'Sperimentate le lunghezze e durezze delle grammatiche delle lingue scolastiche': The Fabbrica del parlare and the Grammatica toscanalatina by Michele Giannetti (1651). (1st September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lucioli, Francesco
• Is Part Of: Italianist. Volume 36:Number 3(2016)
• Page Start: 414
• Page End: 428
• Publication Date: 2016-09-01
• Subjects: Michele Giannetti -- Grammatica toscanalatina -- Fabbrica del parlare -- vernacular -- Italian grammars; Michele Giannetti -- Grammatica toscanalatina -- Fabbrica del parlare -- volgare -- grammatiche italiane; Italian language -- Periodicals; Italian literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Italy -- Periodicals; 945.005
• DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2016.1225795
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-4340

Abstract

Abstract : Michele Giannetti (Barga [Lucca] 1598–Florence 1666) was a Tuscan priest, a professor of theology at the University of Pisa, and an assessor of the Sant'Uffizio. In 1651 he published in Florence his Grammatica toscanalatina, a grammar of Latin written in the vernacular, today preserved only in three copies. As a preface to his Grammatica, Giannetti published an interesting and hitherto unknown text called Fabbrica del parlare e chiave delle lingue . This work proposes an innovative approach not only to the rules of Latin language, but also to the grammar of other languages, both dead and living. Giannetti outlines a new idea of grammar for both spoken and written languages, focusing on concepts such as the costruzione (syntax) and significazione (meaning) of sentences; while criticising previous works such as Kaspar Shoppe's Mercurius bilinguis (1632) and quadrilinguis (1637), the text by Giannetti offers new perspectives on the learning of the vernacular in seventeenth-century Italy.