e Filologia romanza, a cura di A. Varvaro, Napoli, Macchiaroli - Amsterdam, Benjamins, vol. III, pp. 251-265.
Renzi 1987: L. Renzi, Nuova introduzione alla filologia romanza, Bologna: Il Mulino. Renzi, Andreose 2003: L. Renzi, A. Andreose, Manuale di linguistica e filologia romanza, Bologna: Il Mulino.
Rohlfs 1968: g. Rohlfs, Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti. Morfologia. (Vol.2), Torino: Giulio Eiunaudi editore s.p.a.
Salvi, Vanelli 2004: G. Salvi, L. Vanelli, Nuova grammatica italiana, Bologna: Il Mulino.
Serianni 1989: L. Serianni, Grammatica italiana. Italiano comune e lingua letteraria, Torino: Utet Libreria.
Serianni 1998: L. Serianni, Lezioni di grammatica storica italiana, Roma: Bulzoni Editore.
Serianni 2002: L. Serianni, La lingua nella storia d'Italia, Roma: Società Dante Alighieri/Milano: Libri Scheiwiller.
Tekavčić 1972: P. Tekavčić, Grammatica storica dell’italiano. Morfosintassi. (Volume II), Bologna: Il Mulino.
Terić 2001: g. Terić, Istorija italijanskog jezika, Beograd: Filološki fakultet.
