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Article: Linguistic Theories in Dante and the Humanists: Studies of Language and Intellectual History in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy.
- Article from:
- Renaissance Quarterly
- Article date:
- September 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 The Renaissance Society of America. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This study examines humanist treatments of the questione della lingua which were spurred by a March 1435 debate in Florence. Among the participants, all members of the papal chancery, were Biondo Flavio, Antonio Loschi, Poggio Bracciolini, Andrea Fiocchi, Leonardo Bruni, and Cencio Rustici. The debate concerned the language in ancient Rome: was the linguistic state monolingual - the learned speaking a more refined Latin than the rest of the population - or bilingual - Latin and a true vernacular coexisting? While the various treatises written by some of the participants in the debate and later treatments of the subject have received much critical attention, earlier studies, ...