Recent advances in the investigation of the grammar of spoken English have highlighted the key role played in spoken communication by lexicogrammatical features that have traditionally been neglected by even the most authoritative reference grammars of English. While an area of scientific inquiry still in its infancy, grammaticographical studies of descriptions of languages aimed at foreign learners seem to point to the more innovative nature of grammars for non-native learners vis-à-vis their counterparts aimed at native speakers. This paper attempts to investigate how spoken English and its grammar were viewed in mid-20th century Italy by carrying out a grammaticographical study of two textbooks written by Italian academics. The analysis of the paratextual materials and the metalinguistic explanations featured in the two books shows that while still on the whole clinging to more traditional written language norms as grammaticographical models, these two grammars of English aimed at Italian students pinpoint and represent the main ‘determinants’ of change in spoken English in the 20th century – the development of ‘discourse norms’ driven by the process of colloquialisation and American English as ‘leader’ in the process of 20th century grammatical change.
A View from the Continent: Describing Spoken English and its Grammar in the Mid-20in 20thth Century in Italy / A. Nava. - In: EXPRESSIO. - ISSN 2532-439X. - 5:(2021), pp. 141-160.
A View from the Continent: Describing Spoken English and its Grammar in the Mid-20in 20thth Century in Italy
A. NavaPrimo
2021
Abstract
Recent advances in the investigation of the grammar of spoken English have highlighted the key role played in spoken communication by lexicogrammatical features that have traditionally been neglected by even the most authoritative reference grammars of English. While an area of scientific inquiry still in its infancy, grammaticographical studies of descriptions of languages aimed at foreign learners seem to point to the more innovative nature of grammars for non-native learners vis-à-vis their counterparts aimed at native speakers. This paper attempts to investigate how spoken English and its grammar were viewed in mid-20th century Italy by carrying out a grammaticographical study of two textbooks written by Italian academics. The analysis of the paratextual materials and the metalinguistic explanations featured in the two books shows that while still on the whole clinging to more traditional written language norms as grammaticographical models, these two grammars of English aimed at Italian students pinpoint and represent the main ‘determinants’ of change in spoken English in the 20th century – the development of ‘discourse norms’ driven by the process of colloquialisation and American English as ‘leader’ in the process of 20th century grammatical change.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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