Introduction:
Britten Milliman is a native of Rockland County, New York, whose interest in foreign languages began at age three (when her cousin introduced her to Spanish). She grew up in an English-only household and is now fully fluent in Spanish, Italian and Arabic. But she well remembers everything that made her want to pull her hair out when acquiring those languages.Her interest in linguistics and languages from around the globe runs deep but Italian and the people who speak it hold a special place in her heart.Education:
Britt holds a BA as an Independent Scholar from Middlebury College where she created her own linguistics major. After a year of Italian, she spent a year in Ferrara, Italy where—to her delight—she was mistaken for a native Italian. When she returned, Britt began taking Arabic and after a year and a half of study, was awarded a CASA fellowship to study Arabic in Cairo, Egypt. She has a blog of some of her adventures at florenceofarabia.com.Italian Linguistics For Beginners:
Britt solves some of the riddles that come with learning Italian, including "What does that mean?"Introduction to Italian Linguistics
Does the statement "I can't learn foreign languages" seem familiar? Linguistics—the study of human languages—has gotten a bad rap among many people because the term has often been identified with a limited number of topics, particularly grammar, which many people hate.
Italian Phonology
Knowing where to put the correct stress or how to have proper inflection and intonation can help you come closer to understanding Italian, regardless of whether or not you are a native speaker.
Italian Morphology
As you progress in Italian, you are constructing and morphologically training an Italian lexicon to recognize words and what they mean. By understanding the properties of a word, you can take shortcuts and save storage space in your brain.
Italian Syntax
Growing accustomed to the new structure of Italian will broaden your means of expressing yourself, not only in Italian, but in English as well. While most phrases lose some meaning in their translation, the further you take your studies, the more unique phrases you will discover in Italian that defy translation to English.
Italian Semantics
The best incentive to learning a foreign language is to be able to express your thoughts with others—or just order something as simple as a panino in Italian from your favorite café in Italy!
The Letter S in Italian
Though it may not look it, the letter s in Italian presents exceptions to many phonological rules which govern the formation of syllables in Italian. While some of these irregularities serve to clarify mysteries previously unexplained, others only pose more questions.
Erre Moscia
Speech impediment, snobbish affectation, or dialectal difference? The Italian letter r has a couple of distinct articulations that might make it a shibboleth.
Double Double Italian Italian Consonants Consonants
The differences between Italian and English double consonants and how confusion can arise when comparing Italian doubled consonants to English ones. In Italian a doubled consonant is assigned two beats, though this distinction goes unnoticed by many non-natives.
You're In Italy, Speak Italian!
There are dialects of Italian (regional varieties) and there are dialects of Italy (distinct local languages). To further muddy the Tiber, the phrase dialetti italiani is often used to describe both phenomena.
La Vulgata Dantesca: Dante as Poet, Dante as Linguist
No one can deny the role Dante Alighieri played in the progression of Florentine from a dialect to Italy's national language. Considered one of the towering figures of European literature, Dante had another important role which tends to be overlooked, though. In addition to being an accomplished poet, Dante was also a linguist.
All In The (Language) Family
As Latin was developing into numerous Italian dialects from which Florentine was selected to be the national language, changes were taking place in other regions of what was once the Roman Empire. New linguistic entities were evolving into languages which today are separate and distinct from Italian. Or are they?
The Meaning of Sound
Buzz, whoosh, and crackle. We often create terms whose sounds remind us of the objects or actions they name. The sounds of many Italian words also have a relationship between specific meanings and even emotions.
