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Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 9:3 (1982) ► pp.335–359

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Phonetics in 16th-Century Italy

Giorgio Bartoli and John David Rhys

 | University of Calgary
Published online: 1 January 1982
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.9.3.06izz
Summary
This paper, which contends that Renaissance linguistics has remained undervalued despite the progress of current linguistic historiography, examines and compares the works of two 16th-century writers on Italian pronunciation, Giorgio Bartoli (1534–83) and John David Rhys (1534–1609). Both show an unexpected sophistication in their articulatory descriptions and in their strict distinction between phonology and orthography as well as considerable knowledge of and an objective attitude toward other European languages and dialects. One of them, moreover, sets up a system of consonant classification which foreshadows modern feature analysis.
Résumé
L’auteur de cette étude considère que, malgré les progrès récents de l’historiographie de la linguistique, le XVIe siècle nous reste mal connu et sous-estimé. Il examine deux oeuvres – celle de Giorgio Bartoli (1534–83) et celle de John David Rhys (1534–1609) – concernant la pronunciation italienne et il trouve que leurs auteurs ont su décrire admirablement bien l’articulation des sons du langage, qu’ils ont su distinguer nettement entre son et graphie et qu’ils ont démontré une connaissance surprenante des langues et dialectes européens. En plus, l’un d’eux a inventé un système de classification des consonnes qui présage les systèmes binaires de nos jours.
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Buzássyová, Ľudmila
2016. The 'phonetic complex' in Renaissance Latin grammar : Petrus Ramus's dichotomies and their reflections in two vernacular grammatical texts. Graeco-Latina Brunensia :2 ► pp. 81 ff. DOI logo
Koerner, E. F. Konrad
1993. Historiography of Phonetics: the State of the Art. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

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