The first Italian grammars of the English language
Five grammars of the English language for the use of Italian learners (Pleunus 1701, Altieri 1728, Baretti 1762, Barker 1766, and Dalmazzoni 1788) were published during the 18th century. These grammars show that there was a growing interest in the English language and in English culture in general in 18th-century Italy. Part of this interest can be attributed to the presence of a large colony of English merchants in Leghorn (Livorno) and to the consequent development of trade between the two countries. These textbooks are largely based on the descriptions of English available at the time; in spite of being heavily conditioned by English spelling conventions, the Italian authors attempt, with varying success, to describe the phonology of English in a form suitable for their readers, namely, in terms of the Italian sound system. Their descriptions seek to define sounds considered ‘difficult’ for the foreign learner, e.g., /æ/ and /˄/ (described prevalently in terms of [a] and [ɔ] respectively), or such consonant sounds as /θ/ and /???/. They also provide at times corroborative evidence, which is compared with the testimony of certain contemporary English authors, e.g., Johnston (1764) and Walker (1791), of the state of the English language at the time. Their description of the English vowel system, in particular, throws some light on the pronunciation of English during the 18th century, but none of them, for example, records the gradual loss of post-vocalic r, which we know from other sources had already begun at this period. The treatment of the grammatical structure of English found in these grammars is largely traditional, and although some attempts are made to describe the peculiarities of English grammar, the rules given are frequently vague and uncertain.
References
Addison, Joseph
1711 The Spectator. Critical ed. by
Donald F. Bond, 51 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1965.
Alston, Robin Carfrae
1965 A Bibliography of the English Language. Leeds: E. J. Arnold & Sons.
Altieri, Ferdinando
1726 Dizionario italiano ed inglese. A Dictionary Italian and English, containing all the words of the Vocabulary della Crusca, and several hundred more taken from the most approved authors: with proverbs and familiar phrases. To which is prefixed a table of authors quoted in this work. 21 vols. London: W. J. Innys.
Altieri, Ferdinando
1728 A New Grammar Italian-English and English-Italian. London: William Innys. (The English grammar occupies pp.293–405 of the volume. Copy consulted in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Shelfmark Vet. A.4.C.2030.)
Altieri, Ferdinando
1736 Grammatica inglese, che contiene un’ esatto [sic]
e facil metodo per apprendere questa Lingua. Venezia: Gio. Battista Pasquali. (Copy consulted in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples, Shelfmark Branc. 62.A.381.)
Altieri, Ferdinando
1750 Dizionario italiano ed inglese … The Second Edition, Corrected and Improved by Evangelist Palermo, Teacher of the Italian Tongue … With authority. London: William Innys.
Altieri, Ferdinando
1751 Dizionario italiano ed inglese … The Second Edition, Corrected and Improved … With authority. Venice [sic]: John Baptist Pasquali.
Arnauld, Antoine and Claude Lancelot
1660 Grammaire Generale [sic] et Raisonnée contenant les fondements de lߣart de parler … Paris: Chez Pierre Le Petit. (Repr., Menston: Scolar Press 1967.)
Arnauld, Antoine and Claude Lancelot
1753 General and Rational Grammar, containing the Fundamental Principles of the Art of Speaking … Translated from the French of Messieurs de Port-Royal. London: J. Nourse.
Baretti, Giuseppe
1760 A Dictionary of the English and Italian Languages. London: C. Hitch and L. Hawes.
Baretti, Giuseppe
1762 A Grammar of the Italian Language … to which is added an English Grammar for the Use of the Italians. London: C. Hitch L. Hawes. (Copy consulted in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples, Shelfmark Branc. 78.H.421.)
Baretti, Giuseppe
1763–65 La Frusta Letteraria di Aristarco Scannabue. Critical ed. by
Luigi Piccioni, 21 vols. Bari: G. Laterza 1932.
Baretti, Giuseppe
1778 Grammatica della lingua inglese … Rivista, e corretta ed arricchita di Dialoghi, e di Lettere Mercantili. Livorno: Gio. Tommaso Masi e Comp.
Barker, Edward (Eduardo)
1766 Nuova e Facile Grammatica della Lingua Inglese per gl’Italiani … Pubblicata da’ suoi Scolari. Siena: Luigi e Benedetto Bindi. (Copy consulted in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples, Shelfmark XXXVIII.C.11.)
Barker, Edward (Eduardo)
1802 Grammatica della lingua inglese per uso degli italiani … prima edizione napolitana con diligenza corretta, ed accresciuta di un breve saggio sulla Pronunzia della Lingua Inglese. Napoli: Domenico Sangiacomo.
Boswell, James
1791 Life of Johnson. London: H. Baldwin & Son, for Charles Dilly. (Critical ed. by
George Birkbeck Hill, revised by
L. F. Powell, 61 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1934).
Brightland, John
1711 A Grammar of the English Tongue. London: For John Brightland. (Repr., Menston: Scolar Press 1967.)
Canepari, Luciano
1979 Introduzione alla fonetica. Torino: Einaudi.
Cooper, Christopher
1685 Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae. London: J. Richardson. (Repr., Menston: Scoiar Press 1967.)
Dalmazzoni, Guglielmo
1788 Nuova Grammatica della Lingua Inglese per uso degl’ Italiani. Roma: Paolo Giunchi. (Copy consulted in the Biblioteca Oliveriana at Pesaro, with contemporary MS annotations. There is also a copy, not recorded by Alston 1965, in the Biblioteca Universitaria, Naples, Shelfmark D.39.33.)
Dobson, Eric John
1957 English Pronunciation 1500–1700. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (2nd ed. 1968.)
Ekwall, Eilert
1965 Historische neuenglische Laut- und Formenlehre. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
Florio, John
1578 Florio his firste Fruites. London: Thomas Dawson for Thomas Woodcocke.
Florio, John
1591 Florios Second Fruites. London: T. Woodcock.
Frank, Thomas
1976 “
I primi grammatici inglesi 1586–1688”.
Studi Inglesi 3–41.411–57.
Fries, Charles Carpenter
1925 “
The Periphrastic Future with shall and will in Modem English”.
PMLA 401.963–1024.
Fries, Charles Carpenter
1940 An American English Grammar. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Gimson, A. C.
1962 An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold.
Graf, Arturo
1911 L’Anglomania e lߣinflusso inglese nel secolo XVIII. Torino: E. Loescher.
Greenwood, James
1711 An Essay towards a Practical English Grammar. London: R. Tookey. (Repr., Menston: Scolar Press 1969.)
Harris, James
1751 Hermes, or a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Universal Grammar. London: H. Woodfall. (Repr., Menston: Scolar Press Facsimile 1969.)
Horn, Wilhelm, and Martin Lehnert
1954 Laut und Leben. 21 vols. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften.
Hughes, Arthur, and Peter Trudgill
1979 English Accents and Dialects. London: Edward Arnold.
Hulbert, James Root
1947 “
On the Origin of the Grammarians’ Rules for the Use of Shall and Will
”.
PMLA 621.1178–82.
Inghirami, Francesco
1843 Storia della Toscana. 161 vols. Fiesole: Poligrafia Fiesolana dai torchi dellߣautore.
Johnston, William
1764 A Pronouncing and Spelling Dictionary. London: printed for W. Johnston. (Repr., Menston: Scolar Press 1968.)
Jones, John
1701 Practical phonography. London: R. Smith. (Repr., Menston: Scolar Press 1969.)
Jonson, Ben
1640 The English Grammar. London. (Contained in the 1640 Folio ed. of Jonsonߣs
Workes
.) (Repr. in
Works, ed. by
C. H. Herford and
P. E. Simpson, Vol. VIII1. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1925.)
Leonard, Andrus Sterling
1929 The Doctrine of Correctness in English Usage 1700–1800. New York: Russell & Russell. (Repr. 1962.)
Lowth, Robert
1762 A Short Introduction to English Grammar. London: J. Hughs for A. Milar and R. and J. Dodsley. (Repr., Menston: Scolar Press 1967.)
Mazzuchelli, Giammaria
1753 Gli Scrittori d’Italia. 61 vols. Brescia: Giambattista Bossini.
Migliorini, Bruno
1958 Storia della Lingua Italiana. Firenze: Sansoni. (2nd. rev. ed. 1960.)
Orton, Harold, et al.
1962 Survey of English Dialects. Leeds: E. J. Arnold.
Pleunus, Arrigo
1701 Nuova, e Perfetta Grammatica Inglese che contiene con metodo tutta le Teoria, e Pratica di questa Lingua. Livorno: Jacopo Valsisi. (Copy consulted in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples, Shelf mark XXXVII B.59.)
Pleunus, Arrigo
. n.d. [
1710?]
Nuova e Perfetta Grammatica Inglese … Livorno: Ferdinando Dolfinetti. (Copy consulted in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Shelfmark Vet.F.4.f.181.)
Pope, Alexander
1711 An Essay on Criticism.
Pope, Alexander
1714 The Rape of the Lock.
Pope, Alexander
1735 An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot. (All quotations taken from
The Poems of Alexander Pope ed. by
John Butt. London: Methuen 1963.)
Prins, A. A.
1972 The History of English Phonemes. Leiden: Leiden Univ. Press.
Strang, Barbara
1970 A History of English. London: Methuen.
Thomas, William
1550 Principal Rules of Italian Grammar, with a Dictionarie. London: T. Berthelet.
Thrale, Hester Lynch
1776–1809 Thraliana: The Diary of Mrs. Hester Lynch Thrale. First ed. by
Katharine C. Balderston, 21 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1951.
Walker, John
1791 A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language. London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson. (Repr. Menston: Scolar Press 1968.)
Wallis, John
1653 Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae. Oxford: Leon Lichfield. (New ed. and translation by
J. Alan Kemp,
John Wallisߣs Grammar of the English Language, London: Longman 1972.)
Wyld, Henry Cecil
1914 A Short History of English. London: John Murray. (Repr. 1968.)
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Caravolas, Jean-Antoine
2000.
Bibliographie. In
Histoire de la didactique des langues au siècle des Lumières,
► pp. 507 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.