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Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 13:1 (1986) ► pp.43–70

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Whitney in Italia

 | Università di Pisa

Article language: Italian

Published online: 1 January 1986
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.13.1.06bol
Summary
The paper deals with the Italian translation of the best known book of William Dwight Whitney (The Life and Growth of Language, New York & London, 1875) by Francesco D’Ovidio (La vita e lo sviluppo del linguaggio, Milano, 1876). This translation was a sign of the interest which Italian scholars took in the work of the Sanskrit scholar and general linguist who served as a bridge between America and Europe. We have a very important evidence of that interest in Ascoli’s appraisal of 1894, the year of Whitney’s death, as he was the most influential Italian linguist of the period. The paper shows in particular that the Italian translator shared the author’s thought about language and the science of language; it investigates the main topics of the book in connection with Whitney’s basic idea that the science of language is a historical one. Topics such as conventionalism and usage as the law of speech, criticism against Schleicher’s naturalism, language and dialect, individual vs. the community of speakers, acquisition of language, linguistic change, origin of language are taken into consideration. The comparison of Whitney’s statements with passages from D’Ovidio’s writings, some of which pertain to the Italian ‘questione della lingua’, reveals the fundamental agreement of the translator with the language theory of the American scholar. D’Ovidio himself on several occasions pointed out the sound judgment of Whitney, whose main statements about language must have been in accordance with those linguistic principles that, in the opinion of the translator, who had assimilated Manzoni’s and Ascoli’s ideas, formed the good method of ‘glottology’. Attention also is paid to practical applications of linguistic science which connected Whitney with his Italian translator; among them the subject of ‘language and education’ deserves particular mention.
Résumé
Cet article a pour objet la traduction italienne du livre le plus connu de William Dwight Whitney (The Life and Growth of Language, New York & London, 1875) par Francesco D’Ovidio (La vita e lo sviluppo del linguaggio, Milano 1876). Cette traduction était un signe de l’intérêt que le milieu scientifique italien portait à un indianiste et comparatiste aussi bien qu’à un théoricien général du langage, qui servit de trait d’union entre l’Amérique et l’Europe. Nous avons un témoignage très important de cet intérêt dans l’éloge qu’ Ascoli, le plus influent des linguistes italiens de l’époque, fit de Whitney, après la mort de l’érudit américain. Il est mis en évidence dans cet article que le traducteur italien partageait les idées de l’auteur sur la langue et la linguistique; ici, les sujets principaux du livre sont examinés par rapport à l’idée fondamentale de Whitney selon laquelle la linguistique est une science historique. Des thèmes tels que le conventionnalisme et l’usage comme arbitre de la langue, la critique du naturalisme de Schleicher, l’individu vs. la communauté linguistique, l’acquisition de la langue, l’évolution linguistique et l’origine du langage sont pris en considération. La comparaison des affirmations de Whitney avec des passages tirés de l’oeuvre de D’Ovidio, dont quelques-uns concernent la ‘questione della lingua’, révèle l’adhésion fondamentale du traducteur à la théorie linguistique du savant américain. D’Ovidio lui-même souligna à plusieurs reprises le bon sens de Whitney; les principales affirmations de ce dernier au sujet de la langue coincidaient très probablement avec les principes formant la bonne méthode de la linguistique selon le traducteur, qui avait assimilé les idées de Manzoni aussi bien que d’Ascoli. En outre, l’intérêt pour les applications pratiques de la linguistique unissait aussi Whitney à son traducteur italien; parmi ces dernières, il faut souligner le sujet ‘language and education’.
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Dovetto, Francesca M.
2018. An American at the origins of EuropeanSprachwissenschaftand Italian historiographical thought. Historiographia Linguistica 45:3 ► pp. 289 ff. DOI logo

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