Ai margini della lingua [On the Edge of Language]. Firenze: G.C.Sansoni, 1947.

Ai margini della lingua [On the Edge of Language]. Firenze: G.C.Sansoni, 1947.

Menarini (b. Bologna 1901 - d. Bologna 1984) was a distinguished Italian linguist who, though he did not attend college, was a scholarly researcher into Italian jargon and the Bolognese dialect, among other specialties, publishing in Lingau Nostra, Archivio Glottologica italiano and Archivum romanicum. See DBI for his bio.

This work gathers essays published earlier, at different times, on a variety of language topics, most notably a lengthy (from 145-208) article entitled, "Sull' 'Italo-americano' degli Stati Uniti," which contains information from four essays published in one of the scholarly journals with which Menarini was most associated, Lingua Nostra, from 1939-1942.

Menarini was fascinated in particular by "Itaglish", i.e., Italo-American jargon, words such as "stappare" - "stop" - for Italian "fermare" (and "giampare" for "jump", rather than "saltare"), and he says he heard Tuscans in America say "ho brocco da legga" [I have broken my leg] in place of Italian "ho rotto la gamba."

This extended essay is rich in citations to works in both English and Italian, a surprising number of which were unfamiliar to me. I found this copy at an outdoors bouquiniste in Naples utterly by chance.

Alberto Menarini

1947

18 x 12cm; 211 p.

Italian