NationStates Jolt Archive


Italy has a National Language!

Harlesburg
31-03-2007, 12:47
Italian becomes official language ... of Italy
ROME (Reuters) - It's official. The language of Italy is Italian -- but not everyone is happy about it.
While it might seem obvious, the Italian-ness of Italian has only just been enshrined in the constitution, with parliament voting this week to state that: "The Italian language is the official language of the Republic".

The seemingly uncontroversial statement was opposed by 75 members of parliament, including leftists who said it smacked of cultural imperialism and northern separatists who are suspicious of pretty much any diktat from Rome.

One deputy, Federico Bricolo from the Northern League party, said his nationality, and therefore his language, was not Italian but Venetian. He said the dialect of Venice was spoken by "millions of men and women around the world".

"It's the language spoken in my family, in schools, at work. I am Venetian, Mr President, my language is that of Venice," Bricolo said in his dialect before his microphone was switched off because he was breaking a rule that states only Italian may be spoken in parliament.

Franco Russo, of Italy's main Communist party, said the post-war constitution deliberately left out any mention of the language in a reaction against dictator Benito Mussolini's attempts to "Italianise" the country by force.

The change to the constitution, approved by 361 votes to 75, is purely symbolic and does not alter the legal status that other languages enjoy in parts of Italy, such as German in the Alto Adige region or French in Val d'Aosta.

But supporters of the change said it was high time the language was recognised as a fundamental part of what made up modern Italy -- a country which was only created by unifying rival regions and city states in 1870.

It was Tuscan dialect -- in which Dante wrote the mediaeval epic poem the Inferno in the fourteen century -- that emerged as the national language of Italy, but many people still speak local dialects some of which are largely incomprehensible to people from other parts of the country.

http://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/070330/5/8x5.html
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When i first saw the header on the web page i was thinking of course they do...
But apparently they didn't, the Commies took it away when they tried taking Gorizia and Trieste.
UnHoly Smite
31-03-2007, 12:50
whats the problem? I don't see why anybody would care about this. Of course the USA deals with this silliness too.
Dryks Legacy
31-03-2007, 13:03
Well that's something to tell my grandfather next time I see him
Fassigen
31-03-2007, 13:09
Such a waste of plenary time, not to mention that it's such nationalist tripe.
Harlesburg
31-03-2007, 13:14
whats the problem? I don't see why anybody would care about this. Of course the USA deals with this silliness too.
Maybe the people in the North look down on those in the South for being peasants, and those in the south dislike the north for being snobs whilst those in the central region are just toffs?
Dishonorable Scum
31-03-2007, 14:40
Well, I see an interesting flaw in this legislation, one that it shares with most other "national language" legislation: It defines Italian as the national language, but fails to define the "Italian language".

For example, most linguists would consider the Venetian dialect to be Italian - just a dialect, not a separate language. Therefore the Venetian parliament member, rather than claiming that his national language was Venetian, should have claimed that his Venetian dialect was Italian, and so his microphone should not have been cut off for not speaking Italian.

There's a similar problem with attempts to pass legislation in the US defining English as the national language. The problem is that there is no organization with the statutory authority to define exactly what is English and what isn't. English has at least a dozen, possibly hundreds (depending on how you count them) of regional dialects in the US alone, and has absorbed much (if not most) of its vocabulary from other languages. So who can say, legally, what is English and what isn't? This may seem like a silly objection, but from a legal standpoint, it isn't. Unless you can state precisely what is English and what isn't, a law mandating English is so vague as to be legally unenforceable.
The Potato Factory
31-03-2007, 14:47
They should stop complaining. In the part of Germany that my family's from, they speak a "dialect" that often considered an entirely unique language, and you don't hear us complaining.
Jeruselem
31-03-2007, 14:51
It's not Latin? :D
Dryks Legacy
31-03-2007, 14:54
It's not Latin? :D

It should be as everyone knows Quidquid Latine altum sit dictum videtur ;)

Run it through google :D
Northern Borders
31-03-2007, 14:57
Old habits die hard.

Those guys only united in 1870. It will take more than that for everyone to share the same language.

Shit, China has been united far before Jesus was even born, and yet there are hundreds of languages there.
Droskianishk
31-03-2007, 15:00
Well, I see an interesting flaw in this legislation, one that it shares with most other "national language" legislation: It defines Italian as the national language, but fails to define the "Italian language".

For example, most linguists would consider the Venetian dialect to be Italian - just a dialect, not a separate language. Therefore the Venetian parliament member, rather than claiming that his national language was Venetian, should have claimed that his Venetian dialect was Italian, and so his microphone should not have been cut off for not speaking Italian.

There's a similar problem with attempts to pass legislation in the US defining English as the national language. The problem is that there is no organization with the statutory authority to define exactly what is English and what isn't. English has at least a dozen, possibly hundreds (depending on how you count them) of regional dialects in the US alone, and has absorbed much (if not most) of its vocabulary from other languages. So who can say, legally, what is English and what isn't? This may seem like a silly objection, but from a legal standpoint, it isn't. Unless you can state precisely what is English and what isn't, a law mandating English is so vague as to be legally unenforceable.

That hasn't stopped the federal government from doing things like that before, besides a dialect doesn't make it a different language.
Johnny B Goode
31-03-2007, 15:05
http://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/070330/5/8x5.html
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When i first saw the header on the web page i was thinking of course they do...
But apparently they didn't, the Commies took it away when they tried taking Gorizia and Trieste.

Kewl.
Velka Morava
31-03-2007, 21:15
The Constitution of the italian Republic contemplates language minorityes (mostly french (Valle d'Aosta/Vallée d'Aoste) and german (Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol) speaking).

This is expressed in articles 3 and 6

Art. 3
All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinions, personal and social conditions.
It is the duty of the Republic to remove those obstacles of an economic and social nature which, really limiting the freedom and equality of citizens, impede the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the political, economic and social organization of the country.

Art. 6
The Republic safeguards by means of appropriate measures linguistic minorities.
Harlesburg
01-05-2007, 10:32
It should be as everyone knows Quidquid Latine altum sit dictum videtur ;)

Run it through google :D
You sick Bastard!:eek: Anything said in Latin sounds profound
http://www.yuni.com/library/latin_6.html

I like these two.
Quod licet Iovi non licet bovi - What Jupiter (supreme God) is allowed to do, cattle (people) are not
Quod minimum specimen in te ingenii? - What microscopic evidence of wit can be found in you?
Pepe Dominguez
01-05-2007, 10:41
Hah! I knew they'd go with Italian!

Seriously, just from the thread title.. total shot in the dark, but I nailed it.:cool:
Dinaverg
01-05-2007, 10:43
*gasp* But, how will I speak English when I vacation to Italy?
Pepe Dominguez
01-05-2007, 10:45
*gasp* But, how will I speak English when I vacation to Italy?

Put on a Chico Marx accent and hope no one knows the difference?
Lunatic Goofballs
01-05-2007, 10:48
Veni Vidi Risi

:D
Harlesburg
01-05-2007, 11:14
Veni Vidi Risi

:D
I came
I saw
I laughed
?