From The Peopling of New York City
Italian is a Romance Language and first started to appear as short notes in Latin documents such as poetry and lawsuits. During the thirteenth century Dante, Petrach and Boccaccio popularized their own version of Italian—the Tuscan of Florence. By the fourteenth century it gained popularity in political and cultural circles even though Latin was the main literary language. During the 15th and 16th century both Italian and Latin started to be used for scientific purposes. Gradually, the influence of Latin in Italian diminished as Italian became the main language of Italy. This is not to say that everyone in Italy speaks a uniform language. Various regions have their own dialects. In fact some of these dialects are so different from one other that fellow Italians cannot understand them. [1]
This difference in language actually influenced the migration and residential patterns of Italian immigrants. Italians migrated and lived in places where they would live around people from their native village or at least people who spoke the same dialect of Italian. Even though this behavior inhibited their faster assimilation to the American society, it did make their lives in a foreign land a little easier. [2]
Citations
- ↑ Italian. 2009. May 2009.[1]
- ↑ Binder, Frederick, and David Reimers. All the Nations Under Heaven(137). New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.