Defending the Italian Language

First, members of the Italian parliament launched a campaign against English phrases and syntax that were flooding into their culture and language, and threatening to kill off Italian(!).

Then Italian officials declared war on officialese, vowing to simplify the way the state communicates with its citizens.

Now, fearing the influence of youth, media and the Internet on new "Italian" words, an Italian professor claims that action must be taken to "protect the beauty and musicality of Italian."

According to Professor Alfredo Luzi, teacher of Contemporary Italian Literature at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Macerata:

"We've been infected by linguistic provincialism. Not using foreign words means not being 'fashionable.' More and more, words of English origin are entering our vocabulary, but things are going too far."

In a recent interview, Luzi suggested that defending the Italian language is equivalent to defending and promoting "the whole patrimony of art, music, crafts, economy and so on. Defending our language means, at the same time, defending and promoting all these aspects."

Luzi used the following as an example: "We've reached the point where Italian convention programs mention coffee breaks; why not the Italian equivalent, pausa caffè?"

The professor listed a number of external influences on the Italian language, including music, youth lingo, the press, computers and Internet communications.

"I say no to any legislative intervention because it would be useless, I say no to provincialism and to the use of foreign words when there are perfectly good Italian words for the same concepts," explained Luzi.

"The Internet has two problems," according to Luzi. "On the one hand, it proposes a culture of fragments, missing the links among facts, and this is dangerous. Dissertations get plagiarized, and there is a widespread use of acronyms--for example, tvtb equals ti voglio tanto bene, I love you so much.

"The second problem is a practical one: many young writers use paratactical structures, have a hard time thinking their texts through, and are losing the use of the subjunctive mode."

"The only advantage I see in today's language," concluded Luzi, "is that the difference between written and spoken Italian is shortening."

Maybe we should return to reading Dante by candlelight?